The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1923-09-13
S. D. HAS 4,282.94
MILES RAILROADS
Service Is Motto, Says w. ii. Finley,
President Of G. & N. w. Ry-
In Address

Nisland, South Dakota, Sept. g.
speaking today at the Western South
Dakota Feeder Hog Show. w. II. Fin
ley, President of the Chicago and
North Western Railway Company,
said:
Il am greatly privileged today to
talk to the people of South Dakota,
and come In personal touch with
those we serve. Our motto Is Ser
vice." The more people we serve the
better satisfied we are. We serve
the manufacturer, the merchant and
the farmer, and are necessarily inter-
/ ested in the success OF all. The rail-
road service can only prosper as the
community prospers, and throughout
| the history of railroads we find traffic
i. officers whose ambitions have been
to develop industry and agriculture
along the lines of the railroads that
employ them.
1.-THE United States has today a
dominant place among the nations Of
the earth owing to the unparalleled
progress which has marked her his
tory in the last twenty years. We
have increased m~arvelously in wealth.
ouI lOJdI Wtdlth 10 aituuC UP VI ~
values of farms, natural resources
and industrial and mercantile estab-
ilishments, all of which make up the
machinery of Il present-day civil
ization.
Our remarkable progress Is due
largely to the convenience afforded
for the exchange Of products through
out the states by means OF railroad
Transportation. The total wealth OF
the United States increased from 50
billion dollars in 1900, to over 800
! billion dollars in 1920, or a total in
crease in the twenty years OF 212
billion dollars. The wealth of the
British Empire is estimated at l7O
billion dollars. From this you will
see that the United States, as measur-
ed by material wealth and commerce,
has made a greater gain during the
last twenty years than the British
Empire has made throughout its en-
tire period of existence.
Thus our progress has been mark
ed by an expansion OF our industries,
our opportunities and our achieve
ments. II was all brought about
through the specialization Of industry
which enables every mar to apply
himself to that task to the accom-
plishment OF which he is best adapt
ed. This has brought about an ex-
pansion of our markets, as well as
the interdependence between different
elements of u society wnicn is
characteristic of our times.
South Dakota is looked upon as a
distinctly agricultural state, and we
may reasonably measure its progress
by "a study Of the grogress OF agricui-
ture oyer a period of years. In 1851
the value of all farm properties IN
South Dakota is given as $l45,527 ,55o,
which increased to $2,S23 .87O,212 In
1920, or practically twenty fold. Farm
lands in South Dakota have increased
in value from an original $l25 an
acre to S64.42 an acre. The average
tam in South Dakota Is OF generous
proportion, being AGA acres per farm,
and has an average value per farm
Of $3T 1875.
We must accredit the present pop
ulation Of South Dakota a fine meas
urc of success and achievement as d
reward Tor that patient industry that
las cOurdgcously laid hole OF the OPP
~pcrtunity this state affords, and es-
! "a bl shed a civilization characteristic
OF our great west.
Comparing the early difficulties
with the conditions on the "A thous-
and or more farms. we find in lsIV.
some 81 thousand telephones, oo
Thousand automobiles and over IL
Thousand trucks and tractors, anu
mis- difference marks the progress OIL
! the last twenty years. How many Oh
those enjoying these privileges anu
blessings had n conception thirty
or even twenty years 8 OF the con-
ditions as they exist today
While the area then known az
Dakota was yet a territory n the
/ nopulaL:cn was sparse and constitut-
cd one unbroken territory, officers OF
the Chicago and North Western Rall-
way toured Dakota, travel
ling overland with horse-drawn We
hicles and prospecting outhts. nc
! these gentlemen came the far-reach-
ing vision of a populous country and
titled fields with abundant crops. FOL
loving this vision the North western
Railway Company built e from
Tracy, Minnesota, In 1879. Then foi'
flowed, up to the year 1880, the con
struction of some 700 miles OF ran,
read east of the Missouri river, anc
l22 miles of railroad IN the biacs
Hills district west of the missouri
river. Some years later, by the ex'
tension of the line from Pierre &c
IHapid City, which has been a very
great convenience to those residing
in the western portion OF n state
who were required to travel between
their homes and the state capitol, tht
mileage was increased until nov
there are 1856 miles OF railroad
in the North Western System II
south Dakota. Competing railroads
followed very closely until now there
are 4,2S2.94 miles of railroad in TIT
state of South Dakota. This mean
of transportation opened up the terri
tory to settlement and IN 1883 prog
ress had been such that the territor!
of Dakota instead of being taken int
the Union as one state was divides
and came into the United States a
two states, now known as North ant
South Dakota.
1.-THE products of the soil have in
creased until we now find South Da
kota raising around ITO million bu
shells OF cereals. In the early day