The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1907-01-25
LEGISLATIVE CORRESPONDENCE.
A Calm View of tho Present Situa-
tion.

v
To the Editor; am devoting such por-
ton of my time as | can command tHls
winter to correspondence from the iesis-
lature, and ii seems to me that lhe sllua
ton is one which makes 1t the duly %
thoughtful men who feel that they can
fairly and impartlally consider the rel
ton which the railroads occupy TOWARDS
the people to speak for the pubic il.ei,
esls. For nearly half a century ! nave
watched with much interest ana conctrn
the development of the great Noftil"est.
have never in my life owned Il snare OF
railroad stock OF been IN the employ ol
d railroad or other corporation to advance
lheir interests, either in accord or aSdi.st
the popular sentiment, anu sum iioUe.tts
Claiming to some extent that | occupy the
position of Il publicist, l 1eel as a selse
of duty the Importance to me puptie NO NO
urge a ought consideration OF lne
present situation. i make no claim TO
speak for the railroads, but do leel tHal
az one who for nearly tfty years has Gis,
ccrely and honestly written anu SPonF "
TO advance and care for the pupllc W.
care that ] have some right TO eNpi,
my views without my motives oeliI6 w.
pugned. The railroads are very lar ilolt
perfection. They are not conducted WIN
an eye single To the public "ellale, W W
they have rights and there are two ~ tSs
to the question as between them anu tmo
| plblic, and you cannot cripple or daii1aSe
Chem without Gripping or damaging your
MIR. j. j. Hill, president Of the Great
Northern, addressed the North"esteIh
LunIbermen's association at Mlhhsapol,s
a few days ago, and certainly saae SOY To
thoughts for serious Consideration w.
demonstrate my statement that tleIe
really are two sides, | ask perlilsSlo" "
briefly quote some OF the Vle"S I'LL
pressed. $1,000
Among other things MIR. Hill said:
.snt want to ask your most earnest
attention, and | want 10 urge upon ~
/ simply a condition and not a lmeoI ~,
And that condition is that 'hele timber
without delay from the Paeiilc coast ~.
the long distance described, uh,A eaSts
can be more tracks on which TO lhoNe
The cars. There are cars enough TODAY;
If. instead of twenty-tvtf theA ~ Ia
move fifty miles a daY-Whlch "oulu We
lour hours out of the twenty-four, one
sixth of the time-there are cars elptsN
.o-day to move Il great deal more i'll.-
oe,. than you want TO buy. But w!Iiy.''
ne track and without the terminal
a%ijities it cannot be moved, and it NH,
not be moved and the car lainnG "nt
continue unuil ulese faelllties ana 0, aP-
p%liances are furnished, aha YOU 0 md
everybody else's business will have to
suffer and will have To pay. road.
For that reason you can All 90 soou,
you can all help, ana the help that YOU
can render is by taking q careful ana
intelligent view of the situation; 70 so u
say to Your neighbor, There are Two
sides to this question. Let US be lalf.
Let us establish CONFIDENCE .au.o.as
The people who build the railfoaus
ments. Now. take the Great Northern
railway. Out OF 1900 shareholders my
than I per cent. And there are lil 'v
women on our list of shareholders Alla
when the peoples property Is heid up as
something to be adopted by the state,
taken away from them-sonethlnS tllat
is branded with the brand of Unpopular
ity, at least-is that going to lhauee snese
for many of them are as little able to
put money into investments of that KIND
as YOU are-is that the sort sort of invest est
ment you prefer? Or Will you look
somewhere else?
Money Must Be Raised.
I'VE undertook to make an expenditure
p over 600 next year IN a ADD.
tional tracks. and this new line spoke
amounting in the neighborhood OF 500
100000. and tried to raise $6o,0oo.ooo from
their own money in their own business;
and take the chances that they would
receive a dividend if the company earned
It. But we are defending a lawsuit to,
lay, the contention being that they shall
aot put their money into their own bust
ness. to furnish the facilities that they
point to furnish.
before these questions will be settled
and better understanding and better APP
probation on the part of everybody as
to what is best to be done. The share
their dividend if the company earns it,
Speaking for our own company. our
shareholders get the same dividend they
same rate. But if we cannot handle our
business. and If we cannot raise the
n es,d to create faeilities to enable us us
railroads must suffer but you must suf-
ter with them.
Mr.. Hill pleaded for a spirit of con-
II want to ask you, as rational and
reasonable men, to. consider your own
Interests. and see where they point, See
how the situation may be remedied. ASK
drive a horse to drink, to make him
drink w after e rra he gets him to the well?
our minds have got to come together;
and We haye got to depend on each
and you nave to depend on us. Then we
can get along very, very much better.
What we have to do, and the difficult
to make these improvements. l want to
say to, you that there has not been a
time since 1898 when it has been SO
The speaker said the money necessary
to furnish relief must be Forthcoming
enormous task. The money markets of
the old world had been fished until there
were no more fish there. 1t had become
class, men whose own characters would
not bear the tl%ashliglht of inquiry, tc
iblSt VIZ dli tlo IG TdllIOdQS were
always willing to discuss affairs of trans.
portation in. a fair spirit.
Freight Rates.
On the question of freight rates Mr.
Hill said:
When we compare them with the rates
in Europe they are less than half as
much, as a rule. The average rate in
Great Britain is 1924 for hauling a tor
of freight a hundred miles; in Russia il
is about S1.75, and in the United States
it is IS cents. These figures are official
Those are the average rates. 1t is true
that our average is a little more thar
one-third less than 40 per cent of the
average of Europe, and we pay a higher
scale of wages. They pay locomotive en-.
gineers from 60 cents to $1.25 and s1.5O g
day. We pay $3.50 and probably will b.
paying in the neighborhood of So within
a week. daughter.)
And so all down the list. You know
the difficulty of getting good labor at any
price # the railroad systems of the
at an average cost of less than half tina,