The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-21
AND RAIL
ROADING ARE DIS.
CUSSED BY j. j. HILL
Continued From First Page.

started thirty years ago. 1t is thirty
three years ago since l first crossed the
Red river. At that time there were
two houses in the valley, and the near
est settler was at the old wooden
stockade at Pomme de Terre a place
kept as a frontier state station by
man and his wife by the name OF
Burns. Mr. first trip down the valley
was made behind three dogs, and one
of them was yellow dog. Naughter.)
At that time l was not sure that L
would ever live to see the country oc-
cupied, but within two years, when the
snow was gone, coming across the
valley, I saw where a wagon had cut
the sod, pulverized 1t, and the grass
which grew in the ruts was a foot
higher than the average prairie grass,
and 1 knew the Almighty, in His wis
dom, had made it for a good purpose.
Some of the people who came in
those wagons are here today, and /
cannot let the occasion pass without
saying how much pleasure it gives me
to meet the old friends-Tnen who were
on. the frontier in the time when the
country was new-when every one had
to struggle hard to get forward. 1 am
glad to see that your lines have fallen
in pleasant places, and while new
friends and new acquaintance are
good, we old people are apt to turn to
those whom we knew then-back to
the friends of that time and go over the
struggles we had then. We had less to
do with them than we have now Now
you have grown in material wealth
faster than you know. North Dakota
will never be a state to carry on the
large manufacturing industries of the
country. You have no iron. and 1 don't
know what you have that would make
iron. Your native coal is a good sub
stitute for straw. 1t makes a warm
fire, a great deal better than nothing,
but when it comes to the question Of
making iron or steel, or the higher
uses to which fuel is put, you have
little to look for in that direction. You
can, in fact, and we hope you will, de-
Velop the manufacture of wooden goods
and things that can be made under
roof without much expense.
North Dakota's Wealth in the Soil.
But your great sources of wealth
are and always will be in the soil.
Your soil and your climate make
rich gold mine that never wears out,
but which cultivated will enrich the
state and country in future years. All
the wealth in the world comes from
four sources, either the farm, the for
est, the mine or the sea. Now you have
got your share of good soil and your
farms are productive. and I will say
to you before 1 am done that you have
made degree of progress that is not
surpassed by that of any state in the
Union. I question if any other state
in the Union has ever equaled it. (Ap-
plause) You must look to your agri-
cultural interests, take care of them,
take care of the young people, send
them to school and train them in the
great work of farming, the science of
agriculture.
mo place in the world will show the
advantages of good earth more than
the farm. To be brief and in order that
] might be correct 1 have had a record
prepared of what has happened since
1882, and these figures are all from the
railway and commercial reports, so
that they are official. In 1882 we had
1,007 miles of railway. In 1892 BALI
miles. In 1908, 1888 miles. In 1882 we
had 1877 locomotives; in 1892 we had
S27, and in 1908, 637. Of passenger
cars in 1882 we had 119; In 1892, 268,
and in 1903, 544. Freight cars in 1882,
1907; ten years later, in 1892, 1867;
in 1903, 29,731. Now here is the ma
terial growth of the Northwest. In
1882 we moved 100000 tons of freight,
In 1903 we hauled 16, 900 tons, or
1900 per cent in twenty-one years.
Now, the tons of freight hauled. In
1882 these records were not kept and
cannot give the figures. In 1892 the
tons hauled one mile were 997, 600 600;
in 1908, 3,606, 900 900. or 400 per cent in
ten years; and the important things to
you, and to US as Well-in 1882 our
rate for carrying a ton of freight, that
is the average rate over the whole line
100 miles, was 1881. In 1892 it was
$1.21, and in 1903 it was 85 cents, which
is one-third of what the rate was
twenty-one years ago. In doing that,
this haO hro1 OH
had the company received the same
average rate per ton per mile, or for
carrying ton of freight 100 miles in
1903 as in 1882 1t would have collected
$50, S20,109 as freight earnings during
the past year, while actual collections
were $30,915,O00; a decrease through
reduction in freight rates of $59.9O4,-
S75.
THAT means that if the rate Of
twenty-one years ago had been in
force, you would not have lived here;
you could not have raised enough to
pay the cost of cultivating the soil and
paying us for carrying it to market. 1t
would have been impossible The re-
duction in freight rates has been
brought about by increasing the VOL
ume of traffic; that is, we have created
new traffic by making it possible for
men to cultivate the soil and raise
crops which We carry to market.
Must First Make the Traffic.
Before you can get the traffic YOU
must make it, and want you to bear
In mind this: That whatever benefits
you directly or indirectly, whatever
gives you pleasure directly or Indirect
1y, will in almost every case put mon
ey into our treasury. If you raise
grain, wheat, flax, cattle, hogs, what
ever 1t may be, we profit by 1t. If
your children want to go back to the
old home to see their grandfather,
their relatives, we get profit from it;
and l want you to bear in mind also
that whatever advances your inter-
ests, or whatever forwards them, for
wards our interests as we'll; and, work.
ing on that line, we have been able to
bring about results in North Dakota,
l am glad to say, which are better
than in most other places-yeur prog
ress has been greater.
You have so many stations on the
lines of the Great Northern. I do not
know about the other lines in the state.
although I believe I am charged with
owning about all the railroads north. of
ST. Paul. But I have been busy all the
time trying to take care of our own
lines. 1t used to be a rare occasion
that any station would exceed in reve-
nue. in any year 100000. Now there
are so many in North Dakota that /
cannot count them without referring to