River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-01-21
ANNUAL PARLIAMENT OF northwest FARMERS
A Notable Address by j. j. Hill, in which He Out
lines the Importance of Finding New fiar-
kets for the Products of the Northwest

| foodwaters that now run 10 waste.
%. That the states shall enact home
stead laws giving the state lands only
TO actual settlers and that no lease of
state land shall be made"
Making New Markets.
| Mr.. Hill said that year ago last win
| ter, he went to the state OF Washington
to attend a meeting of farmers. They
| were getting less than soc a bushel for
| their wheat. The railroad gave them a
reduction of ten per cent on the freight
| rate, but what he tried to impress upon
| them was that they needed new mar
| kets. There were not enough people to
| eat wheat in the markets they were sell
ing in to consume all they had to sell.
| market have been successful-more sue
cessful than I had hoped for.
Last February and March the mills in
| minneapolis began, in a small way, TO
ship -four to Australia and to China and
to Japan. 1t seemed long way to send
! -four to market-from Minneapolis by
| way of the Pacific coast to Australia
| but by taking advantage of all the con-
| ditions entering into the question OF
| directions with full loads we were able
| to give a rate from Minneapolis to Hong
/ kong of 40 cents hundred-40 cents q
hundred for 5000 miles-$8 a ton. 1t is
! a mill ton a mile-the lowest Transport
tation that ever was thought OF on the
face Of the earth The rate of transport
| tation from here to New York a. 300
niles) is Is cents a hundred, IS a ton
| 1t is 1000 miles of rail transportation
| L t.,
5000 miles of water.
Il have been charged with everything
from being IAN Oriental dreamer" to a
crank Qaughter), but ] am ready at all
! times to plead guilty to. any intelligent
effort within my power that will result
in getting new markets for what we
produce in this northwestern country;
because every bushel that you take out
of the market here, every bushel you
send to a new market, every bale of cot
ton you send to new market, every
thing that you send to new market
! helps what is left, the surplus saved is
so much less, and it is not here to com
| pete with our own shipments to Liver
! pool or Antwerp.
1T is just as much advantage to the
man raising wheat in Ohio that the farm
er in Washington shall send his wheat
| to the Orient, or the farmer in Minnesota
shall send his wheat to the Orient, as
cause that much wheat is taken out Of
well, now, our efforts in that direc-
| ton have been crowned with remarkable
success. / think l can give you some
figures that will be Of interest to you on
that subject"
He quoted in detail the ports in Aus
tralia and the Orient where shipments of
wheat and flour. had been made, showing
soh Ips bHeels Of wHeat and
565,488 barrels of flour had been shipped
That business has only begun, and yet
the largest orders for -four that have ever
| come TO Minneapolis from any quarter
have come from the Orient. So great is
this demand that today: it is making. it
self felt, in the price Of every bushel of
wheat that is sold in this market. The
most intelligent wheat authority L know
9d me Mthn tba few Ie w cohd that the
this Oriental demand, e was already i@E s
cents. and he thought that actual figures
would show it to be cents busheI
Now. if it is cents a bushel on $780,
| 00O, 900 bushels raised in our three north
western states, it amounts to So 000, 900.
! worth saving worth n
| effort to bring it about, and we have in
i every way in our power tried to make it
POSSIBLE to carry that into effect.
Efforts Distracted by Legislation.
Now. what help do we get? When We
make rate that is the lowest rate that
world. we have to defend ourselves from
tie state, and from the nation De cause
we, are restraining. trade!" daughter
and applause) Absolutely defending our
selves from restraining trade" It is
said that if we had the power, the power
must be used to restrain trade. They for
merchant marine of every nation flying
commercial flag on the high seas we must
have power to carry that trade forward.
1t takes power to carry that trade to the
extent we have carried it. Who else
has carried it? Who else have raised
their hands for it.? But they forget the
greater contains the less. The power
to expand a trade and build it up and
make it great and make it possible to
kong at 80 cents more than it costs. to
send 1t from here to New York-that
takes some power The power to expand
trade makes US criminals, and we are de-
Tending lawsuits today because we are
charged with the power to restrain trade;
and because if you have the power to
power somewhere, no matter how you
exercise it, you are a public criminal
against the law of your country. (Laugh-
terO
Now, the time is coming when it won't
be my funeral-it will be yours. Mr..
Chamberlain, a year ago, took leaf out
of our political economy and started QUO
a political campaign in Great Britain in
favor of a preferential tariff, in favor of
a tariff under which Great britain would
colonies free, and the colonies in return
would give her free access to their mar
kets, and tax everybody else; Great Brit
ain! on the other hand, agreeing to put
tariff or a tax on the imports of every
other nation:
country are enormous. Last year the
figures. as | remember them furnished
by the agricultural department of the
general government, gave, three thousand
million dollars as the value of the pro-
ducts of the farms of this country. Great
Britain and her colonies buy from US
Suppose they put tariff of IL cents a
hushel on our wheat Remember that the
on the entire crop@that Which -" we ~ sell Ell
among ourselves and that which we sell
to go abroad. The surplus grain always
fixes the market price, If your wheat is
bushels in your three northwestern states
it would amount to $1S,000,000. That you
have got to pay. These conditions are
not far from you. Every day you see in
the newspapers that Mr.. Chamberlain is
winning his way: He has made more
progress in the first year than he ex-
pected to in the first three years when
he took it W. a year ago, and it is only
a question of time when you have got
to pay this tax if you send your wheat
to Great Britain.
ket have you got? You may rely on us;
you may say: We are depending on YOU
to give us this Oriental market We
cannot di:sobey the law ,(Applause.)
help you. We have from the beginning.
We have led in every reduction of rates
on agricultural products that have been
made in twenty years in the northwest.
We have never needed a spur. We have
increased the traffic as fast as we could.
and by a larger tonnage we are able to
twenty-five years ago, the rate from st.
Vincent on grain was 40 cents a hundred.
Today it is 10 cents a hundred. Gap
plause)
"All we need is our dividend; we get our
per cent If We earn it, and we earn it
very easily. And want to assure you
there is not much profit in carrying a
barrel of flour from here to Hongkong
at 40 cents a hundred. Whether we do It
whether we do not do it, does not cut
much figure in our treasury. Our stock
would know it. Your cities would know
it. If Mr.. Chamberlain's policy is put
in effect you will know it greatly to your
sorrow 1 said before, we are ready to
limit that is possible, but we can't make
ourselves criminals in the eye of the
law
He asked the farmers what they were
n nj To hnlT cot fha aln Of