The Bozeman courier., 1921-07-27
FRETGHTRATES AND PROFITS.


relative to the inequality of the present freight
rates from and to Montana points that there sure
ly must be sound reasons for objecting to them
as they stand and for the protest being made
against the attempt of the railroads to re-estab-
lish the long and short haul system.
Before the war;" the world war, it was the
business of the railroads through their immigra- 4
tion agents to secure all the passenger business
possible Homeseeker rates, excursion rates, and /
every other kind of rates were made to beguile |
the vacatiOnist traveller to seek the west, par
ticularIy Montana, with the prospect of becoming |
a resident. This in way was laudable business, !
for the east was crowded with those who were
making a poor living and at best could not hope
to ever attain any sort Of affluence in their then
occupation.
Many thousands Of acres of the richest soil
that lays out of doors were waiting to be cultivat-
ed here in this state a few years ago. We of
Montana, our commercial clubs and other booster
organizations, were all seeking the settler. We
wanted population and production of grain, live
stock and wealth. We ourselves may have been
too optimistic as to the future and over reached
somewhat overstated the possibilities of re-
turns from the labor on the farm. However that
may be, we felt the confidence in our state and
its future and wanted the people who had not the
to share in the building up of the state and its
prosperity.
We did not figure upon the elements, and the
part that can be played in the development of any
section, so that when the dry years came it found
many of our newly acquired citizens in no position
to withstand the hardships that came with them
1t proved most trying time for all of our peo-
ple not only the farmers, but the merchant, bank
er and everyone regardless of their occupation.
The railroads were the biggest offenders in
the sending out of literature and the inducements
offered TO the prospective settler of the state.
They may too have felt there was no danger of
any setback to the farmer who would come to
Montana and properly work the land. For several
years this state had been producing almost un-
believable yields in all grains, the quality of which
was the best, and in the short time of crop rec
ords made failures were not known. Men were
acquiring wealth farming on the western prairies
, and the future looked very bright.
2 Winter times there were meetings in school
2 houses throughout Iowa, Missouri and other cen
trai states where lectures told of the great pro
ductions and the high profits. Sample of the
products were shown, actual bonified products
OF the state. Prospective settlers were told ot
2 the land waiting, just longing for the hustlinl
farmer, who knew how to till the soil, waiting anC
oil CiAdI was HcCcSSdTy 10 secure a nall SocC0n OF
n land was to go to the land office and make tn,
J. regular filing. This was all true-but too much
stress given to the sunny side of the picture
r and no mention or allusion whatever was made O.
: the possibility of unprofitable years Failure wa
a thing unknown from the standpoint of yields
Il That was the al-convincing argument.
d True, the settler himself should have consid
? cred this aspect. In all the agricultural develop
ment OF the United States there has been perfec
y record Of seasons and years when the farmer di
/ not grow enough crops to sustain himself Folloy
n the history of the conquest of the west from a
k agricultural viewpoint and it will be found to hav
4 repeated itself surely as the days follow on
10 after the other. We still remember the old soul
w poor bleeding Kansas" that state wa
is suffering Montana has for the past four year,
10 and today Kansas is one of the richest agricu
q. tural states.
- Now that the farmers of Montana are lool
VI ing forward to a good crop yield, the first or
o in so many years, comes the railroads with tn
ia proposition to- change their system of charges fS
70 hauling-not for the benefit of the farmer-but
VI their added discomfort. The present rates al
nc severe enough, but the proposed reinstatemel
's of the long and short haul rates will be so muC
: III more of hardship as to discourage the pr
nc ducer of grains and livestock to the point of gi
nc ing up the struggle. Many have stuck throus
as the past years of gloom, hoping to the retul
ne of favorable conditions as they were. 1t was SUI
to come, as it has returned to other states, b
W now just as the sun begins to shine upon the
Dor of the producer, he must face the possibili
A'O of being nearly shut off from the markets tn