JAMES Ja HILL to the GRAIN GROWERS .Hr. Hill's Speech Before the Grain Growers' Convention at Fargo, North Dakota. Fargo, N. D„ Special. Jan. 10.—This was Hill day in the Tri-state Grain and Stock Growers' convention. It was the final wind-up of a most successful four day's session, and the close was in the nature of an ovation to the president of the Great Northern railway and the recently organized Northern Securities company. Great interest was aroused in Mr. Hill's appearance here and had increased since its original announcement. Each day since the convention started had aug mented the attendance, and to-day was the banner one of the meeting. ' Mayor Johnson introduced President Hill in a complimentary eulogistic speech, as the man the audience had come to hear. His reference to the liberality of Mr. Hill in providing free excursions for North Dakota farmers to the North Da kota agricultural college brought forth a lot of applause. When President Hill arose to speak there was another ova ■tion. He said: Mr. Hill's Speech. I want to present to you to-day some Important figures which I think will es tablish many facts that are of great in terest to all the people of this country, and more especially to the people of the Northwest. An advance in the material prosperity of our country has always marked an im provement in the condition of the people. Every United States census from 1780 to 1900 shows an average growth which has practically doubled the population of the country about every thirty years. At the close of the Civil war this country con tained, say 94,000,000 of people; since that time we have added fully 46,000,000 of peo ple. At the average rate of the Increase of the past one hundred years we should have at least 150,000,000 of people by 1930. The present increase is more than one and a half millions annually. The all-important question presenting It self to every Individual and to every com munity Is: Where will they go and what will they do to secure for themselves com fortable homes and the ability to educate their children and to bring them up In such manner as will make them good, useful citizens of the republic? At the close of the war a large portion of the States of Iowa, Wisconsin and Min nesota were government lands, open for homesteads, and practically all the country west of these states to the Pacific ocean was open to settlement. The census re ports show that a large portion of the in creased population has gone into this new country and built up cities and states, opened up prosperous farming communi ties and dotted the land with schools and churches—every evidence of American Enterprise and Progrès Nearly one-half of the capital of tl country is invested in agricultural lar and what goes with it for the purpose < making it productive. Nearly one-half, the population of the country is direct or indirectly connected with the cultiv tion of the soil, and if we judge from r the experience of the past, the agricu tural half of the population has done mo than Us share in everything that goes benefit the country as a whole: that ha has always shown itself more intelligen more patriotic, and in every way ti sheet-anchor of the nation. When mi have been called to defend the flag of o: country the farmers' sons have alwa' been ready to step to the front and a' suer to the call. While the farmers a ready to go ten miles on election day cast their votes, others hang around tl polls in the cities waiting to sell the votes. From the farmers' sons in Ne England and the Middle and Westei states are constantly recruited the nur bers of those who engage in the profe sinns and the various walks of busines and their individual successes clearly e tnblish their right to be placed in t! front rank wherever they have bei called. My observation leads me to b Iie\e that the nation at large has more rxpcct from those who cultivate the sc than from all others combined. Ifow ai e we to provide homes for our Rapidly Increasing; Population t Most of the lands that will produce croj every year and are susceptible of cult vation are already occupied. The impo tant question to-day before the state men of the nation is: How can the r maining lands best be made to furni: homes for tlie rapidly crowding ponu! tion? A little reflection will sho every Individual man that it is only I the wisest action on the part of the go: eral government by well-matured plai for irrigation and every other meai which will make available every portii of the country that is or can be tnai susceptible of cultivation. There is movement among a few of our statesrm to secure this end. In some localities the West this movement is opposed 1 cattle and sheepmen who desire to reta these lands for their own purposes, some cases an effort is being made to I duce congress to convey the lands to tl several states, to be disposed of by thei This latter movement can only end failure. The lands would be fritteri away or practically given away or a propriated without benefiting any co siderable number of people. I consid the future welfare of the country depem more upon the wise disposition of t! public domain, so as to secure homes fi the people, than upon any other sing condition in our nation. Our country large; our population and occupatioi differ as widely