Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, February 18, 1910, Page 1

THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONE “fistor 1cal Societys T e s MINNESOTA HISTORICAL VOLUME 7. NUMBER 258. BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 18, 1910. TEN CENTS PER WEEK. NORTHERN MINNESOTA GETTING TOGETHER HARMONIOUSLY AT BEMIDJI ~ W. L. BROOKS. President Bemidji Commercial Club, Who Has Labored Strenuously for the Success of the Convention. Yesterday Afternoon. As the convention got down to business, yesterday, the harmonious air seemed to be “catching,” and co-operation was the sentiment of every delegate. The vociferous manner in which all speeches were received indicated that the sentimet for reapportion- ment, development, good roads etc., had taken deep root in all of the 250 delegates. It was expected that the resolu- tions committee would have several knotty problems to contend with ~in getting out the " resolutions awud as there were several very import- ant matters on which to talk, the committee, with M. N. Koll of Cass Lake as chairman and C. H. Mackenzie of Onamia, secretary, was divided into subcommittees as follows: Reapportionment, F. A. Patrick, Duluth; Asher Murray, Wadena; Drainage, Daniel Shaw of Thiet River Falls; W. J. Stock, Coleraine; Mr. Hage, Crow Wing county. Good roads, C. H. Mackenzie, Onamia; Mr. Gordon, Stephen; Hart Dentis, Detroit; R. E. Dowling, Eveleth. Agricultural education, A. M. Dunton, Mclatosh; L. F. Ellert, Wilkin county; L. G. Town- send, Blackduck. Proper sale of state lands, R.]J. Wells, Brecken- ridge; John Dwan, Two Harbors; F..]. McPartlin, International Falls. Sale of foreign bonds owned by state, N. Bodkin, Clay county; Mr. O’Brien of Cloquet; Mr. Keine, Hallock. It was announced that the com- mittee would finally report to the convention this forenoon. The report of the credentials com- mittee was the first thing taken up yesterday, after dinner; and final adjusting of the credentials showed that there were 213 delegates at that time present and entitled to partici- pate in the convention; with addi- tional delegations coming since then, it is estimated that the official repre- sentation from the thirty counties of this northern section has today numbered fully 300. The speeches were resumed after the report of thecredentials com- mittee had been read and accepted. Mrs. Stockwell's Address. Mrs. Maude Stockwell of Min- neapolis, representing the Minne- sota woman’s suffrage associ: t on. “‘Gentlemen you are here to se- cure justice in the matter of reap- portionment of legislative repre- sentation, and every fair minded man in the state will, I am sure, be with you in your demand, We also are asking for justice, for a fair representation in government. Our objects are much alike and there 1s a common bond between us. ‘At the present time you are represented in the state legislature to a large extent by Southern Minnesota. Do you enjoy this kind of representation? Granting the senators and representatives of Southern Minnesota are fair or GEORGE RALPH, State Drainage Engineer. Synopsis of Mr. Ralph's Speech Is Printed on Page Two. even altruistic, can they under- stand the needs and solve the problem of northern Minnesota? Can they properly represent wo- men? “Just to illustrate. My husband is a fair man. I exercise the only electoral right I have, that of voting for school directors. I vote for the candidate whom I deem the most efficient, while my husband usually votes the straight democratic ticket. If T could not vote he wouldn’t represent me at the polls. The majority of the men say that they are willing to allow the women to vote if they want to and then argue that the women do not war: ' the electoral “franchise. The matter should not be decided upon this basis, the issue should be the justice of the demand. «Itis admitted that women are good housekeepers, that they keep the house clean and in a sanitary condition, that they safeguard the morals of the children and that their influence is for the good of the community, But muaicipal and civic government is simply housekeeping on a big scale. “The problems of sanitation and hygiene found in the home are found in the community, but only on a larger scale. The women under- stand these as well as the men. They are interesting themselves more and more in public affairs and are show- iog that they are capable of under- standing and assisting in the solution of the problems of the city and state. “In the four enfranchised states of the west no one ever has proposed that women be deprived of the bal- lot. They have demonstrated that their icfluence at the polls is for good government. In Eogland and in other colonies, in Norway and in Finland, women have the right of suffrage in all municipal affairs and in the two latter countries they have equal rights with the men. Their worth is recognized and judging from their efforts in England they will soon win complete enfranchise- ment in England.” [The address of George Ralph, state drainage engineer, is given on page 3.] A. ). McGuire’s Address. Professor