St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-02-23
Our Legislature.

The Democratic Journals are cxhausting
the Ba;ngsestes vocabulary in the abuse Of
this body, and we regret to, see that few
of our Republican brethren have joined in
the attempt to heap odium upon our repre-
scntativcs The charges reduced to plain
English are about as follows:
LIST, Lcngthening out tho Session unncc-
cssarily. I'd, Dishonesty in rc-districting
the State. Sd, 4 failure in the arrange
ment of our Rail Road difficulties. 4th,
extravaganza. ;
10 the first charge we reply: That it
would require. years faithful legislation
to undo the infamous work Of our previous
Democratic assembly-that one month Of
the present Session is properly chargeable
to the Democratic arrangement requiring
the Legislature to convene that length Of
time previous to the Inauguration of the
Governor elect that half the remaining
time is; chargeablc to MIR. ROBERTSON and
his Democratic Satellites, who have thrown
every possible embarrassment in the way
Of expeditions Legislation, and finally, that
most Of our representatives are members of
the Legislature for the first time. The ap-
portionment Bill is very far from what We
believe it ought. to have beeu, but the De-
mocracy are the last that ought to COM
plain. The first apportionment, for which
we arc indebted to that party, cannot be
equalled in wrong and injustice by any
Bill that may follow it. Take our own
district for an example, and We have four
sterling Republican counties stricken down
and misrcprcscnted by Stcarns County, to
which they were attached for that special
purpose. Our opponents have made a
great ado about the 3d. district as it stands
in the recently adopted apportionment.
We too arc dissatisfied with it, but for a
very different reason. Instead of surrcn-
dcring Stcarns County and the entire North
to the spoilers, and thus making them
hopclessly Democratic, VIC would have re-
publicanized the whole mass. Instead of
dividing Hcnnepin, we would have made
single district ofthat County. We would
then have thrown the Northern and Lake
Counties into district with Chisago, An
Okla, Benton, Counties and made it Re-
publican by 800 majority. stearns,
Wright and Mccker Counties would then
have formed another district which the
friends Of freedom could have carried by
about 100 maj. A friend of ours suggest
cd this plan to. several Of our leading Sen
ators, but they rejoctcd it and we must
yield. But let the Democracy thank their
stars and an ovcr-mcrciful Legislature that
they have one district lett.
Nor is it to be expected that our Rail
Road complication can be settled in a day.
There are too many conflicting interests to-
consult and too many cities and localities
to accommodate. To our mind it is plain,
that if the improvement is to. be ,contin-
ued at all, it must, in order to be profit
able to the Stockholders, be main stem
from Southern Minnesota to the North Of
the Sank River, at or near St. Cloud. We
have here one of the wealthiest agricultural
vallies upon the globe, stretching $50
miles westward to the Red River of the !
North. This arrangezlent should also pro:
vide for Rail Road from Lake. Superior
to St. Cloud, and thence it would shettiy
reach the Red River Of the North at |
Breckenridge, and finally form part of the
Great Pacific Road.
The charge Of extravaganza comes With
vretchcd grace from the Moccasin Dcmoc-
racy, to whom we arc indebted for the
most disgraccful expenditure Of public
funds that ever cursed and crushed an en-
barrassod people. We ask our opponents
to srccify the items Of extravaganza, or
: :'::or:ycr hereafter hold their peace"
,They,iave no existence; and will only be
referred to by wholesale chargers, and I'M
manly innucndos: We see no room for
discouragement, and no reason for denun-
citation. The Legislature taking all things
into consideration Aove done aceN, and a
few weeks hereafter will have witnessed
tier adjournment with a long list of cred
it from which We select the following items.
l. the election of U. S. Senator: 2. the
adoption of an apportionment Bill doing at
least partial justic to. the majority: 3. re-