The Bozeman courier., 1927-12-09

business grew beyond all expectation. Fir
lumber came into great demand, as the
interior Of the country was settled.
WestbOund Traffic Sought
"BX building up the lumber trade, seek
ing markets for it and making a low
lumber trade very fast, faster than the
merchandise trade Of the people Of WASH
ington, even with the addition Of Alaska
and Honolulu. The result was that we
had more cars of lumber to carry east
than we had full cars going west. To
make them equal again we had to look
for more tonnage from the east"
He had not waited until this emer-
gency confronted him to look about for
sources of more traffic, Joseph Gilpin
Pyle tells us in his Life of James j. Hill. -
He believed that a great business could
be built up with the Orient. This is
what he had already done about it:
lie sent men to Japan and China and
kept them there, one man for more than
a year. His business was to get a mani
fest of every ship that entered or left
Chinese or japanese port, if he could;
/ to find what the exports and imports of
those countries consisted Of and where
they went"
The low rates on lumber required g
heavy tonnage and loaded cars in both
directions, if it were to pay anything
more than cost Of carriage. He was con-
vinced that the Orient would supply g
vast amount Of Westbound freight fol
his railroad, if markets could be estab-
lished there. He went into the matter
with his usual thoroughness. He sen1
agents to China to study the food prob
lens; and to India to investigate mo-
only that but also the possibility Of in
creased production there, and the dan.
ger Of India's wheat supply as a pos
sible competitor in the Chinese market
assuming that such a market could b
built up.
The manifests Of ships carrying traffi
to and from the Orient were studie'
and tabulated. Agents in this countr
quietly visited home sources Of produc
ton from which the Japanese and Chi
nese could obtain as advantageously tn
things they were buying elsewhere. H
felt sure that the people of China an
Japan could be made good customer
for the wheat and flour Of the Unite
States.
"I found" he said, "that if the peopl
of single province Of China should con
sumo an ounce day Of our flour, the
would need 100000 bushels Of whes
per annum, or twice the western SUI
plus"
Would Have Raised Wheat Prices
These people were poor, but If only
small fraction Of them could be brough
to substitute a wheat flour for rice,
would mean the creation of a great, ne
market. He intended to make such freigt
rates that they would get it ches
enough. Always prominent in his min
was the idea Of what this would mean
the farmers Of the country along b
lines. Like most of the bows that
drew, this one had two strings to it,
send a surplus Of 100000 bushels
wheat to the Orient at that date woul
according to his calculations, raise Il
price in Minnesota and Dakota 20 cen
a bushel.
In year or two the situation resolve
itself to his satisfaction; and measur
were taken for what, If left unimpede
might have become one Of the create
steps in the commercial development
the United States. In 1896 a contra
was concluded with the principal steer
ship company Of the Japanese empire, e
Nippon Yusen Kaisha, fixing such rat
between Seattle and the Orient as wou
enable the Great Northern to gather l
freight from all parts of the Unit
States as far east as Pittsburgh. Aga
let MIR. Hill tell how it was done. Sor
influential business men Of Japan we
in this country and he met them:
They were interested in securing ra
for their railways. I asked them whe
they were going to get their rails. tn