The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-03-21
OUR DOMESTIC CARRYING TRADE.

OUR DOMESTIC CARRYING TRADE.
Had not the age of impossibilities
passed. the recent idea OF making
great navigable waterway out of the
Red River of the North, and establish
ing new line of oceanic commune
cation between America and Europe
by way of the Hudson bay might be
considered an Utopian dream.
1t has. however, enough probability
to give it foundation in fact.
When James ]. Hill first announced
to the world that what had been con-
sidered the barren and frozen prair-
les of North Dakota would be con-
verified into the richest farms upon
which the sunshine of heaven ever fell,
people laughed at his lack of judgment.
Now he is reaping the rewards of that
judgment in the accumulation of a
fortune far greater that that of Croes-
US, and all the result of his belief
that nothing is impossible.
The opening of the waterways for
commerce Is one of the great indus
trial problems of the age, principal
of which Is the Panama canal.
1t is not impossible that the settle
ment of the Canadian northwest and
and the adding of that vast empire
to the productive area of the world
will demand shorter water route to
the consuming markets than is now af-
forded.
Geographically Hudson bay should
become this route
If the head waters of the Red river
be SO damned that they would be
utilized in the dry season to keep
the water in the river at navigable
stage, it would certainly become a
large commercial route by which the
Hudson bay route to Europe would be
largely fed.
Other rivers in Canada would serve
the same purpose, but as a nation we
need only be concerned in the river
which would naturally affect our
domestic carrying trade.
We may by statutatory enactment
prevent the development of an inter-
national commerce route, but such
woud always be artificial and is very
much on the plan of legislating value
In an article above its intrinsic value.
The commercial avenues to the east
must be SO developed that the pro-
ducts south Of the line can be trans
ported over them quicker and cheap
er than they can over the one through
Hudson bay, In a word, tide water
must be brought as near on the east
as it is on the north.
Unless this is done there must de-
velop commercial demand for a
northern route. And it must be borne
In mind that commerce in this age
does not know the lines which d.
vide Kingdoms and empires.
Legislation may help but it does not
control the markets of any. country,
much less does it have hand in the
making Of roufes
With all the cry against railroads,
1t must be recognized that they en-
ploy great army of people who must
be fed by the producer thus making
one of the great domestic markets.
Let the traffic by which the railroads
live be transferred to the other corners
this army of consumers must be
thrown on the producing classes, there
by increasing its production and at
the same time decreasing its market.
This in time, will drive all men back
to the soil, where each will be able
to provide only for his immediate
wants because he will have no market
for his surplus--a condition that is
highly developed in all savage nations
and to which some misguided social
economists in this age are seeking
to lead the masses.
1t therefore behooves the people to
take notice of the signs Of the times
and see that the great carrying trade
is preserved for ourselves and that all
its advantages accrue to us as ma
ton.