Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-03-15
NORTH DAKOTA
COAL FAMINE.

x Golfers describes in the issue OF
3 March 8 the unprecedented suffer
+ ing which the farmers Of the north
{ west prairies have to endure because
< of railroad complications that have
z attended the unusually severe winter
i that now happily is almost at a
{ close.
< If you were a North Dakota far
! mer with your last years wheat crop
+ rotting on the ground because there
6 were no cars to take it to an elevat-
x or, with no coal to burn and the ther-
3 mometer thirty or forty degrees be-
j low zero; if you were almost an inde-
Z pendent on the branch railroad which
< connected you with the outside world
z as a ship at sea is dependent upon its
food supply and coal bunkers, and no
I trains came over that railroad; If
you and your wife had to take shifts
sitting up at night keeping a fire go
! ing with wood or by burning your
: own grain and straw, you might not
{ approach the difficulties which the
northern prairie winter brings to the
railroads with perfectly judicial
mind. Some of the North Dakota
comments reprinted here may sound
{ bizarre and frenzied but the condi-
tions were extreme. The farmers
. may be pardoned for believing that
they were the victims of a deliberate
{ railroad conspiracy.
! ut is not a snow blockade or car
: shortage that deprives us of a mar
.. ket for our grain" wrote a citizen Of
( Litchville, North Dakota, to Golfers
on February 10. ''It is a deliberate
!. strike of the railroads against the
people, for some purpose not now ap-
parent. The results are appalling.
, Millions of bushels of grain heating
. and rotting under the snow. We beg
: your assistance and help to end this
intolerable condition"
God Almighty" said one of the
] enclosed clippings from the Litch-
field Bulletin, did not create the ex-
elusive privilege of buying a car of
Z coal. In this land of the free and
! home of the railroad combines the
+ man with the price ought to be able
to buy a car of coal-or ten carloads
4 IL he Wdultu lO-dnu lHG oOOhCL
|. some very small potatoes masquer-
|. aiding as statesmen down at Wash
ington get after this coal trust the
( easier they will feel next election day.
! We've got the hard cash to buy coal
I enough to heat Gehenna one hundred
degrees than the thermometer now
K registers and we've grain enough to
run all the flour mills from Andros-
i. coggin to Yuba Dam.
I'VE want COAL We want -four!
K We want cars to ship our wheat!"
There has been no grain hauled
+ out since December /. Granaries and
elevators are bursting and at least
one hundred thousand bushels are
piled on the ground and in open bins
covered with snow in and around the
towns of Litchville, Marion and Has
tings."
I when laboring men strike and
the traffic of the country is inter-
fered with the army of the United
! States comes to the assistance of the
T corporations. Now the railroads are
4 striking against the people, refusing
< to move the commerce of the coun-
+ try-fue and provisions are exhaust
+ ed, and to the lay mind it is indeed
( time for the army to come to the
X rescue of the people and compel rail-
+ roads to haul the commerce of the
+ country"
{ There are congressman, senator's
< and others high in power in this slor-
: ious land of ours, readers of the Bull
+ letin, who are getting bald trying to
! increase their salaries or help out the
I ALGERIAN crisis, or the sanitation of
4 the Panama zone, or the rejection of
( the Japanese from the public schools
: of California. The railroads hauled
i forty million bushels more grain to
Duluth and Minneapolis in the year
( ending December 1, 1905, than thcs
! did in the year ending December 1,
+ 1906. They have more engines, cars,
s and trackage now than then. This is
{ conclusive evidence that the railroads
: are on a strike against the people. +"
I December 12, 1906-On this day
! the last freight train reached Litch-
Vile.
january IL, 1907--On this day
+ the last pound of coal and last stick
{ of wood in Litchville was sold out
January 13, 1907-On this day
( the last passenger train arrived with
x not enough coal TO return on. 1t is
: still in our midst
- January 16, 1907-On this day
/ Superintendent Burt promised that
this branch would be opened imme-
\ diately and fuel sent in.
7 January 25, 1907-On this day
3 Superintendent Burt telegraphde this
branch would be opened up in pref
\ erence to all other branches on the
\ Dakota division.
January 20. 1907-On this day
Superintendent Burt telegraphed this
branch would positively be opened