Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-02-12
:" Are the, University Bonds state
BOnds30 Is

3" Are tho University Bonds state
Bondsa" +
Our readers will remember, that on Tues
day morning, the 9Th inst, we referred to the
issue of currency to the Nicollet County Bank
upon deposit merely of Inherently Bonds.
We said, that it seemed as if "a new basis
for banking was being established by the State
Executive and the State Auditor, soitaout t.
color or authority Of la0!" The Pioneer
having announced the fact, we called upon
that paper to explain the reasons for this ex-
traordinary course-that the currency Of the
People was not to be trifed with by the de-
post of illegal securities! Yesterday morn
ing, the official organ responded; and inIorder
to do fair justice all around, we copy con-
siderable portion of its article.
The Pioneer says:
There is difference of opinion at the out
set, between the editor of the MINNEsoT1AN,
and the Attorney General of the State. The
editor says:
The "First Mortgage University Bonds to the
| amount of SO, 900, issued by the Regents of the
State University, on the pledge of their two town.
ships of land, are not certainly the Public Stocks
| issued by the State of Minnesota.
Now the Attorney General has placed on
| file for the advisement of the estate Execu-
tive and State Auditor" an opinion just the
opposite of this. He explicitly states that
the University Bonds aforesaid are State
Stocks of Minnesota, and as such receivable
on deposit by the Auditor as a security I'M
der the Banking Laws of the State. This
opinion enters fully into the whole question:
quotes all the Territorial and State legislation
bearing upon the subject-and closes with the
irresistible deduction aforesaid. We happen
to know that several Judges who have been
consulted, have conceded extraordinarily {"
in the same Interpretation of the law. It
does not require much legal sagacity to COM
prehend the purport of the following sections
of an act Of the State Legislature, passed on
March 9Th, last.
Be 1t enacted By the Legislature of the State Of
| MannesotG {:
| SEC. l. That the Board of Regents of :he Uni
versity of Minnesota, are hereby empowered to
Issue bonds IN THE NAME Of the SAID UNIVER:
| SITY of Minnesota, and under the corporate sea-!
Of Mesaid University, signed by the President and
attested by the Secretary of said BOord of Regents
and payable at such times and in such manner as
| the said Board may deem best, to an amount not
exceeding the sum of forty thousand dollars with
| interest thereon, not exceeding twelve per cent
| per MONTH
SEC. g. And the said Board of Regents are
hereby further empowered in order to secure the
payment Of SAID bonds, to make, execute and de-
| liver, IN the name of the State of Minnesota, a
mortgage or mortgages, on any lands now belong.
| ing. or which may hereafter belong to the said
University and said mortgage or mortgages. sign,
duly ACKNOWLEDGE BY the said President before
any person aufhorized to take acknowledgements of
deeds, in this State, and recorded in the office Of
| lands are so mortgaged and situated, or in the
county to which it is attached for judicial purpo
ses, shall be lien upon the SAID LANDS until all
sums osoing upon SAID BONDS are fully discharged
Now the able opinion of the Attorney Gen
eral shows that the University lands do not
belong to the Regents, but to the State, and
that the Regents are merely the corporate
agents of the State, in taking care of the Uni
versity lands and property; that the above
bonds are issued for the benefit of the State,
upon its authority, and secured upon its prop
erty-the Regents being nothing more thro'
out than the temporary agents of the State,
| chosen periodically by its Legislature, to car
ry out the objects of the University Grant,
and the bonds being authorized by the Legis-
lature merely as means to that end :; and
are, therefore, in every respect, State Bonds,
for the redemption of which the State is liable
in the contingency of default in the landed
| securities provided in the above act.
While upon this subject, it will be proper
to correct another misapprehension, which
has obtained some currency among ill-inform-
ed people relative to the sufficiency of the Sc
curities upon which these bonds are based.
The whole amount of University bonds is
sued, or authorized to be issued, is fifty-6
thousand dollars, of which fifteen thousand
dollars is based upon a mortgage of the Uni
versity buildings, at st. Anthony, and the
twenty-seven acres upon which they are stu
ated. These have nothing to do with the
University bonds in question, which have
been issued in the sum of forty thousand dol
lars, under the act above quoted, upon mort
gage security of two townships or AZ, $50 acres
of land. 1t has been stated that these lands
were mortgaged in the relation Of three dol
lars and half to the acre. The above state
ment shows that they are pledged for less than
one dollar per acre.
The foregoing we presume may be consid-
cred the official defence of the suspicious con-
version of Bonds issued Gin the name of the
University into State Bonds for banking
purposes.
The folly, the wrong, the untenability Of
the whole pretense, is SO transparent, even on
their own showing, that we nigh. safely leave
the subject here without further argument
sure of a nearly unanimous verdict in oppo.
sition to the arrangement from the commu.
nifty.
for ~ xrh of no Ina fcolt
says: The Regents are therein empowered to
tissue Bonds in the NAME of the University, "
and sealed with (the Seal of the State ?-no
w." the corporate seal of the said Univer
sity." This is the substance of the first sec
ton of the law.
| But what says the second section2 Simply
that to secure the payment Of the "said Vi
bonds so issued, " in the name of the said
University" the Regents are empowered u
to mortgage sin the name of the State the
University lands-the mortgage to be made
by the President of the Board of Regents
and to remain lien upon said lands until
all the sums owing on the said bonds shall
have been fully discharged"
From this what can be clearer, than that
the title to the lands being in the State by
gift from the United States, the State only
consented to specific lien upon that much
Of the State property, and upon no other
To contend, that all the property of the State
and the entire faith of the State, is pledged
for these University Bonds.-which would be
the case if they were Public Stocks" of the
State,-is a gross absurdity: an absurdity
in which, we are glad to find, no lawyer in St