The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-07-27

mission for 1882 throws light on this
proposition. 1t shows that the Mani
toba earned $2.70 per train mile, and
that the cost Of operation was $1.30
per train mile, leaving $1.34 per train
mile for profit. The report of the Great
Northern to the stockholders for 1902
shows that road earned 1924 per train
mile. that it cost $1.45 per train mile,
and the road earned net $1.49 per train
mile; this in spite of the fact that
rates have been reduced thirds,
from 2.218 to 1859 cents per ton per
mile. This remarkable saving was
brought about by increasing the train
load from III tons to Alt tons, or 800
tons per each train.
The Ore Traffic and Result.
A good illustration of the building
up of traffic is found in the ore region
Of Minnesota. In 1898 the Great
Northern built a line from Fosston,
Mimi, to Duluth. using as portion of
it the old Duluth & Winnipeg road,
which it bought. When the Great
Northern acquired this road 1T was
hauling ore from one mine, the Ma
honing, and there was not very much
being hauled. The Great Northern had
the railroad and it could handle lot
more business over it than it had. Mr..
Hill realized that the more the road
handled the greater the earnings, and
that II the company could increase the
earnings from new business it could
afford to make lower rates on other
classes of traffic and increase the vol
ume of that To accomplish this the
Great Northern bought a railroad from
Swan River to Hibbing, and some of
the allied interests purchased large
tracts of land there. The Great North
ern encouraged iron men to open
mines. The royalties were low, much
lower than expected by the state of
Minnesota. People were anxious to
buy or lease mines, and others who
had mines to sell or lease were brought
into business relations with the mine
seekers. In othGy cases when parties
controlled lands Ney thought contained
iron ore, but did not know, the Great
Northern explored the lands, and if ore
in paying quantities was found the
company effected a sale or lease. In
none of these cases did the Great
Northern try to make dollar: simply
asking a contract to cover the trans
portation of the ore over it's line. In
that way it developed its business.
During the first ore shipping season.
1899, it hauled $4,000 tons; during
1900, 100000 tons; 1901, 1921 900
tons; 1902. 4.1Se,OO0 tons, and. for
1903 the estimate of the haul viii be
100000 tons
Rate Reductions Are Made.
This development made a large in
crease in the earnings of the Great
Northern road, but the stockholders
did not benefit, their rate of dividend
remaining unchanged. When the Great
Northern found it was earning more
money than it needed it reduced local
rates.
For instance, when the Fosston line
was opened it reduced wheat rates an
average of 1.3 cents per bushel on this
line, which made a reduction in Great
Northern earnings for the year ending
June 80, 1899, of sS75,O00 from wheat
alone, and as the rates have not been
increased there has been that saving
to the farmers each year since
In January, 1902, the rates on all
classes Of merchandise between sta
lions In Minnesota, North Dakota and
South Dakota were reduced an aver
age of about Is per cent. In August,
1907, the rates on grain, grain products,
potatoes, onions and hay from stations