The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-10-22

"'A'y "o EePoT'ou Auo acteu upon; nc na
control Of tho Committee but 1 told hi
that if he pashed his bill through the Con
mittee, l would take the floor Of the Hout
against it as a member Of the COMMITTEE
and fight it to the death. You may tax
the list of that Committee aud satisfy your
self as to tho correctness Of these state
ments.
Why WAS tho bin not passed at the las
session, you will ask. The frs, troubl
was with the Committee, but l believe "
could have surmountcd that. The leadn
officers of tho Northern Pacific Railroa
Company were in my room almost ever
day; its chief lobbyist and manager, NJ,
ror!er, boarded with mo; we met daily an
compared lists Of members as to their rosi
ton toward the measure. knew every
thing that was going on for the benefit O
the measure and just what votes We coul,
count on. knew that we had majority
in both Houses. They told US they would
vote for our bill; yet when the agents O
;llc road said they were going to intro uc,
II, these members said "Do not Dress i
now. We are favorable as statesmen to it
bu, oar constituents who have no direct in.
terest DO not take as enlarged q view of its
right and justice. We are on the eve Of a
Presidential election, and subsidy OF
Sou,uoO, 900 would DO terrible load for
the party to carry And besides the city
Is full Of the agents of the Southern Pacific
route, who are demanding an equal subsi-
ey and would tack their bill to yours. This
addition Of $500. 900, OtO would be fear
tul burden TO the party, and might cost rs
individually our elections when we 90 be-
tore our constituents" This was the mnin
objection and for this reason it was deem
ed best by the officers and friends Of the
road not to press the bill to vote. as they
were confident they could not hold suffi-
cient number of members to pass it-,hat
1T the last moment they would either vote
against it or not vote at all.
Gen. Andrews said in his speech at st
Paul that l am unfriendly to the Northern
Pacific r. R.-that l am hostile TO it,
Hon. }. Gregory Smith, of Vermont, the
President of the Northern Pacific road, says
am Zone Of its warmest friends and sup
porters." Mr.. Donnelly then read the fol-
lowing extract from Gov. Smiths letter,
which has been published entire in THE
JOURNAL:
''Since my connection with the road Mr..
Donnclly has labored earnestly with its
other friends to secure the desired legis!a-
ton.
in 1865 he made an able speech favor
ing the bill. and with the exception of the
Hor. Thaddeus Stevens, it had no warmer
or Jealous supporter than he.
cat every succeeding session Of Con-
gross, he has been and is strongly relied
upon by the friends Of the measure to urge
its claims, both in Committee on Railroads
Of which he is a member, and before the
House.
''While am therefore unable to speak
from personal knowledge of what transpir-
ed in the House in 1864 as regards Mr..
Donnelly, yet find nothing in his speech
on that occasion as published that justifes
the. assertion of the Tribune, nor have
ever nenrd either from the friends of the
enterprise in Congress, or from those who
we're its outside friends and managers, any
but expressions Of confidence and reliance
upon him as one Of its warmest friends
and supporss-such at any rate he has
proved himselfto be, since have been con-
nectcd with the management of the road"
Gen. Andrews would have you believe
la: in this Gov. Smith wrote lie-that
Gov. Smith p:nned deliberate lie. That
woul,' be lying by the wbolesale-from the
whole cloth and the cloth by the bale
Iny St1, &c of
friends and supporters OF the road" Gen
Andrews says ''he is its enemy" Of course
Gen. Andrews, lawyer in a country town,
knows more about this than does Gov
Smith. the President of the road. His
position in canvassing back counties for
delegates gave him opportunities Gov.
smith did not possess. Why does not Gen.
Andrews come before you personally and
prove his charges?
AS have said, when the Northern Pa
;i6c Railroad bill was to be introduced at
he beginning Of the last session, the Com
oary selected me from that whole House
o introduce it. Why did they do this If /
cas- hostile to it? Gen. Andrews says that
ought TO have had ,he road built; that
he iron horse should now be suort1ng
through the streets of St. Cloud. Last
summer, while canvassing for the position
# delegate TO Chicago, Gen. Andrews
pledged that if elected:he would get 3 reso
ution in the platform committing the Re.
publican party to the Northern Pacific
Railroad. Look through the platform, and
10 you see such q resolution :? When Gen
Andrews could not get through Conven-
ion q mere oppression Of opinion. why should
he assail me for not obtaining a subsidy of
S50, 100000 from so stormy and divided
body as the House of Representatives
Gen. Andrews says differ from some Of
lions. have no hesitation in saying did.
never intended me to be the tool of any set
Of men. And yet am in favor as earnest
~ as any man who lives, Of the Northern
Pacific Road. but when the Company
made their surveys. they ran single line
through the great territories and on until
they reached our State line.
They ran two lines, one from St. Cloud
to B yield, the other from Lake Superior
to IS or 100 miles North of here
They would not say which line they would
take, they would not indicate which line
they were going to take. The land grant
bill passed in ga says the road shall start
near the head of Lake Superior in Wis
consin or Minnesota. I framed that por-
ton of the bill for these men, and when
came to draw it said, will give my State
the advantage by making it start in the
State Of Minnesota. The question was
whether we could get any road, OF any
land grant, any corporation. They were
anxious to get votes and to satisfy the peo-
pie of Wisconsin, and to obtain votes of
the people through her Representatives, l
so framed the bill. The Wisconsin delega-
ton voted almost solid against us, and We
failed, They deserve no favors at our
hands. And when saw this Northern Pa.
cifc road holding two lines of survey,
thought it was my duty while supporting
that bill to labor for the benefit of my
State.
1t was my right as the representative IF
this district TO discriminate between the
two routes they had surveyed, and soy up
on which route they should ran. l dis
eliminated in favor of the lower route.
It was not our interest to run the road
north OF US, but to defect the emigration
somewhere down to the middle portion of
the State. There was another point Tint
great man Stevens, IN the list hours Of his
life, that sage AMI philosopher, who
broght to bear his mighty calculations,
the light of his vast experience and great
brain Hc said to those gathered around
his sick bed, the greatest city Of This CONT
nent would rise at the west ern extremity of
LAX. Supe1ior.