The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1903-11-06

Of Whisky; considine from s., 900 to SIS
fUO to Roa from
Rugby SGS s Barton on' FROM
go eSU to s1i7. 900, omemee from $4,000 to
s12S.o0o. Now on the main line, where ere
the total revenue last year was $4,000
Vili MaS Min s from siSG, 900 to $751;
Now take Souris, little station north
west of Bottineau The first year the
r reSs ouS was $4,000 and the second year
Growth Was Unexamped.
'"These figures are encouraging to me
and they ought to be to you. They mark
a growth that you cannot find anywhere
else In any state In the Union. And 1t did
not come from any fiuke or boom or from
any other source than the good old Moth
er Earth. The people are well to do.
farms justice and all will be well with
them. If they got their farms for $1.25
per acre or homesteaded or pre- empted 1t,
land is Worth SO to P SIS per acre today,
and they won it fairly. With all this
growth the company gets just the same
it, We get per cent on our money Just
as we did before; If we wanted to raise
100000 it would be simple thing to
eaTe P fS Carry Ps id
900 tons Of freight; but If you will give
US 100000 tons upon which to raise that
500, 900, the rate would be SO cents per
ton; and if you should raise 100000 tons
in crop, it would be a rate of 25 cents per
ton. 1t is as simple as that.
I'VE have been able to reduce your
freight rate in thirty lone years to less
than a third of what it was, a saving to
you, to the people on our lines In one
this reduction in freight rates has been
brought about by increasing the volume
of traffic. That volume has been in,
enable shippers to develop new lines of
traffic and the building of additional
mileage that would create traffic. To re-
face of continual increases in wages and
advances in prices of material the only
way was to increase the amount Of work
large increase for the train mile. These
figures appeal to me by reason OF their
magnitude, and am glad to tell you right
to send your grain to market at a lower
freight rate than they are able to in
Western stern Iowa took up the sehedu,e
tinental lines south of us, one of the
lines that struggled hard to get the
Northern Pacific because this country was
rate is $1.06 for transporting ton of
freight 100 miles. Our rate is IS cents.
Take the, big lines running out of Chi
the Chicago & North Western, for in
stance, and you will find that although
an older line than we are, it is paying
than the Northern Pacific as well. l
speak of that to show you that we mean
what We say that your interest is our
interest, that your prosperity is our pros
perity and our injury your injury.
Mutually Prosperous.
The prosperity of the railway COM
panies and the prosperity of the people
of North Dak1ta must up together n
jure the people without injuring the rail-
ways. When You injure US you injure
yourselves. Suppose case, and there are
many such cases, occasionally we get
into court in a physical injury case, al
though We never mean to. and always Of
fer to pay the injured man heaped meas.
ure, but sometimes he does not want
heaping measure. He wants sometimes to
get three or four times as much because
he relies on the popular prejudice against
l can tell you that it is not paid by our
stockholders. They get their z per cent
just the same. The amount, of that bill
is charged up to expense, and you pay 1t.
Every time it is added to the cost of
conducting the business.
I'VE have only two sources from which
to get money. One. way is to earn it
and the other way is to borrow it. If
you feel like paying the amount of such
a bill and are willing to make the con.
of the pocket of the company. You can
see in moment that it does not. But,
on the other hand, 1 wish you to bear this
in mind, if a case ever gets into court,
it is because we think the party wants a
great deal more than he is justly entitled
to. If he wanted to take what was right
and fair and in heaped measure he would
not have got into court.
Now I have been running away from
irrigation, l do not get an opportunity
have transgressed a little. The public
domain of the United States, that por-
ton of it that can be cultivated without
4s.l &C. tod Ntnxy
used to say that Uncle Sam is rich
enough to give us all a farm. That is no
longer the case. He is wealthy still, but
many people holding out their hands to
him for a part of his money. You have
contributed your share. Your state has
what we can do for the future generations
is one that is hardly given its proper
prominence or the prominence 1t deserves.
At the close of the civil war the frontier
was about the Des Moines valley in Iowa.
There were some settlers in Kansas at
that time, but 1t was very unsettled. Now
coast states and cities have grown up and
communities doing business inland and on
sea. cities that are marvelS OF growth.
The land is occupied and seeing, this about
five years ago we took up the subject
of irrigation. Now l am going to tell
you how this came about.
How Irrigation Movement Started.
ION an investigation of the entire ques-
llOD II WAS " nc dUSOlute lOlly 10
bring forward any measure in Washing
ton Nobody would listen to it. To look
towards the government protecting the
public domain for the settlers and for flu
ture generations was considered absurd
by many people of the East. And was
satisfied that it would take long period
and a campaign of thorough education.
So five railway companies got together.
They had no land, had no land and was
not looking for any, but we put our
hands In our pockets and subscribed $685.
600 a year among the five companies to
pay for a campaign OF education on the
over the country.
1T went slowly at first, and congress
men would not listen to it, But as time
went and they found that their people
at home were interested, when they found
that they were passing resolutions on
the subject, then the gentlemen began to
say: oh, 1 am interested in that; I
think what you said has merit After
awhile the question reached out and got
into congress and into the White House
and everybody felt that 1t was something
to take notice of. And last year for the
first time We were able to get it success
fully on the floor of congress. Now there
are lots of men who are the original
Jacob, men who did it themselves, lots
of them. But / know how it was done.
1 know that the $125, 900 of good money
was scattered through the country in lee
lures, in meetings, in publications for the
purpose of bringing the question before
the people.
how absolutely necessary 1t is to save
what is left of the public domain, to save
to the people Of our country the farming
lands so that their children shall not be