The Minneapolis journal., 1905-08-31
CROWNED KING OF
TRANSPORTATION

President James J. Hill Discusses
Rates and Other Issues at
Grand Forks. y.
Grand Forks. N. D., Aug, Sly es.
day at the state fair. Grand Forks was
royal host and Fargo We'd with her
in doing honor to the Great Northern 3
president. :; +.
An immense audience heard Mr.. Hill
speak in the afternoon att the state far
grounds and applauded his address. me
remainder of the day hewas the especlal
guest of the North Dakota Old Settlers,
who. in resolutions, expressed their II
opinion Of the large part, MI. hill IS
taking in the development of North
Dakota. MI. Hill, in his address, said
in part: =. 49,. = -
What I hope-and my hopes for the
future are based on what has occurred
in the past-what. hope for is that you
will go onward and upward In your march
of Improvement. taking advantage OF all
the opportunities that you have and you
have many. You have opportunities here
lin North Dakota far beyond those OF
other parts Of the country. You. are DO
Ing well, but you can do better, and l
want the time to come when you VIII
do better. E-'.S '..s4 ,,s.~ -
never object to our friends criticizing
how we run the railroads You have been
partial to me In North Dakota I know
It, I feel It, l hope I will deserve 1t.
But at the same time, while I am glad
to have you criticize the manner IN which
run the railroad, I want the privilege
of talking back to you little on how you
%cultivate the farm. 49,.
In the first place, pay more attention
to drainage. Keep the boys on the farm.
Encourage your state agricultural college.
Learn to do better farming, less extern
siye farming. -.
a friend of mine In Connecticut, who
has given the greatest care to the growth
and development Of corn in short sea-
son, has succeeded to the extent that he
gets his corn to ripen in nine weeks
sixty three days. I secured some Of the
seed and I. planted ten acres. My corn IS
ripe, thoroly glazed and past any danger
of frost. Every bushel Of that corn Is
at the disposal Of anybody for seed who
{ wants to secure an early crop in North
: Dakota.
: NV friend in Connecticut harvested
flfty-eight bushels last year. : That Is
] nearly 50 per cent more than the average
Of the state of Iowa. = =
Cd1ldl tUu NCW IAoA n0Vo'
! Now, suppose that you doubled the
yield. What would you do with 1t? You
/ must find a new market. There are new
smarkets to be had. Can you find them
lin South America, where we are spend
!! ing hundreds of millions Of dollars to
build a canal to bring that trade to us?
And we haven't any ships to carry 1t.
We are going to build it for somebody
selse's ships, and hope that we Will have
ships some day. Now, I haven't word
against the canal, because the people
talong the gulf states have had hard
! time and they haven't many appropria-
tions, and they think it will do them
J good.Es But let us gos back and take a
! map sof the world and seake the country
south ofaqthe equator, ana what snare
iof the population OF the world does II
! contain p less than per cent?
] Is that the place where we are going
| to find a market? Is that where the peo>
! pie are that we are going to feed? Let
ius go somewhere where the people are
! old, thick, plentiful. Maybe you call me
La crank, but I have tried to make a
market, and a year ago last fall We car
ried your grain, or your flour, from Min
lnesota and North Dakota to Australia, to
1HongkongS ana to- yokohama Eand If any
would go from the Red River valley tc
the orient I would have thought the man
was at least in <naed of q guardian. OF
I else he thought was.
T. Russia and Japan.
Russia and Japan. have made peace
am glad they have agreed, but I want tc
say this: The agricultural people Of the
! United States find In Russia their great
est competitor Russia raises; what we
raise; they export what we export. We
export, first, cotton. wheat and oil; they
export, first, wheat, oil and cotton. Bu
in the trans-Caspian country they ar
opening up, thru irrigation, great area:
of country where they can raise cottor
] in competition with us, and they will.
! On the other hand, Japan, little
island, densely populated, cannot begi1
to raise enough to feed her own people
] Now the Japanese, whether we like then
! or whether we don't, are going to b.
customers.
want to call your attention to the
4Yact that it has been said that railroad
Gates in the United States have not de
4lined In twenty-five years I took tht
9 record Of our own road for twenty-five
/ years. The record shows, from the, of
fetal report Of the railroad and warehouse
1 reduction has gone from S2,SS ton, 10
I miles, to 70 cents, and the reduction Il
dollars and cents amounts to $676, 100000
Now, $676, 900 is an average, for tn
time, Of 1000, 600, a year. Last year
the year closing June 30 last, If we ha'
the rate Of twenty-n years ago it woul'
! have paid us sS7,00o,0OO more than W
collected. .-,m. - .~... .
Government and Rates.
Many people*are agitating the question
4 of government reduction Of rates. Do yo
Y suppose that any. government reduction o
rates would ever approach a tenth par
Of the reduction that you have had i
( twenty five years.? Let me say that
could not, because the government of tn
4 United States must be conducted unde
sthe provisions of the constitution OF tn
Z United States. and the Interstate com
I merce clause provides that there shall b
I no discrimina ton between one commun1t
4. or one district or one state and anothe,
That drives a government rate abso
f.lutely. to distance tariff, proportional
distance tariff and you in North Dakots
1880 miles from the Atlantic and 1,6O
miles from the Pacific and 1900 mile
! from the Gulf of Mexico, would have
|, go back, because distance tariff woul
! double your present rate, or any rate tha
could be made. - ye.s1. .%:...r
! Don't be misled. Before thing Of ths
Importance is decided, investigate it, an
see whether I have told you what is inco'