Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-09-30

is good and the transportation machine
is carrying a good load.

The owners OF some OF the Well-man-
aged farms may expect to have left from
II to Is per cent on their investment in
their. business. In merchandising in
this territory the storekeeper is making
a good profit, ranging from 8 to - 10
on his gross business and very much
higher on the average value of his in
vestment in stocks of goods. The rail-
road owner rarely receives seven per
cent on his investment and the average
return in 1909 on such stocks as par
dividends was only little more than
four.
The railroad is necessary to the farm
er and the farmer to the railroad.
Neither can live and profit without the
other The best condition will exist
when the treatment each by the other
is fair, considerate and friendly. Agri-
culture has gone forward in North Da-
lcota by leaps and bounds, and the rail-
roads have grown large at the same
time. If they were not big they would
not give the service this State demands,
and no one would for moment think
of returning to the railroad facilities
of twenty or even ten years ago.
There is growing appreciation
among our solid business men and
farmers of the great future before these
northwestern states. Their richness of
soil and productiveness, their excellent
climate and natural attractions, their
undeveloped resources and the large
areas of good land yet unused, prom
Use to many man in coming years
sure and satisfactory opportunity to
engage profitably in agriculture or bus
mess.
These states are much favored, and
| the belief that there should be joint
work for the future upbuilding of this
region is obtaining a firm hold. This
exposition will carry much good news
of the wealth and resources of North
Dakota to the wrld and is an expression
Of the feeling which is common among
all business and professional men,
agriculturalists and others interested in
the future of this state, that what
North Dakota has to offer should be
told the world at large in unmistakable
terms.
The exposition of the land products
of the northwest, to be held in St. Paul
/ in December, is another expression of
the same feeling in little larger circle
OF progressive men, and promises to do
a great work in advertising the north
west to the country at large.
The railroads have been pioneers in
development work, and will 90 forward
along the same line as fast as circum-
stances will permit, if they can feel
sure that they have the cordial cooper
alton of the people of this state. The
owner of the mile of railroad needs en-
enlargement at this time, for construct
i've work in the furthering of new en-
terprises has halted because investors
do not know what to look forward to in
the future.
Even with the moderate returns of Z
per cent earned only by the railroads
classed as the most successful, the re-
ward to the man who risks his money
i'll owning mile of railroad is small
compared with the returns made BY the
successful farmers of this state, the
successful merchant who would think
his business was failure if in a good
year he received only per cent-with
the successful banker who makes a
higher rate of profit even in an ordi-
nary year. The industrial census of
1908 showed the average return on
81 900 invested, for the country as
whole as ISL per cent in the case of
manufactures, 90 per cent in the case
of agriculture and only 4.46 per cent in
the case of railroads. Compare this with
the profits in merchandising and bank
ing and see how much incentive there
is for the investor to put his money into
a $50, 900 mile of railroad, with its
small chances of making profit and
all the risks of ordinary business in ad-
dition to numerous restrictive rules and
regulations imposed by the state and
the nation.
Lewis and Clark spent the winter of
l804-5 on the Missouri river above this
city. 1t was here that the fortunate in
cident of obtaining Charbonneau as
their interpreter, and through him the
heroic Sakakawea, his wife, as men,
bers of their exploring party occurred.
But for her knowledge of the western
Montana regions, her wit and resource
and her faithfulness, their explorations
might have had very different end,
and it was fttino that you recently I'M
yelled her statue here, as monument !
to the services of one who, though not |
born in what is now this state, was one
of the earliest and most notable of the |
many brave and heroic North Dakota
women who have contributed to the
upbuilding not alone of this common
wealth, but of the west.
North Dakota was wilderness then, |
but now the homes of many prosperous
farmers, dotted with good towns and
the happy homes of contented and
thriving people who are enjoying, even
though they are of moderate means,
the luxuries that the early pioneers
never dreamed of. One hundred years
is not a great period in the life of
country like the United States, and the
future should hold much in store for
all, if they work, have self-reliance and
are fair to all interests-the farm, the
store and the railroads.