Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1858-12-04

except those going to the State. The Su-
preme Court OF Minnesota has decided that
the Governor was wrong in that ruling And
| have very little idea that the world is COM
ing to an end in consequence of that decision
This is the whole of the ,ailroad suindle IN
Minnesota" over which your correspondent
foams so furiously. Now if he, or any one
else, can find in all this the most remote in
tcntion to swindle," he will find what does
not exist.
But he further says: cit is enough for the
purposes of this letter to say that they (the
Railroad Companies) now refuse to execute
" to the State the first mortgage bonds called
" for by the act, but propose to issue tcenty-
three millions of first mortgage bonds"
sc
Now, it would seem from this that the COM
panies were combined-acting in concert and
issuing their bonds jointly; whereas, the fact
is, there is no combination nor concert be-
tween them. Each company will issue bonds
according to the estimated expense of con-
structing its line of road, and this, of course,
must vary according to distance. AS to the
statement that the 6 companies propose to issue
t,oenty three millions Of first m0rtgoqe 6onds,"
the writer is either fooled himself or he delib-
erately intends to fool the public.
In the next place your correspondent be-
comes prophetic, and predicts that the State
cannot pay its interest, and is certain to incur
''that most unbearable of all disgrace-repu-
diation." That any citizen of Minnesota
should write that sentence I can hardly be-
lieve. cit is vile bird that defiles its own
nest )" and that any citizen of Minnesota
should allow his partisan feelings to carry him
as low as to predict the disgrace of himself
and his fellow citizens is too monstrous for be-
lief. When New York and Massachusetts
shall repudiate, then look out for reputation in
Minnesota but not till then. Her two hun
dred and fifty thousand inhabitants are COM
posed mainly of the most ente-prising and
intelligent classes of New England and Mid
die States. Her soil and climate are unsur-
passed by that of any State in the Union
| and during the past season, young as she is,
| she has exported hundreds of thousands of
bushels of grain and many millions of lum-
Der, to supply the demand of her sister
| States
Is it said that Minnesota has suffered during
the recent financial pressure So has Wall
street. And when the millionaires of New
| York can compromise at twenty-five cents on
the dollar, you should give credit to the noble
men in Minnesota who, with smaller means,
have stood the storm unfiinchingly and also
to those who having been obliged to suspend
for time, are still struggling, and that sue
cessfully, to pay their one hundred cents on
the dollar.
But there are a few in Minnesota, am sorry
| TO IN M, -
levy black mail on those whom they think they
have the power to inure-men who advocated
the Loan Bill with the hope of reward-but
| falling to turn any portion of the State Loan
from its legitimate use into their own pockets,
they become testy and revengeful Such are
not the men who honestly oppose the loan.-
After they had seen the people called for that
measure by vote of more than three to one,
they at once acquiesced in that decision, and
their uniform language has been "Let our
property be taxed to pay the interest and
| 'Pri'cipdt, if necessary, but never let Mime
"sota talk of Reputation" But no intelligent
man there thinks that that will ever be neces-
sary. The resources of the Companies will
be abundant to save the State from loss.-
But Of that hereafter.
Yours, Respectfully.
/ n.
New York, Nov. 90, 1858.
The above communication is supposed to be
from the pen of JOHN W. NORTH, Esq, OF
Northficld. 1t is so inferred, from the fact
that he is understood to be in New York ne
gotiating the Cedar Valley complement of the
State Bonds; and because the writer says he
| vOtn6 aOaipct tho u,hioh
NoRTHs position and from his especial refer
renee to zone Company that stated officially
to the Legislature that it did not ask for any
such measure" which one Company was the
Cedar Valley, of which Mr. NORTH is Presi-
dent
Upon this communication the Tribune again
editorially made comment as follows:
From the N. Y Tribune, Nov %.
We print in another column letter from
minnesota explaining and justifying the
course of the Railroad Companies Of that State
in seeking to constrain Gov Sibley to accept
Five Millions of their "First Mortgage Bonds
respectively, in exchange for issues of the
State Loan of like amount without requiring
that those Five Millions Of Mortgage Bonds
shall be the only First Mortgage Bonds of those
Roads respectively. Accepting all our cores
pondents corrections in matters of detail, and
conceding that he has stated the case fairly,
we abide by our own opinion that the Five Mil
lions of First Mortgage Bonds sanctioned in the
act of the Minnesota Legislature, are neces-
sarily and properly the only First Mortgage
Bonds to be issued-that to issue an unlimit-
ed amount of First Mortgage Bonds, and ten
der the State Five Millions of these, is to evade
the plain intent of the act, and swamp the Sc
curity demanded by the State so as to render
it wholly unreliable. In other words, we hold
that Gov. Sibley's decision in the premises was
clearly right, and the undertaking of the Su-
preine Court to overrule and constrain him to
accept an inferior and intangible security in
stead of that he required, is utterly wrong,
and must be desisted from.
We make no professions of friendship to
Minnesota and her Railroads Men of sense
will understand that our interest as publishers
of journal having a large Minnesota sub
scription must constrain us to desire the pros
perity Of both. AS friend, then, of both
Minnesota and her Railroads, we entreat the
the company--if there be but one-that is
undertaking to override the Governor in the
premises, to desist Let the State have her
First Mortgage Bonds-in other words, her
| first lien-and then her bonds issued to the
companies will be a first-cass security, and
easily negotiable at living rate. But, if the
States security is swamped in the manner
struggled for by at least one company with
the countenance of the Supreme. Court, there
will inevitably arise a popular resistance to
taxation in case that should ever become nee
essary to meet the obligation incurred by the
premises, and Minnesota mag thus be shamed
by the disgrace of reputation, in spite of our
correspondents heroics. Fer the sake of all
parties concerned, then, let US again beg that
the attempt to dragon Gov Siblcy into doing
what he thinks (and We Think he ought not
to do, be promptly abandoned
To which "beg" wereply, that Mr.. SIBLEx