The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1858-03-27

taxes, and delinquencies which will be anoth.
er cool 100000 to the foregoing aggregate
In round numbers, call the State taxes one
n''II'on ta0o hamdred thousand dollars, and all
this to be borne by 10000 men, women and
children; or by 10000 voters-and by 25,-
100000 dollars worth of taxable property
Is it not fearful to contemplate And rec
ollect, that l have not yet said anything about
the county taxes-the school taxes--the road
taxes and to those of you who live in cor
porate towns, about your municipal taxes
Put all these upon the State taxes, and ev.
cry man who owns little property, had bet
ter petition the State to take it off his hands,
and thus save him from ruin. 1t is true, that
the amendment proposed, is put forth under
the pretext, that the Railroad Companies will
pay the interest and that there is ample Sc
curity to the State if they do not do SO. I
will examine that question of security d..
rectly; but before leaving this tax matter, I
beg the people to remember, that the bonds
to aid the Railroads are bonds for which the
faith and credit and honor of the State is
pledged and not the honor, faith and credit
of the Railroad corporations the pur-
chasers of these bonds won't know any. body
but the State in the transaction--and that
though the Railroad Companies mayaffect to
IL oofIofaau1o ~, tho honHc nf tho
State to secure it from loss, yet the State
is immediately-in the first instance-alone
responsible to the holders of the bonds for
the payment, regularly and promptly, Of fboth
principal and interest. The obligation is
given By the State-it is DEBT incurred by
the State to aid the Railroads-and the State
Constitution would be riotated if the Legis-
lature, after the adoption of this disastrous
amendment-if adopted it unfortunately
should be by the people-should refuse to
levy the taxes for the interest and sinking
fund, and trust the honor of the State to the
honor and ability of Railroad Corporations
whose officers have been going to school to
the Milwaukee and La Cross Railroad finan-
ciers-
Third. | advise my constituents to vote
against this amendment, because, even con
ceding the expediency of the policy of ill.,
curing State debt to aid Railroads, there is
no real or adequate security from them to the
State required in the bill which you are
called upon to approve or reject on the 18th
of April next. There is pretence of securi-
ty; but it is all an ingenious cheat-one of
the grossest of humbugs-a farce which
looks on an investigation, like deliberate
and disguised imposture, the very concoction
of which, Of itself suffices to stamp the
whole project with suspicion, and excite the
well founded distrust that the intention of
the planners of the bill is to get their hands
upon the Peoples money and then leave us
in the lurch, without either money or Rail-
roads to bless ourselves with. dislike to
intimate any doubts of the uprightness and
purity of the gentlemen who have had such
immaculate associates as the Wisconsin Rail-
road operators but all men are fallible and
even they might be weak enough to want to
pocket the money and give no return for it,
if they had the chance. ! affirm that the
Loan Bill gives them this chance, in the
handsomest and most liberal kind of STYLE
Let US examine its provisions. ! quote from
the bill
Whenever either of said Companies shall produce to
the Governor satisfactory evidence verified by the af
dayts of the Chief Engineer Treasurer and two Direct
ors of said Company" &c.
Now, these are the sole witnesses upon
whose evidence as to certain facts, the bonds
are to be issued by the Governor to the
Railroad Companies. Is this sufficient p
Ought not the Governor to have had the
power to appoint special State officer to
view the ground, to see that the required
improvements were really made. Such a
change in it was desired by the opponents of
the bill, but the Railroad people would not
agree to it, and preferred the disiaier-
ested Railroand officers, whose integrity in
such matters the Reports of the old La
Crosse management proves cannot be i'm
pugned.
The bill goes on to say, that whenever
these Railroad officers swear
"That any ten miles of the road of said Company
has been actually constructed and completed ready for
placing the supersucture thereon the Governor shall
cause be issued and delivered to such Company bonds
to the amount of 500 000 and aCheneoer thereafter
and often either of said Companies shall produce
to the Governor like evidence of further construction
ten miles of its road d0resdid then the Governor
shall cause be issued to such Company, further like
bonds of 100000 for each and epey ten miles of road
THUS constructed"
Now, fellow citizens, I want you to observe,
that this clause of the bill is most ingeniously
constructed, so that the Railroad companies,
without laying single rail, or putting on a
single car, but simply by merely grading the
easy places on the line of their roads, can
obtain the whole of the 100000 of Bonds,
and can then throw up their grants and the
State is entirely powerless to make them
disgorge their plunder. There is some doubt
whether the word " superstructure actually
means grating ready for tile ties and iron; for
an amendment to substitute the words " ties
and iron" in place Of "superstructure," was
refused by the Railroad interest, when the
bill was under consideration in the House.
But admit that it does mean the grazing, we
all know that the profiles of the roads in the
prairie country, show great many places
where the road bed is level, and differs but
slightly from the natural face of the country.
Then remember that the ten miles to be gra-
ded, is any ten miles," and does not mean
ten miles continuously. An amendment to
require it to be {" ten continuous miles " was
offered in the House, but was voted down by
the loan men. Therefore, the companies
have it in their power to draw a 100000
for every ten miles which they can present
as graded, though parts of that ten miles
may be separated twenty miles from each