as the climate and na ural conditions difTer. Every congre shows an active effort being made to s eure some advantage to some local di trict, overlooking, as I think, the bro: general fact that the nation should at must prosper as a whole. In 189« this country settled the questk of a gold standard; the universal want confidence prior to that time came to i end; people who had money to inve were no longer afraid that if they p out a 100 -cent dollar they would 1 compelled to take a 50-cent dollar in r turn, and now the business of the cou: try is marching forward at a rate great than has ever been known In our history or in the history of the world. Our at tention is frequently called to the enor mous balance of trade in our favor; in other words, the amount of money we receive for what we sell is above that which we pay for what we buy, thus making our country rich beyond all precedent. If we carefully Inquire into the source from which this enormous bal ance of trade comes, we find that about three-fourths of our experts are fur nished directly and indirectly from the cultivation of the land; the farmers have done the work and have benefited the na tion. Now let us consider what the na tion has done in return for the farmers, or what it can do in their behalf. The first and great object is to provide them means to sell the product of their land and their labor, at the HigheMt I'osctiblc I'rlces it will bring. I will ask you to look over the statute books of the nation and the different states, and find, if you can, any intelligent step that has been taken to find new markets for our agricultural exports. 1 have examined these records carefully and up to the present time I do not find one intelligent sentence or line'the object of which has been to find new markets for the products ot the land, except • asi to Southern sugar and rice, and some wool. In order to ad vance the price of every commodity the first step is to increase the demand for it; as long as there is a surplus in the market seeking a buyer the price must remain low, and whenever there is a shortage and the demand is greater than the supply it follows that prices must advance. Great Britain buys about 70 per cent of al! our exports. She is our' one great customer, and the single nation that does not in her markets or through her tariffs discriminate against the prod uct of our soil. In order to buy from us she must be able to sell her own prod ucts ar.d get the wherewith to pay for her purchases. England and Germany seek for markets over all the world; they are nations of merchants, and their ships go to all parts of the earth- where a harbor can be found and trade relations established. During the past ten or fif teen years our consular service has been greatly improved, and is now furnishing valuable information as to the conditions under which Our Trade Relations might be extended, but our consular agents are comparatively few and their action in that regam limited. Twenty years ago the foreign trade of Japan was not to exceed $1 per capita of its population; to-day this trade is equal to $0 or $7 per capita of its popu lation. Twenty yea-s ago it amounted to about .$40,000.000 and to-day it amounts to about $250,000,000, of which the United States' -share is less than one-fifth. The total foreign trade of China in 1890 was about 75 cents per capita; should- it in crease in the near twenty years in the proportion of one-.,alf that the trade of Japan has increased in the past twen ty years the foreign trade of China would amount to $1,200,000,000. The Chinese race is a commercial race. Their merchants in point of commercial ability and integ rity will rank with those of any other nation. The Russian-Siberian line will soon extend through Siberia to Man churia and Port Arthur, an open port all the year round. This will give Russia an opportunity to distribute more of her products in China and will place her in a strong position. The treaty between China and Japan at the close of the Jap anese war secured to Japan the right to trade in China and to make use of ports and rivers and provide facilities for that purpose. Under the most favored nation clause in tee treaty, each nation has the sime privilege, as respects trade relations, as is secured by Japan by its treaty. > ♦ If we are to enjoy a fair share of + ♦ the benefits of the development of + ♦ Oriental trade It must come from + <► finding a market for the necessities + ♦ of life, nearly all of which come + ^ from the farms. + The farm bears a relation to the mar ket, and a vital point of national pros perity and a happy social condition will be in proportion to our success in secur ing our share of this trade. In the Orient men get from 10 to 50 cents per day; they cannot buy luxuries; their wants are re stricted to the mere necessities of life food and clothing. A few years ago I sent a man to China and Japan, keeping him there a year, to find out and report upon the commercial conditions of those countries and to learn what was neces sary for this country to do In order to create a new market for our rapidly in creasing products which mere being sent to Europe and sold, not to the highest, but I might say to the lowest bidder, be cause of the surplus we had to sell. Dur ing the past six years the flour