The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1870-03-31

". Is. MITCHELL. EDITOR. G
thursday, March 80. 1870.
THE BONDS AND LANDS. l..
In another column is published = ;
,umbor Of extracts from Minnesota
newspapers, expressive Of the opinion
. their localities concerning the scheme
passed by the Legislature for turning
,vsr tho Five Hundrsd Thousand Acres
If Iutsroal improvement Lands to tie
holders Of tho old Railroad Bonds.
Very many reasons arc given Why the
bill should not be passed-ths indecent
haste in pressing 1t to vote the M
favorable time for farmers At which
tho election is to be held tho rscogni.
ton Of the bonds At their par value,
with accrued interest che failure to
call for all tho bonds; the exemption
Of the lands from taxation; and still
Others equally strong.
Most people are disposed 10 admit |
that these bonds are worth . certain
per cent. of their face, and that when
due measures should be taken to pay
what is their just value. A large ms
jority Of tho voters Of Minnesota hold
this opinion, and At various times have
given expression to It At the polls.
Whenever the issue has been prr.
ssntsd, the vote han been invariably
against full recognition Of tho
bonds. The present scheme, prss-
ED through tho Legislature, may
be confidently booked for tho same
place to which it, predecessors have
taken their everlasting departure.
The fact that these lands were given
to the State ID urged IS . strong point
Why they should be used for tho pur-
pose Of paying, in whole Or in part, this
indebtedness. This amounts to just
nothing At Ill. Because these lands
were donated to Minnesota by the
government, a. lands were given
TO other States in tho same man
ner, is no reason Why they should be
squandsrsd or diverted from tho pur.
poses for which they were given-in-
te1nal Improvement.
The charge Of "repudistiop" is harp
Cd upon continually by those who arc
interested In the payment Of the bonds.
This is indeed . stale war-ory. It haa
passed through many campaign and
has served its day. The people do moi
mean to repudiate the debt, but they
do repudiate the schemes that are be-
ing offered for enrichipg the holders o.
the bonds At their expense. They re
pudiate giving this immense body o
lands, for mere nothing, and then, TO
ten years, paying the taxes which shall
make the value of the lands four-folt
greater. They repudiate diverting tn
lands from their legitimate purpose, tn
building Of railroads and bridges, int
the hands of sharks. This is the styl
of"repudiation' to which they are il
revocably committed.
Even for tho moment admittinI
that the debt was an honest one an
should be paid in full, the injustice q
paying it with the lands must be Of
parent TO every honest man At = glanc,
The sohole burden faNs upon the from
tier, which is least able to bear it. Tn
report Of the State Auditor shows thu
Of the amount of tho Five Hundre
Thousand Acres of Land thus for select
ed, Two Hundred and Five Thousand
Seuen Hundred and Eighty.nine acre
have been selected from the St. Clou
and Alexandria Districts, (Which wer
until about year ago, included IN on
District, the ST. Cloudy Tho Audito
adds:
Tho balance of tho grant, l6, sos
acres, will be selected from the Norther
portion Of tho State ~ fast AZ suitabl
lands can be found"
In other words, the country tributar
ITO St. Cloud will be compelled to fa1
nish 222, 368.3l acres, or almost on'
half Of the entire amount, Of these II
ternal improvement Lands. When v
say that the portion Of the State wher
these lands lie has not received one fl,
thing Of benefit from the debt for tn
payment Of which it is proposed to rs
them, tho injustice Of this bill can .
once be seen. Other portions II
traversed by railroads, built by gran.
of lands along their route; and, fiol
being older, settled, they have no VI
cant lands to give for tho Internal In
provement grant. They have had tn
full benefit Of their lands, aud the
now demand thst Northern Minoesot,
shall pay this old debt. To multipl!
the injustice, it is just such Localities
a. furnish the least or nothing to thil
grant, which derived whatever bsnsf
there wss from the issue Of tho Ok
bonds. It i very easy for St. Paul
built up. and enriched by railroad
constructed from lands taken from 9th
or localities, to shout: "Ho! 20,
Northern barbarians, you vandall
vithouta railroad, turn over your Quar-.
ter Of a HILTON acres Of Internal I'm
provement Lands and pay our old debts
1fyou refuse, sou repadiate p In plain
words, this is Just what it means, g.,