46 CANADA AND THE EMPIRE.

which he wants to sell them. He is not therefore
compelled to take whatever price the local elevator
company may offer him.
“If freight rates were established according to
geography, the Minnesota and Dakota farmers
ought to get their wheat hauled to lake water considerably
 cheaper than the farmers of the Canadian
West can. From the closely adjacent Canadian
Lake Superior ports of Fort William or Port
Arthur the distance to Winnipeg, Manitoba, is
about 427 miles by the Canadian Pacific Railroad.
From Duluth to Grand Forks, N.D., nearly due
south of Winnipeg, the distance is about 300
miles by the Hill roads. The Dakotan shipper at
Grand Forks might, therefore, reasonably expect a
lower wheat rate to Duluth than is given to the
Canadian shipper from Winnipeg. Butthe Winnipeg-Port
 Arthur rate is 10 cents per 100 Ib., while the
Grand Forks-Duluth rate is 14 cents per 100 Ib.
His geographical position, more favourable by 127
miles, costs the Grand Forks shipper 4 cents per
10o 1b. 1

“What does this amount to in land values? If
the estimate be on the presumption that wheat
farms near Winnipeg and near Grand Forks alike
will yield 25 bushels of No. 1 to the acre, or say
1,450 1b, then the Winnipeg farm is worth §8 cents
per year per acre more than the Grand Forks farm.
Assuming that such land in those regions is worth
only 10 years’ purchase of its income, or its possible
rental, the Winnipeg farm is worth $580 per acre