The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-09-14
The Railroad Sentiment OF this state.

The great harvest in Minnesota this year,
and the improved prospects Of business and
emigration which result from it, have re-
newed the expression of popular feeling in
all portions of the State in favor Of the i'm
mediate building of Railroad thoroughfares
within its borders. The farmer, the me.
chanic, and the business man, alike, as their
material interests are enhanced by the
bountiful products of our grain fields, are
stimulated to livelier demand for greater
facilities in our carrying trade
The importance of Railroad communica-
ton has always been thoroughly apprecia
ted by the masses Of the people throughout
the State, and we believe they will not
cease to think and act upon the subject, un'
til the rail.cars shall become familiar agents
of commerce from one end of the State to
the other. This sentiment was striklngly
evidenced by the unanimity with which the
five million loan amendment to our Consti-
tuition was ratified in 1858, and it remains
rife among the people, only to be quickened
and vitalized more and more as our wonder.
full agricultural resources become more fully
realized at home and abroad. This appre
citation of our material wants has not been
confined to localities. 1t has been felt and
proclaimed by all classes, from the center to
the outmost borders of civilization, with
that insight and spirit of enterprise which
characterize the early settlers on our pub.
lie domain. The adventures, whose cir
cumstances or inclinations lead them to the
prairies and forests, hundreds of miles dis
tant from water communication and the
centers of trade, at once perceived that a
Railroad through the State would enhance
the value Of their property, and the inheri-
lance of their children, just as certainly, if
not as largely, as it would the property of
the town.site operator. And, believing
this, they did not stop to enquire who would
be most benefited by the plan proposed, as
it was enough to know that all would share,
in some degree, the general blessing. This
sentiment was so clearly proved by the vote
of April, 1858, given without distinction
of party, and has been adhered to by the
citizens of all sections and parties ever since,
with so much tenacity Of purpose, that we
feel justified in asserting that it has become
the settled conviction of the public mind.
OF course this sentiment has no posi-
BILE relation to party politics. 1t exists
alike in the mind of the Democrat and the
Republican. The railroad proposition sub
mitted to the people in 1858. which resulted
in the enthusiastic expression in its favor,
wss neither argued nor voted upon, as
party question, and there was nothing in it
concerning the legitimate issues OF party
strife.
But the method employed by the people
in 1858, for gratifying and carrying out this
sentiment, has been unfortunate in its oper-
alton, and the Republican party, for their
campaign purposes of 1859, attempted to
force this alLimportant question into the
maelstrom Of politics, by inserting in their
platform Of that year, certain propositions
touching the misfortunes of the railroad
scheme, and the management of the liabili-
ties which the State had assumed under it.
This action on their part provoked major
ity of the Democratic Convention, which
assembled soon after, to engraft on their
resolutions, some propositions concerning the
same subject. These demonstrations of
partizan tactics, have produced accrimoni-
Gus chickering's which have had tendency
to damage, if not defeat, the grand OBJ.
ject which the people have constantly
in view--namely the early completion
of the roads. 1t is gratifying how
ever to observe signs of returning good
sense among the politicians of the State, in
the fact that both political parties have
practically dropped the matter from their
programmes of this year in apparent defer
ence to the great doctrine Of Popular Sow.
ereignty, which was, perhaps unwittiDgly,
recognized by our Legislature, last winter,
in the passage of the joint resolutions pro-
posing to refer the entire subject matter to
the people, by another amendment to the
Constitution. The Republicans, however,
under the pressure of the meddlesome ele-
ment indigenous to the breed which forms
the substratum of their party, could not quite
rest till the people had an opportunity to
express themselves in the appointed way at
the poIls-and in obedience to the agitating
spirit Of their irrepressible temperaments,
their Convention assumed once more the
right to dictate to the people what ought
to be done in the premises, by a sort of
Railroad plank 10 their platform of this
year. But as that plank really expresses
nothing, but what the people said emphati-
cally, without distinction of party, in the
constitutional amendment vote of 1858, and
which all men of all parties have constantly
said since, it amounts to nothing in particu-
lar, and is chiefly noticeable as an exhibit