The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-09-30

back to the Indians.
West OF your western boundary in
the state of Montana it was already
the property of the Indians. The
land was not coded. When we built
we had TO get an Act Of Congress
permitting us to build through the
unceded lands, and for two years
thereafter it was against uhe law for
white man to put one log on
another. l remember when a few
cattle were being driven from south of
the Missouri river to the railroad I
remember the Indians wanted SO
cents a piece because they travelled
across a mile and a half of their
prairie and they wanted an additional
sum per head for the water they
drank in swimming the Missouri
river. Uaughter). 1t has not been
entirely a bed of roses to build
abroad from Lake Superior to t:~
Pacific ocean, but we have lived thru
it; and with your help because with
out it we could do nothing, with
your help we are getting the road in q
condition where We are MT ashamed
of it.
We are getting it into condition
where we are able to serve you and
give you good service, and prompt
service and at fair and reasonable
rates. And while 1 am on that sub
ject, I want to give you just little
information for yourselves. Every
dollar that we get you have to get 1T
first. The railroad company has only
two means of getting money. One is
to earn it, and the other is to borrow
it,. and when we borrow it it is added
to the capital investment, upon which
you have to pay the interest. Now, I
would rather earn it than run the cap
tal account las has been done in
some other countries, notably in Eng
land,) so high that it is not worth the
money. The Great Northern Railway
stands capitalized today at much
less than its cost, and very much loss
than it could be produced for. AboW
forty one or two Thousand dollars q
mile.
In England their mileage stands
capitalized at three hundred and four
teen thousand dollars a mile for ev-
cry mile OF road except tho small
short lines of loss than one hundred
miles in extent, and the people OF
England have to carry that financial
burden, and it has become SO heavy
that they do not know how to carry 1t.
It has become SO heavy, that their
business cannot carry it.
Their average rate for hauling
ton OF freight one Kindred miles is
1910. The average rate on the Great
Northern last year was ssventy-eight
cents, and yet we pay from twice
and a half to four times the rate OF
wages, and furnish the transportation
at nearly one-third Of their cost. Now,
I do MOI feel ashamed of that. l
think It 10 something to your advan-
tage, and it is something that take
reasonable degree Of pride in.
l always feel that the interest Of the
people served by our line and the in
terest of the company are identical.
You can die as you will, or move
away, and so can j, and time will
gather us all in, but the land, tbs
country will be here, and the railroad
will be here. We cannot imagine q
time when they won't be here, and
they will prosper together, or they
will be poor together, just as the
prosperity of this country goes for
ward. That is the reason that ! take,
and always have taken so great an
interest in the agricultural work that
is being done everywhere on the line
of our road, and it is . most inter-
esting subject because upon the cul-
tivation Of the land depends the fu-
ture Of all the population of this coun-
try, and every citizen within its Dor
ders not only of this tate but Of ev-
cry state and OF every nation in the
whole world. It has always been 30,
1T always will be 80. And a nation
that has neglected the care OF its soil
for any long period of time has ceas-
ed to exist.
One hundred and fifty years ago
or thereabou' s, DR.. Sampel johnson,
one of the most eminent, able think
ers OF any who wrote in the English
language, called attention to the con-
dtion of Spain. When Spain was the
great owner of the southern half Of
this hemisphere, andw the southern
half of the northern hal of the hemi-
sphere from the Rio Grande, or from
New Orleans, to Cape Horn, depend
ing upon the wealth Of the mines Of