The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1855-02-09

do not ask some security against such events,
but even refuse to ask, and refuse to reeeirt
them. Even in the ordinary dealings Of men
security is usually required where the amount
is large and the credit long.
1t must be borne in mind, that the Congress
of the United States gave these lands to Min
nesota. not to the NJ. & NV. r. r. Company,
and their value has generally been estimated
at six or seven million dollars and this enor-
nous sum is proposed to be given over in fee
simple to a company to build railroad without
taking any security that they will build it in
the TIME or in the MANNER, or that they will
faithfully apply the proceeds thereof as required.
Minnesota thus loans to this Company six
million dollars on three years time without
asking security. It is not the Minnesota and
Northwestern r. r. Company that proposes
poses to build it, through her agents, to whom
she furnishes the capital! Would any CON-
pany undertake such work at present with
out some bonus? Surely not! Then it is the
immense value the Company sets upon tn"
land, that induces her to hang on our legisla-
tive halls, and ask for time and further privi-
leges. But it is said we want road, and
must have it This is all correct. We should
have road in the shortest possible time, and
it matters not what agents we employ to build
t, if we take sufficient guarantees for their
faithful performance.
reenacted by the bill beftre me, am again
called upon to approve every section as ii it
was an original bill
The 9th section of said charter grants the
right of way two hundred feet wide through
the whole length of said proposed road, will!
power to take all the necessary timber, stone.
or other material, and 10 have and to hold ab-
solutely all the lands within said (200) two
hundred feet. which is now owned by Mime
sofa, or which she may hereafter own.
1t is known to every man OF ordinary intel
gence tina Minnesota is forbidden by her Or
-anc act from interfering with the primary
disposal of the soil.
Therefore, to give and grant to any body
the right of way and the soil to the width Il
TWO hundred feet, from the Iowa line to Lake
superior, is clearly in violation of the organic
act.
10 avoid this, Congress must first grant the
right of way to Minnesota, and then she may
grant it to company, and not before. This
will not be denied by any one, presume, un-
ltss his pecunia:y interest blinds his judgment.
If the act of Congress approved 29th June,
1854 granting lands to Minnesota for Rail-
road purposes was now in full force, and uIre-
pealed, the right of way a, been accidentally
omitted to he granted unless by implication
arising out of the right to build Railroad
from and to certain points. The right ofway
is only granted expressly over the reserved
lands, subject to the approval of the President
Of the United States.
I'd. If the right OF way was granted, by Il g
act of the 29th June, 1854, that act has been
repealed by the act of the 4th August, 1854.
But it is said that Congress had no right to
repeal the grant because the company had
commenced the construction of the road and
had thereby vested right This utterly
deny; and l distinctly aver that said compa-
ny have not expended one dollar or one cent
in the construction of said road And in
proof of my position, have in my possession,
land have transmitted copy to your body)
the report of the acting President and Treas
urer made to me on the first day Of January,
1855. Under their oaths, duly attcsted by a
competent officer, that said company had not
expended any sum 1rhdteuer, in the eonStruc-
tion of said road but that they had expended
about nine thousand dOllrs, in some way not
made known to me.
BY the bill presented to me it appears that
the 10th section of the charter of the NJ. & n.
w. R. R. Co. is repealed. The section thus
repealed is the one which declares the charter
absolutely cold if they fail to comply with all
its provisions, and the substitute in the Sd
section of the bill before me, declares that said
charter shall only be roid if the company fail
to build the "said fifty miles of Railroad, from
fh~oo md
the whole line within three years thereafter,
and to complete line of Telegraph from
Dubuque to st. Panl within ~ months, after
thus repealed required that the board Of direc-
the LIST day Of July, 1854. 1t is believed that
here is the difficulty with this NJ. & n. W.
r. r. Co. from the beginning, that they in all
have not complied with this pro-
vision as it has not been made known public
y, at least who their officers and directors are,
Or whether they did elect and organize them,
by the time required, and this legislation is
nteud> d, presume, to cure this default. 1t
was this clause that caused the alteration to
De made in the act of Congress, whereby we
ost our lands. MIR. Breckenridge, in his Official
'eport to Congress, says that "TI 9 parties
who were dissatisfied with the Minnesota
Charter, and who desired the grant to be
thrown before future legislature, wished the
3D. section to be reported from the committee,
md passed by the House in the above form;
vaile tn Sc who desired the company to re-
GIVE the grant by virtue Of the charter, wish
d the word future before the word 'Legiis-
a ure,' to be ri, ken out, and the word 'and'
% he substituted for the word 'or, b tween
he words constituted and 'organized.'
This explains the reasons for the alteration,
md points out who did it, and why it was
lone, especially when we observe the 10th
ect,n If the NJ. & N. w. r. r. Cos charter
Another section of the bill proposes to ex-
,mpt their lands from taxation until the paten,
ssues, and there is NO other right of taxation