trade of the Orient has grown to fifteen or twenty millions bushels of wheat per annum, and if there was a supply of cheap ocean transportation, this amount could. In my judgment, be very much increased. If we could lake twenty-five or thirty mil lion bushels a year out of the surplus •hat is ^ent to Europe, it would nearly offset the average exports of Argen tina. If the new order of things follow ing the recent war in China is to secur" a stable government and protection for life and property, the development of China cannot fail to be very great, and I see no reason why It may not be as great as that of Japan. In that case we would be called on to furnish one-half of our entire surplus grain, taking this amount out of the European markets and greatly advancing the price of ever'- - bushel exported from thi3 country. A few years ago some very intelligent Japanese gentlemen were in my office and 1 asked them why they did not use American cotton to miç with the short staple cotton from India. They did not Reem to know that our cotton was so much superior to that which they were in the habit of using. I told them if they Ject ple. 000 ern in ple ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ on no ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ to in ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ I * of In ! ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ fic in we all to I or for a 70 our' us for a fif is in the her in to for its + + + + + + re I to in be of my If for of as - use not so would try a few carloads of our cotton, and If they did not find It to their advan tage to use U I would pay the cost of the cotton. They ordered a few carloads; the result has been that we have not been able to find transportation to supply the Oriental demand for American cotton from that time to this. During the months of September, October and November Just passed, wo shipped about sixty thousand bales of cotton to the Orient. This was all we could find ship room to carry; the amount could have been doubled had the ship-room been available. During this time other roads have also carried their share of cotton to the Far East and their experience has been practically the same as our own. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ Five years ago land in the Red + + river valley and in North Dakota + + was selling at from $3 to $20 per + + acre; to-day the demand for these ♦ ♦ lands have made them worth from + + $10 to $50 per acre. A ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ As we have extended our railway line 3 throughout the Northwest our first 08 - Ject has been to settle up the country along these lines. A comparison of th'ff census reports of 1890 and 1900 shows that in Minnesota in forty.three counties reached by our itne3 there has been an increase of 289,000 people, in North Da kota in twenty counties over 80,000 peo ple. In fifteen of the counties in North Dakota most uepending upon the Great Northern for their railway service T find that the vacant land in 1893 was 9.356,000 acres; in 1901, 4,300,000 acres, showing that in the eight years there had been settled upon in fifteen counties on the lines of the Great Northern road 5,050, 000 acres. In Montana the increase in counties on the line of the Great North ern was about 70,000 people and in Wash ington 110,000 people. This year the indi cations are that the influx of new people will be greater than at any previous time in the history of the country. More peo ple will come in to make their homes with you and help you as neighbors and fellow workers in the development of your state than ever before. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ At the present time we hear much + ♦ about the "community of interests'' <8 ♦ between the railroads. I want to ^ ♦ say to you here and now that the ^ ♦ only community of interests that + ♦ there is or ever can exist Is the + ♦ community of interests between the + ♦ producer of tonnage and the car- + ♦ rier; the man on the farm, in the + ♦ forest and in the mine must'be able + ♦ at all times to sell the products of + ♦ his labor and his lands at a profit, + ♦ or he will cease to labor and have + ♦ nothing to sell. + The railroads depend for their existence on the products of the lands served by their lines; it has no other source of in come. Individuals may come and go. wê will all sooner or later pass from active life, but the land—the country—Its re sources and the railroads will be here permanently, and they will either prospet together or be poor together. There fa no other community of Interests that can ever exist against this one. While It is. necessary for the railroads that ' the farmers, the lumbermen and the miners shall be prosperous, It is also necessary that the railroads should prosper. