The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1905-10-12

never given your representatives, III
would win your approval and, a continu-
ance of the honors they covet by getting
the most numerous and the largest ,appro-
your city or town or district? If you
nave. then remember that reform must
begin at the fountain head, the people.
And as a state or a city or a nation has
revenue has no money except that
which is taken out of the pockets of in
dividuals through taxation. If you have
tice. then you LAY encouraged and pro-
NOTED graft. No man and no nation ever
was or ever will be rich enough to with
stand the continuous attack of ~unrebuked
and no national or individual
character can be pure enough to remain
unsullied by a federation Of a low stand
ard of honesty.
Now we come to another particular In
which 1t becomes you to test these gen.
tlemen who serve you and to ask every
politician for his credentials. Let us see
unaided efforts. by unremitting toll
and saving and the brave venture to
wrest q living. from nature, have accu,
these varied forms of wealth that we
see about us to-day are typical. To what
extent, If any, have you been hindered by
as they have been quoted, in evidence of
the care that has been taken of your
Two Main Needs.
Your main needs are two: an adequate
market in which your products may be
sold at a fair price, and an opportunity
to purchase those things that you need
which the farm does not supply. TO what
extent have these been furnished to you, \
and in what condition do you stand with
reference to them?
AS far as your grain is concerned, you
must sell in the markets of the world.
There is no escape from that. The wheat
Of Southern Minnesota and the wheat of
every other country on the face of the
earth will bring to the farmer, the price
that is fixed in the worlds markets. The
great consuming nations, with Great Brit
ain at their head, must have bread. They
purchase 1t where they can, seeking all
who have wheat and flour to sell. And by
the competition of all these sellers. India
and Russia and the Argentine and Aus
tralia as well as the United States, the
there? or q truth it is impossible to help
you in any way but one, to which We will
come presently. The average politician,
telligence that you possess, will tell you
that you have been helped, have been
protected" as he will call it, by placing
the farm. But you know better. You
know that a tariff on imports of AT article
which you do not wish to import, but
plant in August. In the year ended June
&c, 1904. there We're imported into the
y mn aH States State a} 54s it, S'S n'ot bushels ta Of wh neat
tect this? This last year there were inn
ported 3,1O2, $50 bushels. Either figure is
totally Insignificant in a country. whose
own wheat crop runs from 6OO, 900, 600 to
100000 900 bushels. But the f1uctuatiOn
itself shows, since the tariff remained un-
altered, that the latter has nothing what
ever to do with the matter. Your grain
and your dairy products and your live
stock are beyond the reach Of all such
assistance. The market in which your
grain. cattle and hogs are sold is not at
fected by them at all. And consequent
ly, whatever you may think or may say
to the gentlemen who tell you that a
you may reply with great confidence that.
as far as sales of your products are
concerned. it profits you no more than
an edict against immigration from the
moon.
There is one way, however, in which
you may be helped, and that is by lessen
ing the cost Of transportation. What you
get for the yield of your farms is the
price where the consumer lives, less the
cost Of carrying the article from you to
him. That cost you have to bear: ANY
pocket: and when any one advises you
that you are vitality interested in decreas-
ing the cost of transportation he is tell
ing YOU the truth. But how is this to be
brought about?
No one can arbitrarily send out a proc
lamation that such a service shall be
performed at such and such a charge.
The business of transportation is like all
other business in this: 1t must be con-
Quoted on a business basis; The cost Of
growing out of increased volume. So he
does most for you in this respect who
opens new markets. secures new custom
ucts and of purchases. This is the way
in which the diminution of the cost Is
carriage has been effected. and the change
is greater than has occurred in the price
Of almost any other commodity. The
average %recciDts per ton per one hundred
miles of all the railroads in the United
Cto{rc. WV ro q 4 40 Il. pr q - - L. 1000
~ cents in 1890. "A cents in 1903. while
in Great Britain it is 1896 and on the
continent of Europe from $40 to $1.70.
The Great Northern railroad has been
reducing it's rates progressively for the
last twenty-five years. The records of
the company and Of the state railway
ifs had not been altered in that time. If
it had charged throughout unit, to-day
the rates that were then in force; it
600 900 more than it has received during
the twenty-five years, an average of over
$27, 900. 900 and this a reduction on one
of being here with you. That is a meas
ure of what has taken place as rapidly
as the growth of the business permitted
and made prudent. And I need not tell
any of you who read the papers and keep
in touch with the events of the day that
this work Is stu going on. and that the
will be sent to market on the lowest
freight rate ever made in the whole his.
tory Of the Northwest.
Railroad Rates.
How has this been accomplished? B,
seeking to build up the country, by study.
ing how to develop its resources and it.
prosperity. by inducing settlers to come
and till the vacant land and by takin.
care of those already here. BY careful
business management and by recognizing
the essential partnership between the mar
on the soil and the railway which serve:
him; And want to ask you as 70,
study these figures to say whether thest
results. so beneficial to yourselves, coulc
ever have been reached through a polio,
of antagonist and force. Some of tn,
politicians will tell you that railroad rate.
must be fixed by order of the government
and that this is the reason why the,
must be kept in public life. 1t is an easy
prophecy, because it Is an obvious fact
that railroad rates in this country. woult
decline more slowly under government
control than if fixed by those who hav,
intelligently managed the railways. N,
public body would dare to make reduc
ions so sweeping as those that have BEEF
made voluntarily by the railways. Unles
the people onHits lines are prosperous tn
railway must be poor. They suffer to
gether or prosper together, and this con
dition will always remain. Those VIII
make the rates with full knowledge Of al
the facts entering into them will max
them as low as possible because tina
means more people, more acres under cul
tivation, more business for the railroa
cOmpany to carry, more earnings an