Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-04-09

he programme, except perhaps the Minnesota
nd Pacific, whose extent Of road is three q
lines greater than that entrusted to any other
company.
1t is reasonable, however, to require the
and Pacific Railroad Company
having received the grants of lands for the i'm
portant routes from Saltwater to Brecken.
ridge. and from St. Anthony to st. Vincent
to construct double the amount exacted from
. Company receiving but one leading lne.-
On this basis, therefore, the Companies, on
the first of January, 1865, must make the fol-
I Miles,
Minnesota and Pacific 800
Southern Minnesota. .............. icy
Minnesota and and Cedar valley ............ 100
Total. 7ss
Postponing for the present the discussion
of the probability of this result, pursue the
particular topic of the securities held by the |
State on behalf of the Loan of Credit for Rail-
roads.
THE PLEDGE OF NET PROFITS 70 THE STATE.
First in the order named in the Oonstitu-
ton, the Governor is directed to demand and
receive from each of said Companies, before
any of said bonds are issued, San instrument
pledging the net-protits ofits road tor the pay
ment of interest"
The term net-profts will unquestionably be
construed as identical with net-receipts. The
Companies pledge their gross receipts, less
annual expenses and the taxation imposed by
their charters. This taxation is three per
centum of the gross earnings Of the reads in
lieu of all taxes and assessments whatever"
and the first payment of taxes is to be made
on the first day of March next after fifty
miles is completed.
Deducting, therefore, fifty per cent. Of the
gross receipts of the Land Grant Roads in
Minnesota, for annual expenditures and taxa
ton, the balance is irrevocably appropriated
to the payments of interest on the Five Million
Loan. have confidence with the cOnstruc-
ton of fifty miles on any of these roads, in
accordance with existing contracts, that the
net-receipts will be adequate to meet the &C.
cruing payments of interest but mark what
follows: Whenever by subscription to CAPT
tai stock or the proceeds of first mortgage
bonds, the work of construction exceeds the
62t miles secured by State aid, the entire
sum of additional net-receipts is still applied,
in the first instance, to the interest on the
State Loan, and not until the obligation in
favor of the Treasury is discharged, can those
receipts from such further construction be ap-
piled in liquidation of the interest on the cost
of construction. Hence, the State of Mime
sofa is deeply interested, that no policy shall
prevail which will limit the exertions of the
Companies or induce them to depend exclu-
sively upon State aid. If, by the negotiation
Of first mortgage bonds, to other parties, a
company can buy iron and rolling stock, and
construct 1875 rather than 821 miles, the State
enjoys exclusively the benefit of the increased
expenditure and construction. The whole adj
dition to the revenues of the road, thereby re.
sulting, is specifically applied to the semi-an
nual payments on the original loan of 81 .250,
900. This rule will apply, even II the tota
subsequent expenditure is tens of millions
representing hundreds of miles of road.
Seldom has Railroad system been inaug
urated, under auspices 50 favorable to self
. support, as that of Minnesota. Our statute
books are covered with charters, but fortunately
| TOD 70 ,t,on
, bost minds of the State presented to Congress
upon the outspread map Of the Western
States, such congeries of railway lines, a!
would bring facilities for transportation within
day journey of every desirable district o
Minnesota. Those lines were so adjusted, a.
to avoid injurious competitions and then fol
lowed the Grant of Lands, to concentrat,
the attention and energies of the community
An indirect result of the late financial revul
sion, concurring with the loan of State Credi
in aid of the system, has made any other en-
terprises of the kind within our limits ex
tremely improbable, at least until the leading
trunk lines now in progress are in successful
operation. Railroads are remunerative on tn
European continent, In comparison with Eng
land and some of American States, solel,
because government interposes with the bes
engineering and statistical skill at its command
to prevent unnecessary routes-extendin,
railway concessions only where all conditions
assure satisfactory returns upon investments
= So with our Minnesota concessions of route,
: and land grants The routes of the Minnesot.
and Pacific, diverging at the Falls of St. An
: thony, will deve!ope areas, equal to New Yorl
,, and Massachusetts-the valley of the Rec
, River representing the former, while the vi
cinity of the Kandiyohi Lakes in all directions
: is more than complement, in agricultural re
sources, for the old Bay State. The Southern
Minnesota, with its southwestern direction
t threading the valley of the Minnesota River
, and opening thOroughfare from the Undine
region of Nicollet towards Lake Superior
the Minneapolis and Cedar Valley, the north
and south trunk of the system, pursuing the
fertile and favorable divide between the trib
utaries of the Minnesota and the Mississippi
with an interest no less intimate, than that o.
the Minnesota Valley Road, i'll future con
nection with Lake Superior-the Transit
properly so styled in its relation to Southern
Minnesota, and its east and west route from
the Mississippi to the just developing valleys
of Dakota; and, finally, the Root River Val
ley spur of the entire scheme, less imposing
in extent than the other lines, but destined to
be of great practical value, in its connection
with the railroad system Of the United States
at La Crosse-how the most cursory review
Of the geographical relations and industrial
capacity of the State vindicates the wisdom