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

to repay their default! Was ever such a
humbug of security before proposed for the
sanction of an intelligent people? Suppose
the Companies should not choose to agree
with purchasers, what then?
The next security named in the bill is the
First Mortgage Bonds before alluded to-.
Here is the language of the bill:
"And further security, an amount of first mart
gage bOnds the roads, lands and franchises, the
respective companies, c0rrespOndfng to the Stdte
oonds assued shall be tdnerred to the Treasurer of
the State at the time of the issue of State bonds and
in case either of said companies shall make default
payment of either the interest principal of the bonds
issued to said companies by the Governor, more
state bonds shall thereafter be ISSUED to said company
and the Governor shall proceed in such may
be prescribed by law to sell the bonds of the defaung
company or companies, or the lands held in trust
above or may require foreclosure of TIE mortgage
executed to secure the same Provided, that if any
company SO in default before the day of sale shall
all interest and principal then due, and all expenses
CURED by the State, sale shall take place. and the
right of the company shall not be impaired further
loan Of State credit"
l think this qrotation, from the proposed
amendment to the Constitution, embodies as
much deception and trifing with common
sense and common honesty, as it was possible
to embrace in so few lines. AS to there being
any tangible or adequate security to the State,
in its provisions, no man who will examine it
carefully, will for moment believe,
Instead of requiring two or three dollars of
the Railroad bonds for every dollar of State
bonds issued to them-which would have
been something like pretence of security
the State exchanges her bonds dollar for dol
lar for those of the Railroad Companies. A
pretty safe operation that, for the Pailroad
Companies, as all must agree. In the next
place, Vho are these First Mortgage Bonds to
be made to? 1t is not to the &ate--for you
will observe that certain amount of bonds
are merely to ''be tgas.ssffed to the Treasurer
of the State' after they are issued. OF
course, therefore, they will be issued to
Trustee and it is we'll understood here in
St. Paul, that the alaount of First Mortgage
Bonds that will be issued by all four of the
Railroad Companies, is $4,000, ,OOO-and of
this huge sum, the State will receive S.
900, 600 as security for its Sa,0OO,OOO of State
bonds. AS there will be S35,OOO,OOO be-
sides of First Mortgage Bonds in the mar
ket, to bring what they will fetch, everybody
can understand at a glance the bright chance
the State would have, in case of putting up
these Mortgage Bonds at public sale, of real
izing ten cents on the dollar for them; or
if the mortgage was foreclosed, Of coming in
pro rata, with the other First Mortgage
Bond-holders, for the proceeds of the road
bed, lands and franchises of the Companies
1t would have been more credtable, think,
to the projectors of this scheme, for abstrac-
ting. money from the pockets of the people, to
have acted more boldly, and not have resort
ed to so much sly cunning to sugar-coat the
pill.
Fellow citizens, have thus briefly as pos
sible dwelt upon some of the Objectionable
features of the proposed amendment to the
Constitution. If you chose to vote for it, 1
beg you not to do so on the ground that there
is ashadow of security afforded on it's face, for
the integrity or honesty of the Railroad Com
panes, or for the safety of the advances made
to them by the State Treasury. But if you
do vote for its adoption, trust you will be
prepared to be hereafter importuned to give
also millions more, when this sum of So OOO,-
900 is exhausted, even allowing that it is hon
estly appropriated towards building, in good
faith, the Railroads, and is not plundered by
the way. Future legislatures will see an
outside pressure brought to bear upon them
to repeat this dose. The argument will be
pressed that the State must advance anoth
er five millions, and perhaps yet another, in
order to save or render available the pre-
vious loans-we will follow after the exam
pie of older States of the Union-sink deep
er and deeper in the mire of public debt and
a future generation will curse the memory of
the first State Legislature which weakly, if
not corruptly, inaugurated such desperate
policy, and think lightly and contemptuously
also of the wisdom of a people who let their
present necessities blind them to the fact,
that the plank apparently thown out to
save them, was but magnified straw, which
the vain struggle to clutch to escape fnan.
cial drowning, only sunk us lower in the dark
deep of State bankruptcy and ruin.
For these reasons, amongst others, 1 ear
nestly urge my constituents of the 25th Sem
atorial District of Minnesota, to unanimously
cast their suffrages in opposition to the pro-
posed amendment to the State Constitution.
W: II. G. FOLSOM,
State Senator.