THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 229 



line and the simultaneous cessation of paying interest 

 out of the capital, a longer or shorter period of time 

 will intervene during which the working of the road 

 will not produce the required income to pay an interest 

 of 7.30 per cent, on the capital invested after deducting 

 the working expenses. As the means provided in the 

 statutory regulations, of which I shall speak further on, 

 by which supplies are to be raised in cases when the 

 regular income does not suffice to pay the interest, will 

 fail to afford a remedy, as I shall endeavor to prove, I 

 have no hesitation in saying that the obligations under- 

 taken by the promoters of the enterprise respecting the 

 payment of interest cannot be fulfilled during the period 

 immediately following the opening of the line. 



VALUE OF THE LAND GRANT. 



" 22. With regard to the third question, whether the 

 gale of land will realize the amounts by which the re- 

 demption of the entire bonded debt can be effected 

 within the thirty years specified, I must, first of all, 

 contradict an opinion which has been widely circulated, 

 representing the regions traversed by the Northern 

 Pacific Railway as unfavorable to civilization, agricul- 

 ture and industry The experience I have acquired 

 from personal inspection, as well as the most trustworthy 

 information from official sources I have everywhere 

 gathered on the spot, has convinced me that the region 

 through which the Northern Pacific Railway passes is 

 one of the most fertile on the American Continent, and 

 is in every respect suitable for colonization. Minnesota 

 and Dakota belong to the grain-growing region ; MOD* 

 tana and Idaho are rich in minerals and pastures, and 



