Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-01-23
Commissioner Gilbreath Talks to
Tri-State Grain Growers in Faro
and Future Prosperity
and Figures

when taking into account the comfort
of our homes. When the Almighty
created the state OF North Dakota he
carefully took into consideration this
great and important subject, for He
blessed it with 1920 square miles un.
derlaid with excellent Ignite coal,
which can be obtained at the mines
at 80 cents per ton, or the very best
Of it placed in your coal bins for ,$2.75
per ton. 1t is a great blessing TO the
poor man who can and does have an
inexhaustable supply Of fuel at his
very door. AS one has said in speak
ing of our immense coal fields, there
is enough coal in the western part Of
OUR state to heat all the homes in
North Dakota and the homes Of all
the states in the Union throughout all
the winters that the children of the
present generation, and then there
will be enough for all the homes of
Thousand years to come. While
during all the months of summer and
early fall a farmer can stand on his
own threshold and see the coal stick
UP in great chunks, evidences Of Gods
providence, ready to be taken for the
mere labor of getting it." And yet
eastern newspapers annually contain
alarming articles about the scarcity
of fuel in North Dakota.
The more you study North Dakota
the greater she becomes. The facts
are we are having too much prosper
ity. A few years ago we Boosted,
continuously that North Dakota was
~$o - will nj
per. The time has come when we
can no longer truthfuly proclaim
that in public places The two evils
are too closely allied to seoarate one
from the other. The tide of prosper
ity has flowed so swiftly as to per-
NIT the accumulation of the former
and the people have been too busy
with their own affairs to prevent the
latter.
North Dakota sends more people to
Europe for sight seeing tours and
more families to Palm Beach and 9TH
ar southern and western winter re-
sorts, In proportion to the size Of
its population, than any other state In
the Union.
North Dakota is great state;
state that has grown in all those
things which 60 to make up great
commonwealth, and that growth has
been 50 rapid, the movement 80 swift,
that 1t is beyond the comprehension
Of the slower, more conservative Sec
tons Of the east to properly estimate
or appreciate it. After twenty years
Of statehood, 1t has today An assessed
valuation Of $3.50, 900, 900 which cas-
lily means a total value OF property
Of one billion one hundred and TWEEN
ty million dollars. It has 456 stale
banks and 1856 national banks. and
all are in q prosperous condition.
Such a situation could not exist in any
of the states east OF us with five
times its population. Take its per.
capita value Of one crop, which is
limited simply to it's production OF
wheat, oats. barley, fax, rye, corn.
speltz and potatoes and 1t averages
1,32 to each man, woman and child,
and this Is greater sum than can
be shown by any other state in the
Union, and the estimate here given
is based upon an differentiation Of
the yield and actual value Of the pro-
auctions given, rather than upon an
over-cstimation.
TO proceed little further with val.
ues AMI make comparisons, not for
the purpose of disparagement, but to
place North Dakota in its true light
before the people. The fou: recog-
nized great producing states west o!
the Mississippi river, in what is known
as the Northwest territory, are Iowa,
Minnesota, South Dakota and North
Dakota. The records Of the state
auditors Offices OF thes states show