A. J. McGuire, superin- tendent of the Northeast Experi- mental Farm at Grand Rapids, gave an address on “Dairying in Northern Minnesota,” which was in part as follows: ix years ago I came to Northern Min- nesota. I was a dairyman by profession and I took up my work in this section of the state because I believed that the natural conditions of northern Minnesota were especially favorable to the dairy industry. At that time dairying was un- tried in northern Minnesota. This whole section of the state could hardly count a successful farmers’creamery. A creamery at New York Mills, in the northern part of Ottertail county, was the first attempt at dairying that attracted my attention. It was barely existing. Neither the farm- ers or business men had much confidence in dairying. g 4 I was sent for to help reorganize that creamery, and, if possible, get it on a pay- ing basis. Idid what I could to encour- age them to go ahead, to ‘stick to their Many Important Speeches Were Delivered at Yesterday’s Gathering, and Proceedings Were of Importance.--- Program Included Many Men of Prominence. ‘RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE EXPECTED TO RECOMMEND IMPORTANT LEGISLATION Convention Closes with Every Delegate Going Home Imbued with Determination to Co-operate for Advancement of Matters that Will Benefit This Section. It was a great success. crowd. tions. state-wide reputation. ~““Smoker” Was a Grand Success. The “smoker” given last night was productive of the genuine fraternal spirit and brought the three hundred delegates together in a more informal manner than had the proceedings of the regular convention, and the affair was productive of genuine enjoyment as an offset for the more arduous labors of yesterday. Al H. Jester, secretary of the Bemidji Commercial club, presided, and but few of the more prominent of the delegates were passed up in an invitation- to “‘do something or say something” for the benefit of the Prof. Harry Masten’s orchestra of nine peices furnisheda high quality of music and the Bemidji male quartette, Messrs. Barker, Neilson, Rood and French, were repeatedly encored. by special request, and was compelled ta respond with a second number, so ably did he render his selec- Mr. Rood sang a solo, Chairman Jester graciously responded to »insis(ent demands for his “telephone story,” which has PROFESSOR A. J. McGUIRE, Charles S. Mitchell, editor of Duluth News-Tribune, gave a rousing speech that was brim full of good things about northern Minnesota, reapportionment, good roads, mining of iron ore and suggestions for betterment of conditions generally. 5 A. Kaisger of Bagley, candidazsifon etote tredeurer, gaye 2. fine speech, as did also John Dwan of Two. Harbors, J. W. Wheeler and Thomas Johnstone of Crookston, R. W. Hitchcock of Hibbing, Charles War- field and W. W. Brown of Bemidji, W. N. Killen of Minneapolis, and B. Dowling:of Eveleth. J. O. Harris and A. H. Harris made very acceptable police. Report of the committee on plan of permanent organization ‘of the Northern Minnesota Development Association. Your committee reports with the recom- mendation that the following be adopted as the plan of your organization: 1.—The name of this organization shall be The Northern Minnesota Development Association. 2.—The following counties shall be in- corporated in the association, to-wit: Aitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Carlton, Cass, Clay, Clearwater, Cook, Crow Wing, Hub- bard, Itasca, Isanti, Lake, Kanabec, Kittson, Koochiching, Marshall, Mahno- men, Mille Lac, Morrison, Norman, Otter- tail, Pine, Polk, Red Lake, Roseau, St. Louis, Todd, Wadena, Wilkin. 3.—The purpose of this association shall be to advance all the material interests of northern Minnesota. 4.—The roll-call of this first conven- tion shall constitute the present member- ship of the association. plan of a farmers' co-operative creamery. They did go ahead. That was five years ago. “Today I met a business man from that section. He told me that there are now four creameries in that settlement; that during the past year there was sold over $250,000 worth of dairy products from that section, which, five years ago, had difficulty in supporting one creamery. “Here in northern Minnesota, the dairy industry should be the leading branch ‘ of our agriculture. In some cther branches, gardening for example, more money ' per acre can be made where you are close to a large market, but for the average farmer dairying is the most reliable and the most profitable. Dairying is preferable to beef-raising. In northern Minnesota,: for the reasons that farms must necessarily be small and for a limited amount of feed, the dairy cow will pay three, four and often five times as much for food con- sumed as the beef animal. “Most of the farmers of northern Minne- sota recognize the advantage of dairying and we want every new settler to know it, and all work toward making this sec- tion of the state a special dairy section. It will pay, because the natural conditions are most favorable to dairying. “The local business man can help the dairy industry in mauy ways. But one way in particular is by changing the in- fluences of local towns. A town, when in the lumbering business, may support a row of saloons, but ‘the liquor business and farming, and especially dairying, can never prosper together. The lumbering industry is largely over with—the demand ‘now is for farmers. The great need of northern Minnesota is for farmers. ““There are thousands of men who come to-northern Minnesota, * yearly, to work in 5.