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ Much is being said about the com- + ♦ bination between railroads, and that + ♦ the country for its prosperity must + ♦ rely upon a continuance of competi- ♦ ♦ tion. The law of the survival of + ♦ the fittest must inevitably end such ^ ♦ competition as exists by the de- + ♦ struction of the weaker by the + ♦ stronger. ^ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ This has already been done in the East to the extent that throughout all of New England the hundreds of original railway corporations are now mostly consolidated into three or four, and the people are better off than ever before. Twenty-five years ago it was supposed that competi tion was necessary to reduce rates. I think we have shown in the Northwest that, without competition, rates have been reduced faster than anywhere else in this country. ♦ To-day the farmers can ship their + ♦ grain from the Red river valley to + ♦ the Twin Cities and the Hoad of the ♦ ♦ Lakes at from 15 to 20 per cent + ♦ lower -rates than farmers living in + ♦ the Des Moines valley and Western + ♦ Iowa, where there are many lines, $ ♦ can ship to Chicago, the same dis- ^ ♦ tance. ^ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ The effect of this has been to bring thousands of farmers from the Middle Western states, including Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois to find homes in Min nesota and North Dakota. This, more I than anything else, has doubled the price * of your lands in a comparatively few years. We have about twelve hundred miles of railway in North Dakota. The average cost of our railway, including terminals, equipment, shoos, elevators, etc., is about thirty-five thousand dollars per mile, as shown by its capitalization. In the fifteen counties depending almost entirely for their transportation upon the Great Northern railway, there arc, in round numbers, sixteen million acres of land. If the building of the railway and what has followed it has added $10 per acre to the value o£ this land it is ! worth $ 100 . 000,000 more than it would have been without the railway, and you have the benefit of this advance. I am glad that it is yours and hope it will enable you to enjoy your old age in com fort and to make those who follow after you good and worthy citizens of your state. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ There has recently been an at- + ♦ tempt to show that we have no inter- + ♦ est in building up the prosperity of + ♦ the people,of your state and of the + ♦ Northwest. If we did not do every- + ♦ thing in our power to build you up + ♦ we would be false to our best Inter- + ♦ ests. Our object in acquiring the + ♦ Burlington, jointly with the North- + ♦ ern Pacific railway, was to insure + ♦ an outlet to the best markets for + ♦ the grain, live stock and lumber of + ♦ the Northern lines, and to increase + ♦ the volume of our traffic, to the end + ♦ that we might at all times be able f ♦ to establish the lowest rates and + ♦ most favorable conditions under + ♦ which the traffic must he carried. + ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ The Burlington, with Its own rails reaches Chicago, Peoria, Rock Island, Davenport, Quincy, Alton, Hannibal, St. Louis, St. Joseph, Kansas City, Des Moines, Omaha and Denver, and then connects with the main arteries of traf fic of the whole country. Assuming that the line of the Burling ton had not been constructed and that the Great Northern and Northern Pacific jointly had raised the money and were engaged in the construction of it, would there be anything to meet the dis I j : ! I '• . I ! ; I I I j ! ; J I ■ j j j j | I approval of the states traversed bv the lines of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific? On the contrary, would not such a course have been hailed with ap proval as a means of opening up markets for Northwestern produce and of reach ing markets in the South and Southwest nnd of securing business, increasing tho volume of traffic of the Great Northern nnd Northern Pacific, thus making re duction of rates nnd udding to the gen eral prosperity of the Northwest'' In stead of building the Burlington system or a line of railway alongside of it, the Great Northern nnd Northern Pachte purchased the capital stock of a line al ready constructed. Instead of issuing stock or bonds for the purpose of raising money to build a line reaching the same country bonds were issued to purchase the stock of a constructed line. Convincing Renaona. Tlie capital stock of railway von\pafiies, as of other corporations, will lie held by somebody and somewhere. Railway com panies as carriers are subject to super vision and control by the public for the purpose of insuring tlie performance of their obligations to tlie public. Railroads make public through published rates ihn price charged for transportation, the only thing they have to sill, nnd must report tlie amount they receive for what they sell and what has been done with it. Courts are open for the purpose of de- ! tormining whether railway companies us j carriers observe their obligations to tlie | public. Tho question of the reasonable- I ness of rates and service does not depend ! upon whether one man owns the capital ; stock of a railway or another—whether (lie capital stock is owned by ten men or one thousand, by persons or by cor porations. The capital stock of a rail way company is personal property, to lie sold, transferred from one man .to an oth r, and any one may purchase and hold all that lie lias means to buy and pay for. Tho capital stock of the North- j ern Pacific and tho Groat Northern will 1 be hold by somebody, persons or corpora tions, if not by the present owners, by other owners. Suppose by death of pres ent owners ihe stock