The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-06-01

of way, and to pay the interest upon the
State Railroad bonds issued to the COM
pany, pending the life of the contract. He
was to subscribe to $500, 900 of the capital
stock and pay per cent thereon, the pay.
ment to be made by credit to the company
after the final sum due him upon the com"
pletion of the contract; he was to select
five of the fifteen directors and of the whole
number none were to be changed except by
his consent; and he was to receive the
Minnesota State Railroad bonds of the
company as soon as they should be obtained
by the latter of the State.
He completed the grading of 621s miles,
and furnished ties sufficient for the track to
st. Anthony. He also redeemed the great.
er portion of the outstanding warrants and
paid some other existing liabilities of the
company as we'll as the greater portion of
the current expenses up to the first of March
last, when he gave notice that he was una
BILE to pay any more. The company have
literally complied with the contract on their
part. OF course the most substantial and i'm
portant obligations resting upon Mr.. Cham
berlain have not been fulfilled. No portion
of the road has been put into operation, nor
has the interest due upon the State Railroad
bonds been paid by him; and he alleges
that he is unable to proceed under the agree
ment until such legislation shall have been
had by the State as will enable him to dis.
pose OF the State Railroad bonds paid upon
the contract Since your last meeting he
has received 100000 in State bonds, maxi
ing in all $585,000.
The State claims that $2l 900 is due for
interest payable on the first day of Decem~
Der last.
Upon the completion of the 621a miles
of road bed before mentioned the company
applied to the then Governor Of the State
on the 28th day of September last for az
additional issue of 25 State bonds. The
work was examined by the State Engieeer,
who reported favorably upon the same, and
twenty-five of the first mortgage bonds of
the company were deposited with the State
Treasurer His receipt for the same, togeth-
er with the report of the State Engineer
were examined by the Governor and accepts
ed by him as satisfactory.
1t appears from his last annual message
to the Legislature that he did not consider
the railroad companies liable to pay the
interest due upon the State bonds prior to
the first days of December and June in each
year. He had required the company, long
before the application was made for the
twenty-five State bonds, to enter into a
stipulation with the State, in writing, that
only one half of the State bonds, to which
the company might become entitled, should
be drawn upon account of grading, and the
other half should be applied as the iron
should be laid and the road put into opera
tion. For what reason he withheld the
State bonds has never appeared. The State
Treasurer still holds the before mentioned
twenty-five first mortgage bonds. If the
State can be concluded by the acts of its
Engineer, Treasurer and Governor, it is
quite clear that the company had the most
undoubted right to the twenty-five State
bonds, even although it should be granted
that the strict wording of the constitution
did not contemplate the issuing of frac-
tional amount of less than fifty thousand
dollars. If the stipulation has any force,
the company, from the very necessity of the
case, were entitled to the bonds. If it was
a nullity, the company still had an equitable
right to them. II is not claimed, however,
by any one that the stipulation is not bind
ing, but quite the contrary. 1t was not
pretended, nor is it the fact, that the COM
pany was in default when the application
for the bonds was made, nor prior to the
first day of December last. The State, then,
committed the first default; and the question
arises as to whether she is not bound to
remove the default before she can enforce
any remedy she might otherwise be entitled
to receive as against the company. In this
view it would seem to be highly unjust for
a sovereign State, after violation of its
own solemn undertakings, to invoke the aid
of the law against the opposite party for a
subsequent default. Statesmen are general
ly unwilling to sacrifice the honor of their
government by placing it in the wrong. II
is always supposed to be pernicious ex.
ample to its own citizens, besides being dis
creditable in the eyes of every enlightened
community. The administration of the five
million loan measure on the part of the State
thus far has proven anything but a success
1t has been bad partnership for the COM
panies. 1t has been conducted by the State
upon the theory that the interests of parties
to the measure were antagonistic, and it is
this that has proved so fatal to its success
The true theory was that what was for the
best interests of the companies, was likewise
for the best interests of the State. Here
vested its origin; in this consisted its neces
sity, its usefulness, and its vitality. The
energies Of the companies and of the State
therefore, have been alike paralyzed. The
financial chasm the measure was intended tC
bridge over, has not yet been passed, nor will
it be through the efficacy of the five million
loan. Time, however, which recti6es al
things, is fast filling it, and with the COM
mencement of another summer it is believed
that the people of Minnesota will be on the
high road to prosperity, nor do we see any
reason why the same may not be true of thi:
company under the operation Of fair and ju'
dicious legislation on the part of the State
The accelerating influence of railroads upor
the approaching prosperity of the people
would be of the most decisive and desirable
character.
During the closing week of the last session
of the legislature, resolution proposing al
amendment to Article Ten of the Constitu
ton, passed the House but failed in the Sen
ate for want of time, which provided in sub
stance, that the securities held by the Stat
should be released and returned to the com
panies respectively, when fifty miles of thei