The Ladysmith news and Ingram news. [volume] (Ladysmith, Wis.) 1905-1906, 1905-09-30

| as a candluaCe Tor a place WHO'LL you
| would not for a moment trust TO repre-
! sent you in business transaction? have
you never sent to Office a man whose rec
ord was not what it should be? And nave
| you never given your representatives, IN
| state or nation, to understand that they
| would win your approval ana contInu-
ance of the honors they ,coyet by getIlng
| the most numerous and the largest appro-
| priatiOnS for unnecessary undertakings III
| your city or town or district! IL you
| have, then remember that reform must
begin at the fountain head the people,
| And as a state or a city a nation mas
no revenue, has no money except tnat
which is taken out of the pockets of in
| dividuals through taxation, if you nave
| Wlnked at or tacitly rewarded this prac-
| tice, then you have encouraged ana pro-
NOTED graft. No man and no nation eyer
| was or ever will be rich enough to WITH
stand the continuous attack of unrebuked
peculation; and no national or individual
| character can be pure enough to remain
unsullied by a liberation of low stand
| ard of honesty.
Now we come to another particular In
| which it becomes you to test these gen
| tlenen who serve you and to ask every
| politician for his credentials. Let US see
what they have done for you. You, by
your unaided efforts, by unrem1ttlng TOLL
and saving and the brave venture 10
| Wrest a living from nature, have accu.
! mulated certain resources of which all
| these varied forms of wealth that we
see about US to-day are typical; 10 what I8,t
extent, if any, have you been hindered by
the various measures that will be quoted,
as they have been quoted, in evidence OF
the care. that has been taken of your
| interests?
Two Main Needs.
| Your main needs are two: an adequate
| market in which your products may pc
sold at fair price, and an opportunity
to purchase those things that you need
which the farm does not supply. 10 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 lace 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. Iney
purchase it where they can, seeking all
who have wheat and flour to sell. And py
the competition of all these sellers, India
and Russia and the Argentine and Aus
tralia as we'll as the United States, the
price is settled Have you been helped
there? OF a truth it is impossible to he!p
come presently. The average politician
who does not give you credit for the IN
telligence that you possess, will tell you
that you have been helped, have been
protected" as he will call it, by placing
a tariff on wheat and other products of
the farm. But you know better You
know that a tariff on imports of an article
which you do not wish to import but
which you have for sale in vast quant1~
ties, is as useless as a steam heating
plant in August. In the year ended June
so. 1904, there were imported into the
United States just 1852 bushels of wheat
in all. How did the protective tariff pro-
ported 8, 1O2, 5S5 bushels. Either figure is
totally insignificant in country whose
own wheat crop runs from OO,OO0OO0 to
SOO.OO0,0O0 bushels. But the f1uctuatlon
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 af-
fected by them at all. And consequent
to the gentlemen who tell you that a
tariff has been enacted for your benefit,
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.
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
thing that diminishes it is money in your
| 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 proc
lamation that such a service shall be
performed at such and such charge
, The business of transportation is like al
other business in this: it must be con
Quoted on a business basis. The cost OF
it can be 1essened only by economies
growing out of increased volume. So he
does most for you in this respect who
opens new markets, secures new custom
, ! ers and helps to swell the volume of prod
Tcts and of purchases This is the way
in which the diminution of the cost OF
carriage has been effected, and the change
is greater than has occurred in the price
of almost any other commodity. The
average. receipts per ton per one hundred
States were ere Si.o9 in in 1870 SIT in 1880
in Great Britain It is $2,a5 and nd on the the
continent of Europe from $40 to $40
The Great Northern railroad has beer
reducing it's rates progressively for the
last twenty-five years. The records OF
the company and of the state railway
commission show that, if its freight tar
it had charged throughout until to-day
the rates that were then in force, il
would have received more than $676,
100000 more than it has received during
tho twenty-five years, an average of over
$27 100000, and this a reduction on one
road, and I am as proud of that as | an
ure of what has taken place rapidly
as the growth of the business permitted
and made prudent. And [ need not tel
, any of you who read the papers and keeI
, in touch with the events of the day tina
this work is still going on, and that the
, crops raised this year in the Northwes
, will be sent to market on the loves
! 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 taking
care of those already here. BY careful
business mana cement and by recognizing
the essential partnership between the MAJ
: on the soil and the railway which serves
him. And / want to- ask you as vol
| study these figures to- say whether thes
| results so beneficial to yourselves, coult
& | ever have been reached through a polio,
F.; of antagonism and force. Some of tn,
$ politicians will tell you that railroad rate
e must be fixed by order of the government
I and that this is the reason why the,
Q must be kept in public life. 1t is an cas-!
z prophecy, because it is an obvious fact
! that railroad rates in this country Woul(
7 decline more slowly under government
1 control than if fixed by those who hav
intelligently mana ged the railways. NJ
public body would dare to make reduc
lions so sweeping as those that have beer
: made voluntarily by the railways Unles
4 the people on it's lines are prosperous tn
;, gether or prosper together. and this con
: dition will always remain Those VIII,
I make the rates with full knowledge of al
= the facts entering into them will max
K them as low as possible because tina
| .,oooy,r rooro roaon1a more acres under Cul