The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-01-17


so far as Gov. RAMsEY's interests were con-
cerned. Acting in harmony with the adj
age which requires US to "speak we'll OF the
bridge that bears Us safely over" the Gov
ernor has shown, ever since, most aftec>
tionate regard for the lie that he coined in
1859, and which served him SO good pur-
pose then and be reproduces it still upon
every possible opportunity.
This lie of Gov. RAMsEY's, while it was
kept and used merely as an electioneering
agent, we did not notice and, to this day,
we have no recollection ofever having made
reference to it in this paper, or in any public
way. 1t was so palpabIy false, considered
as lie, per Sc and so absurdly monstrous,
considered as a lie of magnitude that we
have paid no more attention to it, than we
would had Gov. RAMSEY expatiated before
the people on the horrible nature of the
crime Of murder, and solemnly assured them
that we had killed Lightweight thou
sand of their fellow citizens, that year, at
the contract price of dollar head, and
that we had made profitable thing by the
operation. The real lie was no more true
than is the suggested one and the back Of
either ought, naturally, to be broken by the
heavy weight of its own falsehood.
But we notice that Governor RAMSEY,
instead of permitting bis pet lie to die the
common death of eIectioneeripg falsehoods,
seems determined to perpetuate it, not as
lie, but as truth, and to give it sanction
as such by bis executive endorsement. 1t
is true, that, in repeating it substantially in
his message, he makes no personal alIusion
to Mr.. GOODRICH ; but be had procured that
allusion to be made in bis official organ, the
Press, three days before, and thus insured
the personal application which he could not
decently embody in an official paper. The
Governors organ, in anticipation OF an ex-
posure of the printing frauds of the past
year, sought to parry the effect of that ex-
posure, and at the same time to prepare the
way for the Governors lie, by the following
reference to Mr.. GOODRICH:
We shall not now go into the question whe.
Their our accuser has clean hands, nor attempt
70 describe the enormous impudence of the
man who in SINGLE gear took out Of the State
Treasury Eaghty-Eaght Thousand Dollars, On
a pretelce Of paying for public printing, and
who now affects to lind evidence of exrava.
gance and dishonesty in accounts covering
three times the legitimate printing done by
him in 1885, and amounting in all to One.sev.
enth of the sum which he exacted for work as
inferior to ours in its style as in its quality.
With the way thus paved, by having his
favorite lie thus publicly set forth in detail,
by his agent, the Governor, in his late mes.
sage, officially eDgrafts it, in general terms,
upon the permanent records of the State, in
the extracts here copied:
In no direction are the fruits of the policy
of retrenchment more CONSPICUOUS than in the
item Of printing, which now amounts to but
One-seveLth vi the sum expended for that
purpose III 1898; when, indeed, the printing
bills largely exceeded the whole present cost
Of the Stale Government.
It was not the mere consideration that $780,.
600 annually might be saved to our impover.
ished people III the administration of the Gov
eminent with advantage to its efficiency; it
was not to satisfy the honest citizen that a
for printing might be benefcioliy reduced to one
eighth that sum, Immediately important as
these objects are, that have so long persisted
in urging an economical policy; but. after
having afforded the needed relief to an over.
burdened people, it was to hold out to the
~ ninro nfc uhn <hA L.
course Of events must soon turn toward tue
virgin lands OF tho Northwest, the assurance
that here, in Minnesota, their industry was not
to be hsmpered, nor their aspiration thwarted
by oppressive taxes for the support of official
extravaganza. &C., &C., &c.
The idea designed TO be conveyed by these
extracts will not be mistaken by any read.
er, however dull. 1t is, that, under differ>
ent management, the yearly expenditures of
the State government for its current printing
had been at the rate of $4,000 that the
cost of the public printing done for the State
1861, amounted to only one seventh of
that doue for the State in 1858. This is the
meaning Of Governor RAMSEY, and it is q
lie; for the suggestion Of falsehood, even
by q Governor, is no less criminal than its
direct utterance.
The first session of the Legislature Of the
State. commenced on Wednesday, the I'd Of
December, 1857, and ended Thursday,
August 18th, 1858, covering a period OF
over eight months; with recess from the
25th of March to the I'd of June. The ses-
sion, therefore, consumed two hundred and
fifty. four days; the recess, sixty-eight days;
leaving the working part of the session, one
hundred and eighty-six days. It ID this