Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1859-12-03

fof Mandamas was applied for. to the Supreme
Court, BY the Minnesota and Pacific Railroat
IOmpAny 10 c0mpeIame to deliver TO then
the Bonds Of the State, without exacting TIN
exclusive first mortgage bonds Of the com
pany 10 return. j desired the esAttorney Gen
Rcr4a to attend on the part or the State, anG
the question was ably LII and elaboratcly ar
gned By him beiareiethe Suprme Court 'bu
nevertheless, the majority of that tribunal de
cided that my ruli ,g wasserro9eons, and tha'
lihe Stateeiy herown Acs Md PLACED hersei
on like footing with other holders of tht
| first mortgage bonds of the companies under
their deeds Of trust, and could not thereAors
legally require an exclusive priority Of iier
upon the property of the Companies. s's
He DIDN'T THINK he WAS BOUND TO OBEY TUE
COURT, But STILL THOUGHT IT BETTER TO DO So
ut was questionable in my mind, whether
| the Supreme Court possessed jurisdiction in
| the case, but as it was the tribunal Of final
resort in the State, foresaw, that, If | disre-
sTded the mandamul directed to me, the
Rail Road Companies would probably consent
10 receive tie State Bonds under my original
ruling. but would then spply 20 the supreme
uourt torbe relsased froln what ii had already
decided to be an illegal obligation imposed
upon them by the Governor, and, in such. q
contingency, the interests of the State would
have been exposed 10 new complications and
perhaps new dangers" 10 >.
BLOW stHUHBER ioSE VI A0AINsr THE MARKET
VALUE OF the BONDS. -. !.
therefore submitted TO the Writ direct
Iiag tine iss,seof the State Bosls, bat the pub
licity given tn the disagreement between the
Executive and ''ompal'ics by the proceedings,
was the first blow tO the market valne of the
bond., which, npder.slIe original construction
were eagerly sought for at par, but after the
decision of the Supreme Court, began to be
regarded WITH suspicion"
We shouldn't wonder! The whole world
ami the rest 'oi mankind, just about tina;
time, began to have an inkling-that the en-
tire Loan paicy was a cautiously and delb-
crate concocted "swindle ON the People Of
Minnesota to put money into the private
pockets Of few; hence, the g suspicious y
EzA VI sAA BLOW NUMBER rwo. -
This blow, Mr. Sibley neglects to mention.
We will do it for him. All will recollect that
preparations were being made here to issue
currency extensively, based on the State Bail
'road Bon Is A hundred thousand dollars of
the . money" was signed in ,thsg Auditors
Office, ready to be pitched out upon the CON-
munity The bankers and mercantile men Of
st. Paul became alarmed. A committee wait
Jed on ar. Sibley and the Auditor to uge that
the safety of the people or bill-holders demand.
ed that those Bonds should not be received at
more than about eighty cents on the dollar, at
furthest-as some contended, for not more
than fifty cents. The State officials agreed
not to receive the Bonds as currency basis,
except at about twenty cents depreciation;
and this fact, announced in New York, was
blow number "two'" to to the market value Of
the Bonds, ,,-q,.s ,7s +.
BLOW NUMBER THREE. "a re =
.whar the Railroad officials in New York
and IN minnesota ascertained this, curses
both loud and deep were uttered. Party in
ilnences were at once brought to bear to make
ten change their position and sacrifice the
PGople for the benefit of the Railroad Com
panies. They succeeded, Sibey and Dun.
Af con sfnted TO back out. a plausible. pre-
text was all that was wanted To give it to
StAem, base and disrtputable expedient was
rr&crled to \ Mock Auction Sale of tine
Stocks was made at the New York Exchange !;
ana the Stocks were then duly quoted as bay-
It's ,eeI, sod st l0of in New York, and the
j. iasfgt, VISA telegrsphed on to ST. Paul, to
justly Sibley and Dunbar in taking the bonds
a. 4 banking basis at par!
Who does not recoliect the extras issued
from the presses of the Railroad organs, re-
] iting over the swindling news. The MIME
s,riAS announced; the intelligence, with the
re,aark, that IN. / over par was "cut,ing it q
little too .fas.' Sc Z ~
What was to be done? In two or three
days hundreds Of thousands Of dollars of Gu /.
,encg, hlss!css and inadequately secured,
woald ,aye overwhelmed the community, and
covered bur state with worse yermin than
W re tue hee'ol' e sypt in ths days of DID
At the risk of lnartyraon alnoSt, from
'delutic,l people to prevent their robbery, and
save them in spite OF themselves, this paper,
the next morning came out and denounced
the ra>cality Of tile Mock Auction in New
York, and exposed to the gaze Of the com
inuihty, the whole transactio l,-the intended
pcrpe,raton Of the swindle in this very style
ha i'g been known to us week before.
fSi,ey was frightened lie hesitated. He
dare not lake the responsibility Of allowing the
cssrrency 10 goout, in the face Of such an ex-
p,sure. Il was then that be started to New
York. to see about things. His great genius
as-ancgotiator, would make it all right They
were but bungiers, those Minneso,ians already
there! But when he got there, he found that
this Mock auction sale had given the whole Of
the Bond negotiations most damaging blow.
II was regarded by respectable operators in
Wall Street, as a -disreputable transaction;
and pen Of repptes shook their heads, and
remarked one te the other ''something was
wrong somebody was intended to be cheat
sl-they would not toacn paper thus tainted
eby sharper's tactics." iz1s' siss
ABOUT Mr.. sIBLsy's VISIT TO NEW YORK
The several Companies having received the
The State Bonds due them, attempted toeffect
their negotiation in New York City, but were
unsuccessful, and at their earnest solicitation,
and prompted by sense Of public duty, [be-
i,,o also Vice President Of the Cedar Valley
railroad Genpany,l Twisted that city, and
spent several weeks, in the endeavor TO sell
the bonds, 50 that. the Companies might se-
cure the means to progress with the work up
on their roads, the speedy completion Of which
Was so desirable and important to the State
herself 8ss tief 80 .ss43 r. -
Yes.t e"speedy completion" Of asysteln
OF 400 miles Of Railroads with only capi-.
tal of $5,ooo,oO0, furnished by the State;
Pcseda and paying $4,000 mile for grading
that cost less than 81 900 mile, average j I