—The officers of this association shall be a president, secretary and treasurer; also an executive committee composed of one member from the Sixth, Eighth and Ninth Congressional Districts, and the president and secretary shall be ex-officio officers of this committee. The presi- dents of the various county organizations shall be ex-officio vice-presidents of this association. All officers to be elected at the annual meetings. 6.—There shall be in each county an organization subordinate to this organiza- tion, to be known as...... . County Development Association. Representation to the meetings of this association shall consist of the delegates selected by the auxiliary assoeiation of each county; upon the basis of one delegate for each county, and one for every five (5) thousand popu- lation or-fraction thereof, based upon the the census of 1910. 7.—There shall be four permanent com- mittees appointed by the president at the annual meeting as follows: (a) An Agri- cultural Committee; (b) A Commerciay the woods and mines, who are natural born agriculturists. They are the foreign- ers from northern Europe. They come to this country in the hope of getting on the land and they would, if they were per- mitted to have their earnings in the woods and in the mines, but the saloons rob them and poison them and transform alarge percentage of them into tramps and criminals. These men, under proper en- vironment, would become farmers and then their labors would make a garden of northern Minnesota. Let us get the blamed idea out of our heads that saloons help the business of the town. I tell you that for every farmer I help in an agricul- tural way there are the making of five farmers who are damned through drink. If the men from the woods and mines, who have been ruined in the saloons of northern Minnesota, were today farmers in northern Minnesota, the agricultural wealth and production of northern Minne- sota would be second to no other section of the state. = “ speak not from the standpoint of a moralist, but from the standpoint of busi- ness. From the standpoint of a dairy- man. Youcan't make dairymen out of farmers who spend their small earnings in the saloons. I am not knocking north- ern Minnesota when I speak thus. “Our fathers were foreigners and the kind hand of the nation had land to give them free—homestead lands. .It is the foreigner who is best fitted to the rugged conditions of northern Minnesota. There is no longer free lands, but while he earns his first payment in the mines to make on his land, let us, in return for what our fathers received, offer to the foreigner of today a helpful influence.” Report of Committee on Permanent Organization, and Transportation Committee; (c) A Legislative Committee; (d) A Finance Committee. Each of the foregoing committees shall have a member from each the Sixth, Eighth and Ninth Congressional Districts and the President and Secretary shall be members thereof ex-officio. 8.—The annual meetings shall be held on the first Thursday of December each year at such place as may be selected by a vote of the convention. 9.—The expenses of this association until the next annual meeting, shall be defrayed as follows: Each subordinate county organization shall pay an annual membership fee of Ten ($10.00) Dollars and Five ($5) Dol- lars for each additional delegate to which such County is entitled. 10.—Your Committeee would further suggest that the Executive Committee elected at this convention, prepare a set of By-Laws and- submit the same for approval at the next annual meeting of this Association. Prof. Cheney’s Address. Prof, E. G. Cheney, of the Min- nesota Forest School made an ad- dress on the forest development in the Northern part of Minnesota. He covered the following points somewhat as follows: “A convention such as this for the pro- motion of the development of northern Minnesota would be hardly complete with- out a few remarks on the development of the great forest resources. The section contains farming land, grazing land and forest land. You are now engaged in converting the -forest land into agricultural land. and rightly so for such land is too valuable for any other purposes. But there are sections of the country wkich must be devoted to forest. "Citizens of this section rightly complain that the state forest lands lying idle and paying 1o taxes are an unjust burden on the community. The solution of this problem lies in the cultivation and im- ! provement of these lands whether they be in forest or agriculture. The forest lands of Germany pay a net yearly return into the state treasury of about eight dollars per