should lie scattered and a majority of it find its way into the hands of those interested in competing lines serving tho country to the north or to the south of the territory served by the Great Northern and the Northern Pa cific. Would the people along the lines of those railways bo benefited?, If the present owners of a majority of the stock of the two companies could be compelled to sell it or dlsposo of it on the market, would it fall into hands more interested in the development and prosperity of the Northwest than its present owners? How is it that the lines have been extended and improved? What brought about the present condition of the property of the two companies? What has enabled them to serve the people along the lines as they have been served? Plainly the will ingness and ability of those controlling large interests in tlie stock of the compa nies, who found it to their advantage to build up the lines and promote the sot tlment of the territory tributary to it and who will continue it. lli'oiid-Guiig«' Com pet it ion. The great freight producing area of the country is along the Atlantic sea board and in the territory south ol' Lake Erie. The freight that Is the product of all the manufacturing enterprises which find a market west of tlie Missis sippi river to a large extent must pass through the lakes to Duluth and to Ht. Paul and Minneapolis and into tlie terri tory between these citieo and the Pacific, or around Lake Michigan and at that point going largely to Southwestern lines. The question of stock ownership, so far as the. public along the lines served by the Great Northern and Northern Pacific is concerned, is to be considered in the light,,of. a great competitive condition between the territory served by the I Northern lines and those of the South j and West—between lines whose interest it is to secure traffic as against me Northern lines, to populate and build un j the country in which lh< people along tlie i Northern lines have no special immediate I interest. A few years ago tho transportation on Lake Superior was mainly in the hands 1 of what was known as the Lake Superior j Transit company, a pool line made up i by steamers operated by Eastern trumt j lines, who also operated boats running ; from Chicago, and whenever we reduced \ the rates from the wheat fields to Lake ! Superior a corresponding advance in the I water rate was made to offset our renuc j tion on land and equalize the rate by Lake Superior and by Chicago. We ' built six steel steamers, which at that ! time were the largest on the lakes, i The first cargo we landed at Buffalo j we were told that it would have to pay j the local rate from Buffalo to New York, which was practically the same us the through rate from Duluth to New York. We found a way to get around this, und the result was 10 oreak up the Transit company and break down the rat-n <>n tile lakes to a reasonable figure, [.ater tlie elevator charges at the head of Lake Superior were P, cents per bushel, and at Buffalo U4 cents per bushel, with an additional charge for slum ling of \/ t ei nt. We built large elevators at lioiii places, the effect of which has been to reduce the rates to \r; In o tiler words, when e the grain pai , *r,y c ents per bushel it is now paying 1 l cent. The difference to tlie Northwest on the : 200 , ouo.ouo bushel Is of wheat is $1 ;*,r»oo,n ❖ ♦ ♦ ♦ <► ■ I l ! j | I ! ; j 1 j j i I 1 j i j ; \ ! I j ' ! i j j , ^ + + + + + + + + In j lu \ j j of 1 ; J ! of ! ■ ' • I a j , this time the mileage of the railroads In the United States Increased 18 per cent. While the tons moved nhows an increase of 120 per cent, the earnings show an in crease of less than 40 per cent. During this time the rates have been reduced to the extent of that difference. During that period or eleven years, notwithstanding the enormous Increase in traffic, four of tho so-called tiunk lines have through destructive competition failed, nnd been reorganized, and all but one of them have been absorbed by the stronger surviving lines. Destructive competition has forced the weakest lines into bankruptcy, and to day they are owned by the lines that wete able to maintain their position and credit, giving tlie ability to acquire these bank rupt toads. The Baltimore & Ohio nnd tlie Pennsylvania for half a century have been rival roads. Both states and cities ' have actively aided In building them up. Dest motive competition between them has finally resulted in the Pennsylvania road owning the Baltimore & Ohio. Have tho rates advanced? Have the people along the line of the Baltimore & Ohio suffered? On tlie. contrary, the first step has been to furnish money to cut down the grades, to double track the line from tho Ohio river to Chicago and to furnish cars and terminal lacilltles to handle the business t° the best advantage, and at such rates as will enable the shippers along the lino t<> mien up their mines and increase their business in every branch of trade, and trt D'ly boon I lie solvent company for tho facilities necessary to transact their busi ness. ❖ ♦'♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦' No business in the world can + ♦ thrive under conditions when it can ♦ ♦ use its facilities for earning money + ♦ less than one hour out of the * <► twelve. ^ \\ lii'ii