The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1854-07-15
THE MINNESOTIAN.
WEDNESDAY MORNING, JULY IL, 1854.
The Times and the Railroad.

The Times anu INC huAhoou'
The Times Of yesterday contains the synopsis
of the Railroad Land Bill, which we published
the day previous, and remarks upon It, among
other things as follows
AT now rests with our Legislature to say
chat kind of charter they will give the Com
nsnv lust formed in New-York, or any other
Eownanv which may be formed, and how much
benefit will accrue to our Territory from the
passage of the charter and construction of the
road. The subscribers of the Minnesota and
North Western Railroad Company, are per-
hans as worthy and enterprising as any Com
psny which can be found, and probably would
push the road through as rapidly as any other
body of men but in granting charter we
should be exceedingly cautious to secure our
own interests. We shall take occasion to agi-
tate the subject previous to the sitting of the
Legislature, so that the people may fully I'M
derstand the matter"
We are somewhat astonished, that one who
Is usually so clcar-headed as the editor of the
Times, should have fallen into the common pet
tifogger's error which is prevailing among the
ignorant here and elsewhere, that the lands re-
Gently granted by Congress do not inure to
the company organized in the city Of New York
on the first day of July instant. The act was
doubtless law before the company organized {;
and consequently in assuming the vested rights
granted them, in prospective, by the last Leg
islature of Minnesota, there will be no viola
tion Of the law of Congress, as these corpora
tors were not an "Organizcd company" within
the meaning of the act at the time of its pas
sage. Perhaps the Times is not aware, that
these very corporators in the Minnesota act
OF last winter, were anxious to have this pro-
vision inserted in the Congressional bill, in or
der that companies which had been organized
under charters granted by former Minnesota
Legislatures, could not. in any event, become
possessed of the lands
At all events, We should be sorry to see any
impeachment thrown in the way of the Company
at this time The fatal effects of such course
would be to set Minnesota back just one year,
If not longer The Company is now preparing
to put corps ofengineers upon the route and,
as we remarked Monday, the line will probably
be ready for letting SO as to commence opera
lions along its whole extent next spring. 1t is
pleted and in operation within three years
from the time of commencement, if the people
Of Minnesota will second their efforts with
the hearty good will they should Why,
then, should We get into higglng and
pettifogging dispute with the Company. and by
this means delay the completion of the, road
four or five years perhaps-each year of delay
proving the loss of thousands upon thousands
of dollars to the wealth of Minnesota? The
Company have, SO far, acted up to the charter
to the very letter, and it is their determination
to much more than obey its provisions in re-
gard to the time ofcompleting the road. They
know precisely where to lay their hands upon
the money to build every mile of it; and what
Is of more Importance to them and to us, they
have the irrerocaJle and exclusive right of
srdy over this route, guaranteed to them by
their charter. privilege which they will not,
we should imagine, readily yield-land or no
land
So it must he seen, that a war waged against
the rights of the present Company can, in the
end, only injurc the party offending, and that
injury may be fatal to Minnesota's prosperity
for fifty years to come. There isno calculating
such an event. st. Paul, particularly. should
avoid such contest as she would lcprosy--
for blight and leprosy would it prove to her
perhaps forever. But we feel confident none Of
our people will tolerate any such suicidal
course. when they come to understand the mat
ter fully. Certain we arc, the editor of the
Times will not for he was one of the firmest
and most Jealous defenders we had of the char
ter last winter-that charter which was more
wilfully and wofully belied by some whom the
corporatOrs refused to $ buy up than any poor
legislative bantling we ever knew in our lives
that charter, the granting of which in the
shape it now stands secured better bargain
to the Territory of Minnesota, in return for her
lands than was procured by the States of Hi
nOis and Missouri under similar circumstances
We are most decidedly opposed to a years
loss, or even a months loss of time in this
great work, for the accommodation of any man
or set Of men.