acre. Any land which yields this much revenue to the state and as much more to the community as wages is not a burden on any community. Our lands can do this as well as those .of Germany, *The development of forest land would also necessitate the building of good roads in the forest district which would equally benefit the farmers of - the neighborhood. The management of a forest can not be carried on without the development. of such roads. i *+*All the European countries have Bplel:la did systems - of -roads- which ‘have been Superintendent N. E. Experiment Farm. W. N. Killen’s Address. W. N. Killen, land commissioner for the Soo Rail- of Minneapolis way company, delivered an address on “Industiries and Boosting.” Mr. Killen stated that his old friend, W. R. Mackenzie, was to blame for his coming here and that he was always a “booster” and not a *knocker.” “Be a Booster, and help.do things” was Mr. Killen’s advice. In order to get settlers into this section of the state it was necessary to do things that would encourage their coming -this wfiy‘ There was occasionally a fault finder and a kicker among the land men, which did more to discourage intending purchasers than any other agency; this sort of a “thing' had a pressing effect on settlers seeking homes. «“Talk booster before your town and county boards, and see to it each one of you, that your par- ticular town is the best city on earth, Put kickers to the rear and c'ear out of business.” He had his headquarters at Minne- -apolis, but he lived at Appleton, Wis., and Appleton was the ¢‘best town on earth,” Keep up the good name of any manufactured article that was made in your city, was Mr.: Kil- len’s advice; and assist in -every way possible to promote the pro- duction of good things in'a local community. Mr. Killen thonght that a “sul- phite mill would be about the right thvivng.‘,for Bemidji and other towns in this section, where there were large quantities of spruce. _ © . developed in this way. We have an example of this right near Bemidji in Itage Park which is the only piege of. developed forest land in the state. The| state realized that it was not just for this area 10 be a dead weight on the commun- ity and not pay any taxes to the county. To rectify this they co-operated with the adjacent townships in building roads around the boundries of the Park for the use of the settlers. These roads will be maintained by the state and will be of greatservice to the peopleof that country. “There is one more branch in which the forests would- aid the rest of the coun- try. Tf all the forest lands were con- verted to agricultural purposes the value of the scenery as an attraction to sum- mer boarders would be destroyed. “There is no country in the world which is natually better suited to attract sum- mer tourists than northern Minnesota and it is the forest bordered lakes which make it 80 attractive. If there were no other reason for the preservation and development of the forests this one point would make it well worth while.” Pa\}ing blocks could also be manufactured from the big sup- ‘plies of-tamaraci timber. A knoitting factery would also be another good thing. D. E. Williard’s Speech. D. E. Williard, development com- missioner for the N. P. Railway com- pany, spoke on development gener- ally. Mr. Williard was formerly state geologist of North Dakota and stated he was present to assure the delezates that the Northern Pacific Railway company was with them in every movement calculated to benefit this section. Mr. Williard stated he had seen so much of Minnesota that he was convinced that the north balf of the state - possessed such agricultural possibilities that would~ make of it an empire. He was pleased to learn that the cut-over lands were proving to be good agricultural lands and that the swamp lards could be re- claimed so cheaply as had been shown by State Drainage Engineer Ralph. i Mr. Williard, as a geologist, stated that, previous to the glacial period, northern Minunesota had been sup- plied with biz drainage rivers which jhad been obliterated during the glacial period. He stated that the character of rock which was mixed with the soil since the glacial period made of northern Minnesota the most productive soil in the entire state. Today’s **Doings."” Promptly at 10 o’clock, the con- vention was called to order and the hall was filled with the delegates, who were very fresh and siill imbued with enthusiasm, despite the lengthy sessions of yesterday and the “smoker” of last evening, which extended almost into another day. _ During the night additional dele- gations arrived and it was estimated that fully 300 duly-elected authorized representatives from the th.rty coun- ties were participating in the con vention. It was announced that G. W. Cooley, state engineer, would not be present and deliver the address which he had prepared on “The Higeway Commission and the State Highways,” and that the program would be materially changed. The resolutions committee re- ported to the chairman that they would not be ready to make their [Continued on Last Page.] ONVENTION