Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-05-28
IOWA HAS WORLDS
GREATEST MARKETS
Comparison of Advantages to Pro-
ducers Here and Elsewhere.
HAWKEYE STATE CENTER OF
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
Well Informed Iowa Man Gives Ben.
eft of Observations i'm interest
ing Interview.

Iowa is the hub of the greatest
live stock markets of the world. chi
cago on the east, Minneapolis on the
north, Sioux City and Omaha on
the west, Kansas City, St. Joe and
st. Louis on the south, together with
the markets within her own borders,
afford the greatest opportunity Of
fered to any people of the world to
market the products of the farm.
More than nine thousand miles
of railroad within the borders of the
state, a mileage that is exceeded on
ly by three other states in the I'm
ion, connect all Iowa points with
these great markets. Very few
farmers in Iowa live ten miles from
railroad. At any and all seasons
of the year Iowa farmers have the
advantage of the highest prices with
short hauls. ~
Lack of markets and railroad ia
cilities have rendered the crops at
many parts of Canada and western
United States almost worthless. In
some of the irrigated sections of our
mountain states, potatoes rot in the
ground for lack Of market; fruit
falls ungathered; alfalfa is unclt
and there is no harvest because
there is no market.
A former Iowa man after spend
ing some time in some of the noun
tain states returned to Ida County
Iowa. In an interview published
in the Ida County Pioneer, he said:
Il could have bought train load
of potatoes for ten cents bushcl. |
saw pit after pit of the finest po,a-
toes you ever saw that the owner
said he would not open but would al
low them to rot down where they
were so he could resume his farm
ing operations on top Of them.
1T is the same with their fruit.
They raise an immense crop every
year Their apples they pick by
hand, carefully sort and resort
them, wrap them in tissue and pack
them in boxes. 1t is beautiful fruit.
all the same size and color and some
years they get good price, but
more often they don't. Last fall
their fruit raisers organized and
shipped their fruit back to the cold
storage countries, Chicago, st. Paul
Omaha, Kansas City and some to
Des Moines, with the idea of selling
fruit during the winter when the
price was right. The price was nev
er right, however, for Iowa and the
middle west had all the home rails
ed apples they needed and when the
settlement came, the. fruit raisers ol
the west did not get enough of
their crop to pay the freight"
The vast Dominion of Canada with
an area of sc 1-2 times that Of
Iowa, has no live stock or grain
markets within it's borders to com
pare with those contiguous to Iowa
The great bulk of the grain frolf
the western provinces goes to mar
ket by way of the Great Lakes
reached at Ft. Williams and Por1
Arthur, Ontario, the Twin Cities al
the head of Lake Superior. Here
the terminal elevators are made
quate to the demands and shipping
is very congested.
The central body of the organized
farmers of Canada, known as the
Dominion Council of Agriculture, IN
it's meeting in Regina, Sask., eigh
teen months ago, passed resolutions
urging the Dominion government u
use it's utmost influence with Cana
dian railways operating in western
Canada to provide more cars and IN
creased elevator service and also tt
make the best arrangements possible
with the railroads of the Unitee
States for the use of their cars IRON
western Canada points to Minneapo
lis and Duluth. From Regina tt
Minneapolis by rail is SO7 miles
from Des Moines to Minneapolis, 27i
miles. This is a haul for the Cana
dian farmer three times the distance
of the haul for an Iowa farmer load
ing his grain at some point in The
vicinity of Des Moines and Regina II
really close to Minneapolis as com
pared to many of the points II
NORTHWESTERN Canada. Further
than this, the Canadian shipper
must pay a duty on his grain int
this country.
Great markets develop naturall.