Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1905-12-16
LOTUS EXPLAINS WHY1rIIaN 2
sofa RETURNS ARE Low.
Farms Get Lower Income Per Acre
Because Higher Freight Rates Are
Paid than in Iowa--Heavy Railroad
Profits in This State at Expense
of Producer.


lower freight rates in Minnesota, is
out with trenchant reply to James
j. Hills speech delivered at Willmar
Sept. %. In this address Mr.. Hill
contended that farmers of Minueso ia
were not getting the returns they
!. should from their land, and said:
The state of Iowa today has an
annual income from her farm lands
of about IS 20 an acre. In Minnesota
it is 81 81. In the southern tier OF
counties it is little under S."
The Lotus reply is significant be-
cause it is circular to members OF
the National Hay association. Mr.
Lotus is chairman of the Transports
ton committee of that important
{ body of shippers. The circular in
substance is as follows:
"SureIy there is something the mat
ter with Minnesota of most serious
character if Mr.. Hills statement is
true. Doubtless Mr.. Hill obtained
his figures from the national census
reports, ard they may therefore be
accepted as authentic In elaboration
of this statement, Mr.. Hill gives some
details intended to prove that the
farmers of Minnesota are not as in
teiligeut, industrious or en- .rgatic as
the farmers Of Iowa. Mr.. Hill admits
that the soil of Minnesota is equal in
all essential qualities to that of Iowa,
and that climatic conditions are prac-
ticalIy the same in both states, hence
he must needs arraign the farmers of
Minnesota as occupying low plane
in the scale of their class
A Few Statistics.
"The farmers of Minnesota, in re-
Spouse to this Indictment, offer Mr..
Hill few statistics furnished by the
renorts of the railway and warehouse
commissioners of Iowa and Minneso ta
for 1904, the latest official railway
statistics issued from these official
sources. From the reports of the rail
way com panies furnished by them
selves, as printed in these reports. it
appears that the mileage and net
earnings of the several railroads
Operated in Iowa and Minnesota in
1903, were as follows:
Net Net Earnings
Mileage Earnings. per Nile
Iowa 1886 SIC 1872 S1,7e6
Minnesota 1850 35.750,2o3 4,9O01
:Thas4 satisfies shaw that Ninne-
sofa with 2 246 or 80 per cent less
mileage than Iowa. paid such excess.
i've rates that her railroads made
SIS, 316, 1858 or LII per, cent net earn
ings in excess of the railroads of Iowa,
and S., 10 or 283 per cent more net
earnings per mile. Equalizing the
mileage of the two states, Minnesota
paid at the rate of $24, 112,058 more
than Iowa in the net earnings to her
railroads in 1903
This tribute. this excessive burden
was principally borne by the products
of the farms of Minnesota. The
grain, the hay, the stock. the dairy
and other products of the farms of
our state were taxed to furnish the
bulk of these excessive millions.
Mr.. Hills philanthropy.
"Mr. Hill. in his speech at the Fill
more county fair Sept. 20, sought to
impress his hearers with the fact that
railroad charges had been greatly re-
duced in recent years, and the newt
able inference drawn from his state
m1nts would indicate that he was a
prime factor in tbs t benefcent work.
He stated that the average receipts
per ton per 100 miles of all the rail-
roads of the country had been re-
duced from S1.99 in 1870 TO "a cents
in 1908. One would, of course, infer
that the rates Oh his road (the Great
Northern) must be as low as the aver
age turnout the country, but an ex
animation of the railway commission
er's report shows that his rate for
1903 was not IA cents, but 98 10
cents per ton per hundred mile
IA Clio cents or 20 per cent in excess
of the average turnout the country.
THE Chicago Great Western is the
only railroad in Minnesota that has
reduced its rates to a level that near
ly conforms to the average prevailing
thruout the country as quoted by Mr..
Hill. The rate per ton per 100 miles
on that road in 1903 was IA 76-10O i