The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1861-02-22

conditional upon the building of the roads,
which condition had failed-and that the loan
amendment was Of no avail, for the further
reason that the legislature passing it, was a
Territorial Assembly, sitting illegally as q
State Legislature. He favored the proposition
Of the bill for building road to Lake Superior
and was willing to vote the swamp lands for
that purpose. He thought that road would do
more to develop the State than any other that
could be built, and showed its necessity from
the statistics of the products and consumption
of that region. He opposed, in general terms,
the bill before the Senate, pointing out its inn
practicability to accomplish the object sought.
He was in favor of discOnnecting the railroad
question entirely from the settlement of the
bond question. He should put his vote against
the bill before the Senate.
Amendments were offered so that the reso-
luton would read:
Resolved, That the Senate will entertain no
proposition for an amendment to the COnstitu.
ton, for the purpose of securing to any Rail-
road Company the extraordinary privilege of
constitutional sanction of its privileges and
franchises, thereby placing them beyond the
reach of legislative action and CONTROL
The question being on the resolution, as
above amended, and the yeas and nays being
called for and ordered, there were yeas 8, nays
10, as follows: 'aI
YEAS. Barney, Cleveland. Hayes, Holley,
Lynd, McRoberts, Reiner, Sauborn. Smith.
NAIS.-DdlQWlu, DtuucII, OOOk, Il axe, JULIUS,
HeatOn, McLaren, Norton, Watson, Mr.. Presi
dent.
So the amendment was lost, by the casting
vote of the President, who said in casting his
vote, that the resolutions were intended to be
declaratory of the sense of the Senate upon the
questions involved in them and that the por-
ton proposed to be stricken out, by the ameud-
ment OF Mr.. Smith, was the declaration of the
opposition of the Senate to any amendment of
that portion OF the Constitution prohibiting
the creation of State debt, or the loan of
State credit for the purposes of internal i'm
provement :" and that as he. (the President,)
was opposed to any alteration OF the State
Constitution in these respects, he could not
vote to strike out that portion of the reso-
luton. He therefore voted NO upon the amend
ment.
Mr.. PELL paired off with Mr.. GALBRAITH
whe was necessarily absent. "A.
Mr.. NORTON TOOK the floor, and com.
menced by saying that he entertained some
views upon the question of railroads, and the
question now pending before the Senate, which
were the result OF long and mature delibera.
ton. The resolutions Introduced by him had
been termed mere distractions, but they were
not such. Their adoption or rejection by the
Legislature settled at once the policy the State
is to pursue on railroads. 1t is thoroughly
practical. The bills which have been presented
say that the people cannot have railroads
without State aid; the resolutions propose the
building of railroads without it.
The bills say that the people cannot have
railroads unless the State aids them, because
their receipts would not justify their being
built in any other manner. They propose an
unconditional State debt. The S., 100000 loan
did not propose that the State should pay
farthing of the bOnds-the issue of the bonds
was loan to the companies, and the cOmpa-
MES were to construct certain amount of
roads. The companies failed to build the roads,
and they were dispossessed. The companies
failed to give the consideration. The State is
in the position of man who gives prOmisOry
note without consideration. l give my note
to A. in consideration that he will do q certain
amount of work in three mOnths-he fails, and
Mr.. B. (the bond holder) steps in and attempts
to collect the note. The State is in the same
position as Mr.. A. The State is discharged of
its liability, and yet men come in and Say that
she is held for it. Internationally. If we pro.
pose to give new companies a loan, make it
| upon the terms of the original loan. You do
propose in all your bills, to either involve the
State in debt or loan of credit. Say to the
men who want these bonds. take them upon
the terms on which they were originally issued
in such manner as to exonerate the Treasury
of the State. The proposition in the first resO-
luton, must either be affirmed or denied.
He replied to the remarks of Mr.. SMITH, in
relation to the enhanced prosperity of Ohio, in
consequence of the construction of the Miami
canal, and stated that its benefits were felt on
ly in the immediate vicinity of the canal, while
the people more remote paid tribute and the
taxes, until they come down in their might and
demanded a provision in the fundamental law,
to prevent further loans of state credit. He
argued that the result would be the same in
case of the construction of Grand Trunk line
in Minnesota.
He then passed to the second resolution, and
maintained that the plghted faith of the state
mi hn hos mi rod hx,a 10
trust created by the act of Congress, and pre-
venting the formation of new lines from the de-
tatched and fragmentary portions of the old.
The faith of the state was pledged to Congress,
and to all the people of the state, that the lands
should not be alienated from the particular
lines named in the charters of the Land Grant
Lines. The faith of the state was pledged to
carry out that act fully. Men had gone up to
the plains of the Red River on the strength of
their reliance that a railroad should be con.
structed there, in accordance with the land
grant. He instanced projected lines in all
other directions, where men had gone and even
pressed the savage back to get on the lines of
these roads. What have these people done
that they should be cut off Tin the Minnesota val
ley)-that we should make them come down
to the city of st. Paul. and thence to southern
Minnesota, and to Chicago. These lines as
worked out by the land grant are the best sys-
tenn that could be devised, and we will leave
AS Senators, who aim to be statesmen, we
ought to regard this subject for the good of the
whole state, and not of particular localities.
The state is guilty of an act of bad faith if she
steps in and cuts off all these sections of the
states from the benefits of railroads for the
benefit of their termini, and the benefit of the
bondholders.
Any effort to connect. or make to depend, the
question of the bonds and the construction of
the roads, would be condemned by the people.
He would say, in response to the Senator from
Ramsey, that he (Norton) ought to repent ia
sackclOth and ashes for his part in the loan
amendment, that if it would be gratifying to
the Senator, he would say now, that he did re-
pent in sackcloth and ashes. and that as that
was disastrous to the hopes and the fortunes
of many men, so would it be sure damnation
to those who would attempt to make the PEG.
pie pay those bonds where the consideration
had failed, and gentlemen might profit by the
fate of those who voted for the first issue of the
bonds.
There has been so much said about railroad
plunderers, that the people turn from such pand-
ering to the passions of men with loathing and
disgust. Who has seen a clamorous capitalist
in the lobby? When the Senator talks of them
he is talking of his constituents. They say
vou should cOmnel tho naOnlo tn nav these