Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1904-01-28
DIR STATE LEADS MINNESOTA.

LII IL lliSSSlASs VA eAAS NN-,'-
sofa state agricultural society, held at
Minneapolis the other day, President j.
]. Hill, of the CT Northern railroad,
made some comparisons between the
states of North Dakota and Minnesota
which undoubtedly surprised many of
the residents of the Gopher state and
also placed North Dakota where she
belongs in the commercial minds OF our
ne;ohbors to the east The following is
an extract from his speech:
.You in Minnesota think you are pro-
crossing. want to bring some figures
before YOU today. ! took the line from
here by way of Anoka and st. Cloud to
st. Vincent. with its branches, and L
picked out ten of the largest towns. L
did not take Crookston because it is on
two cross lines, did not take Grand
Forks in North Dakota. l have taken
the ten largest towns outside of the
Twin Cities and Crookston and Grand
Forks. l have compared the business
in 1898 and 1903:
MINNESOTA.
/ find in 1898 that Anoka business
with our company was sl3G,OOO: IN l9o3
it is sl25OOO. 1t has grown sllOOO
nearer the ground. st. Cloud in 1898
was s2lS.OOO: it is now s3l3,0Oo-and
large amount Of that is accounted for by
our own increased shop work. Alex
andria has grown from $4,000 in 1898 to
100000 in 1908 all increase OF sls,ooo
Fergus Falls, $4,000 to sl27000. Barns
Vile (which is terminal point and
practically railroad town. has grown
from $4,000 to 100000 Thief River
Falls-not an agricultural town but a
large lumber station. has shown the
greatest growth: from $4,000 to 52O4,-
600. And that lumber is nearly all sold
in Dakota. The increase is one-thlrd of
the entire increase of the ten stations.
st. Hillaire has increased from $4,000
to sl4S.OOO. Stephen from $4,000 to
100000. Hallock from $4,000 to s1O3,-
600. st. Vincent from $4,000 to s1O3,-
600.
The total business of these ten stations
five years ago was s950,0OO The year
ending June Both last it was s1.45,OOO,
the increase being s4s5.OOO. of which
s14S.OOO was at Thief River Falls
NORTH DAKOTA.
Now. commence in North Dakota.
Larimore west of Grand Forks about
thirty milesy, increased from slOl 600 in
1898 to $4,000 in 1903. Park River
from $4,000 to $4,000. Langdon from
$4,000 to s257,OOO. Devils Lake from
$4,000 to s32S,OOO. Cando, on little
branch line. from $4,000 to s235,O 1000
Rugby from $4,000 to $4,000. Gran
Vile from nothing to sl35,0OO. Minot
from sl24.OOO to 1891 ,OOO Souris. where
the road was built two years ago, and
the station two years old I'VE have no.
thing back five years ago to compare
With, s2s9OOO. Bottineau from $4,000
to slS2,OOO.
These ten towns five years ago had
business of $4,000, against s950,0OO on
the Minnesota towns. Minnesota has
grown to 81. $4,000, an increase of $780,
0OO Dakota has grown from 1852, GOO to
S2304 600. or an increase of 81 ,oo2, 900.
This makes very creditable showing
for North Dakota. In the ten repre-
sentative towns of Minnesota the increase
in revenue has been s4S5.OOO. while IN
North Dakota the increase has been
1,552.OOO over three times as great as
that of Minnesota.
In his recent speech before the Irriga-
ton Congress held at Bismarck he made
some very aattering remarks about
North Dakota S prosperity that of
Minnesota and some were inclined to
think that he was giving US ''taffy," but
as he has made practically the same
statements in his Minnesota speech it
would seem that those who doubted his
sincerity were wrong. AS nearly all of
the commercial transactions of the world
are directly connected with the means
of transportation, the revenue of the
railroads can be taken as safe basis
for computing the relative value of the
different states conmercially-an the
showing made by North Dakota is very
creditable one of which we as state
should feel proud. While rapid strides
have been made in the last five years
there is every reason to believe that it
will do even better in the future and the
state, instead of being considered place
of blizzard stricken baroness, will soon
have taken its right place as one of the
leaders in the commercial world.
The ideas of the average Grand Forker
are apparently headed for a higher