Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1909-11-29
HILLS WARNING;
TO The NATION
Why Railroad Man Fears Our
National Extravaganza.
RATE We LIVE At DANGEROUS

Believes II Will Destroy Whole Moral
Fabric Of the Nation-Too Many
Consumers, Wants More Producers
Says Money Should Be Spent on
Farms, Not Guns.
James j. Hill, the pioneer of the
northwest and one of the most con-
spicuous railroad men of the world,
believes that the United States must
recede from it's extravaganza, the Lu.
cullian way Of living, and get back to
the old way Of hog, hominy and milk
or else 60 to destruction.
mot only America, but Europe" he
said recently to an interviewer at his
office in New York, lis afflicted with
the germ Of recklessness. Our ma
tional legislature sets the pace.
I'VE are spending millions on top of
millions for the army, for the navy,
when we need neither. For congress
to appropriate the several hundred
millions annually, as it does, for the
guns of the ships is encouragement for
the individual to talk about warfare
when there isn't any war cloud appar-
ent anywhere.
Commercial War Needed.
Grant said, Let us have peace.
But, as Napoleon desired for his time
and his reign, this country seems to
wish war. And why and for what
| What reason have we to combat. ex-
cept commercially, any foreign power ?
And yet, speaking soberly, | will say
that we must do something quickly
| toward regaining our trade with other
countries.
| Germany. England and France are
advancing and pre-empting territory
that naturally belongs to us. We can
recover that trade only by encourage
ing shipping industries. by more mark
ed methods of inviting trade, by sys-
TENS of reciprocity, by competition
the latter, after all, being the real key
note of commerce.
Were in control of the finances of
this government | should spend more
for the development of the farm and
less for the tineness of firearms.
should have agricultural stations sit
uated in all parts of the nation where
one might come to be taught how to
grow two blades of grass where but
one grew before.
Have Too Few Producers.
think of the congestion in the cities.
How long can this nation survive UNI
der present conditions? We have few
producers, Il multitude of consumers.
l have forgotten the figures, but some
where | have read that 20 per cent of
the people live III city houses, steam
heated flats, in homes unsuited for
health, uncquippcd for the sturdiness
necessary for the development of our
manhood. | should like to see the GOV
eminent spend millions in the encour-
agement Of men and women going to
the country, there to live as God in
tended they should live-to raise chill
dren, produce grain, meat and milk.
I'VE must get out of the notion that
we are living for the present. 1t is a
bad system of society that prompts the
we'll being of today. caring nothing for
tomorrow, for those who come after.
People should Go to Farms.
"Millions upon millions of acres lie
undiSturbed in the west, in the south
and even in the east. You have pow
erty stricken people in your great cit
les, children who are denied the privi-
leges of education, mothers who must
60 through life with tear stained eyes,
husbands and fathers with burdens
they can i'll afford to carry And why?
Because Of their nonproductiveness.
This country as a government ulti-
mately must go backward unless we
induce the people to go to the farms
out in the country where health may
be obtained, whore Il man may make
living. where the boys and girls may
go hopfooting it over hill and valley,
gaining strength with every step.
The desire seems to be for the
young to get to the city. That desire
must be circumvented, dissipated by
some sort of method We must make
the country life as attractive to the
young as the city is. We must teach
them that where the city affords dol
lar the rural communities will contrib
ute 50. And that is true unless one is
a genius.
You ask about the prosperity of the
nation. 1t was never better. Crops
have been good. mortgages have been
wiped away by the millions, new fields
have been opened. new cities built, new
railroads constructed. others planned.
Peace reigns. l can see no black spot
anywhere. There will be no central
bank. The country will not stand for
1t.
LET congress and the various state
legislatures take 4 more catholic view
Of the railroad situation. Let them re-
member that the railroad investor has
his money at stake. that he has con-
tributed something toward the devel-
opment Of the country, that he is nei-
Their thief nor robber, as some
would have his countrymcn believe,
and then we will have Il. more homo
geneous nation, less trouble. more -four
and bacon sides in our pantries. fewer
suicides. greater bank accounts in our
savings institutions. better morals.
I'VE must learn to be less eXtrava-