Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1916-12-28
ADVOCATES PLANTS
ON THE MISSOURI
POINTS ON OLD MUDDY LOCI.
CAL FOR STATE ELEVATORS
AND OTHER PLANTS

posed terminal elevator and the state
owned packing plant should be To-
Gated on the Missouri river, at the
Bismarck and Mandan side, respec-
lively, in the opinion of John Blood
good Of New Salem, who says:
"The terminal elevator recently
dedicated by the Society of Equity
will he great help to the city Of
st. Paul and state Of Minnesota. But
it is not fair for North Dakota pro
ducers to 90 in with the money they
make from North Dakota farms and
build up St. Paul and Minnesota.
Rather, they should build up North
Dakota and our own cities.
II have lived in Morton county 33
years. am 68 years old and l am
not looking for anything for myself.
But for the good of the state of which
/ think so much, l ask, why not
build terminal elevators and state
packing plants here in our own
state?' Surely no state has better
right to such plants. This state has
everything within her own boundar-
les to justify the building of such en-
terprises. And a start should be
Question of Site
"An important question is that of
a proper site. will suggest as the
logical location for a state terminal
elevator the Missouri river landing
on the Bismarck side, and for state
packing plant the Missouri river land
ing on the Mandan side. First, be-
cause these locations are nearly in
the center of the state; second, be-
cause the selection of the sites named
would place these important enter
prises upon one of the greatest rivers
in the world, a stream which soon
must become one of the northwest's
greatest arteries of commence. This
will mean an opportunity for the
producers of all the northwest to ship
their grain, livestock, dressed meats,
every product Of the farm, from Man
dan and Bismarck by an all-water
route to Europe, via New Orleans.
with but one transfer. Think of this
s4eaving in transportation and of all
the middle mems profits which would
be eliminated! And then consider
the hundreds of cities this route
would bring US as a market for our
produce. North Dakota railroads
would be compelled to meet river
competition if the plants we're To-
Gated here, and we could do away
the river would be the best regulator
of rates.
River Route Feasible
"Friends of the railroads will tell
you that the river route will never
work; that river transportation has
been going backward for the last fifty
years. and this is all true. But they
may not tell you the real cause, which
is that the legislatures of every state
in the Union except New York have
assisted the railroads in killing the
canals and river transportation. But
now the order of things has changed,
and peop,c ere ere coming once more iii iii-
to their own.
"If our government in the last fifty
years had stood by its rivers and built
canals instead of spending mill lions in
fighting the railroads and pleasing
political pork seekers by dumping
millions into worthless creeks. we
would now be in q position where
transportation tariffs would adjust
themselves without any tinkering up
on the part Of the interstate COM
merce commission or local boards.
And I trust that as means OF al.
vancing the development Of our great
river and of furthering the progress
of the entire state, our new admins
tration will work for enterprises
within the state of North Dakota to
the complete exclusion of ANYTHING
outside the state"