The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1920-03-06
WHEN DULUTH JOBBERS' UNION
PASSED SOME RESOLUTIONS.

| building the Duluth, Missabe & North
ern Railway into Duluth, thereby max
ing it unnecessary to send Mesaba
range ore to the Allouez dock via the
Duluth & Winnipeg railway. The first
D. NJ & N. ore dock was being built
and it came into commission that fall.
To do all this, required millions of
| money. st. Louis county was asked,
therefore, to vote bonds in the sum Of
$3.50, 900 to help the project. The bonds
carried and were turned over to the
railway company, then dominated by
the Merits. It was not long after
wards that John D. Rockefeller called
his loans to the Merritt interests. They
could not meet the call and the godly
oil magnate scooped in railroad, mines
| and, of course, got full benefit Of the
St. Louis county bonds. When the peo-
pie saw how the pioneer Merritts had
been so quickly cleaned out, they were
sorry they voted the bonds.
Thursday, May II, 1893, at meet
ing of the Duluth Jobbers Union, a
committee composed of John B. Suit
phin, Charles A. Duncan, D. Clint.
Prescott, G.. G.. Hartley and H. II. Han
| ford reported in favor of extending
aid to the extent of $250,0O0 to the D.
NJ. & N. in the following resolutions,
which were adopted, viz:
1.-The prime movers, the Merritts,
have our unqualified confidence as men
of integrity, business foresight, pluck
and ability-qualities which have been
amply demonstrated to this community,
as these men have spent most Of their
lives in our midst.
2.-The aid they ask is needed. To
build and equip a railroad, such as
they are building, requires a vast
amount Of money. Nothing but unhm-
tied faith and pluck would have justi-
fled a venture of such magnitude, in
volving, substantially, pledge Of their
entire fortunes and energies.
3.-The aid they ask is deserved. In
the face of obstacles and difficulties
of the most trying character, this en-
terprise has been pushed along until
now it is an assured success, giving to
Duluth and St. Louis county the enor-
nous benefit arising from the full and
free development Of the Mesaba range
and of all the territory along the line
of that road-a condition which never
could have been realized but for the
ready pluck, courage and loyalty to St..
Louis county of the men who stood un-
alterably committed to the enterprise,
when a little weakness, a little hest.
fancy or a little fear on their part
would have lost to Duluth and to this
county at large all the great promises
of both range and road.
4.-The sum asked is reasonable and
the county we'll can afford to advance
it, especially as the great bulk Of it
will be spent right here. where our own
people will get the benefit Of it. The
rails, Of course, must be bought abroad,
but nearly all the equipment of all
kinds will be made right here at home.
5.-The jobbers of Duluth, in COM
mon with the people at large, will de-
rive benefits from these enterprises
which now cannot be calculated. Large
towns and cities will result from the
development of the range and these
must be supplied chiefly from Duluth.
Lastly-This road will bring to our
doors the material that will form the
basis of the great manufacturing con-
Germs which must, at near day in the
future, settle along our waterfront
from Lester Park to Fond. du Lac,
whence this product will go out to all
parts Of the great Northwest, if not
over the entire country, and the profits
of these varied enterprises will be en-.
joyed by our people.
That resolution, certainly, was some
thing of which the Merritts or any
other men well could feel proud. In
those good old boom days, Duluth bus
mess men were not afraid to boost an
enterprise or an individual.