many of the roads were built capital was scarce and high. A very large proportion of the original railway enterprises failed, losing a large part of the Investment- they had no idea of the future growth, and from waul of money and want of forethought the terminal fa cilities are to-day totally inadequate. If the curs could he moved at the principal terminals the main lines would be able to do bitter than at present. However, iviiii a 'continuance for throe or five years of. the present volume of traffic bo Iweiu tho East and West added to in dustrial traffic in the great manufactur ing districts, tills country will find Itself confronted with the most serious com mercial question it has yet been called upon lo' solve. Terminals in the larger Eastern .cities are both difficult and ex pensive lo acquire. The Pennsylvania railway, 1 In order to get into New York, onto Manhattan island, Is building a tun nel from Jersey City to Brooklyn at a cost of forty or fifty million dollars. Will it tiring new business or must the ex pense of operation and interest on cost be levied on present traffic? ■ A careful examination of ihe railway problem from a national standpoint will, I believe, show beyond question that the business of the country lias outgrown the facilities on most of the trunk lines and'that new facilities not now apparent will he necessary to relieve the situation. Rates ^In tlie United States are much lower than in any other country. Wages are higher—the cost of most of the mate rial is higher than in Europe, still the average rate charged in. Europe is fully l iviee' iis- high as in America. The con. dltioqs in this country change very rap idly—while rates have been cut in two in twenty years all kinds of labor and ma terial used by railways have advanced from 30 to 50 per cent. Nothing but the increased volume of traffic has made it prtssible 'to reduce rates as they have been reduced. To-day we find the volume of traffic, so great, cast of Chicago that the railways arc not aille to move It un der ihe present conditions. How will these conditions be changed and at whose cost? Who will build new lines or Increase old ones? These are the questions which I will not undertake to answer farther Ilian to sav that the West must have tho facilities or suffer for tile want of them. ♦♦♦♦♦«♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ + The public must always bear in + ^ mind that a bankrupt road cannot + + furnish good service. The railroad + $ must lie able to furnish tile service + $ demanded from it at fair and roa- + ♦ sellable rates. The problem we + 4> have bad to solve lias been how to + ^ reduce the cost of operation so that + ♦ we can furnish transportation at + ♦ the lowest prices. + ♦♦♦♦<»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ This can lie done only by increasing iiic volume of Ira flic. The question is as simple as raising a given amount of money by taxation. The more dollars' worth of properly taxed the lower tho rate, of taxation will be and the greater number ef tops carried the lower the rate of tran: portutlori will be. Tills is one of the main reasons why we are so anxious lo develop the enormous through business Unit is rapidly growing up along our lines. Every ton of new business that we bring contributes its proportion of net revi nue and enables us to reduce the rate of transportation on our local business. The interstate business on our lines in North Dakota to-day constitutes 95 per cent of tlie whole and still you enjoy nil the facilities furnished, both pnss> ng'-r and freight, with the increased nii.ni.er of trains necessary to handle this luisini ss, every one of which is an additional accommodation to you. it will he thirty-two years r.rxt March since I first saw the Red River Valley. At that time there was not a single house on tin nest side ot tne Red river from the Bois de Sioux to Pembina. During the past twenty years all of my time and effort has been given to building up the Northwest and no part of the Northwest has given me mire satisfac tion or is giving me more satisfaction to day than North Dakota. Its growth In tin: past has been marvelous. The first years in all new countries are marked by hardship and self-denial, but during the past few years you arc getting the regard of your labor; people are coming into the state by thousands, the value of your land has advanced and will ad vance beyond your reasonable expecta tions and I hope that together your property and our property will work side by side and shoulder to shoulder to carry forward tlie best interests of Nortli Da kota. No man, no hundred mini in your state, represent the same interest in your welfare that it is my good fortune to represent and I hope in the future that with better methods of cultivation and more knowledge of what is required, your condition may be constantly im proved and if your condition is improved, ours will certainly share it with you. As til« volume of traffic Increases our rates will is reduced. + Kemember that whatever helps ^ + you helps the railroad, and what- + + ever hurts or restricts your growth + + restricts the growth of the rail- + + road serving you. We will always ^ + prosper together or be poor to- 4$ + gether. * ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦«►