The Portland daily press., 1870-01-03

was carried to the L. ). Supreme Court and
its decision thereon will be found III Wallace
Reps. 175. The opinion Of the Court, deliv-
cred by Judge Swayne and concurred in by
all the other judges except Miller of Io,oa,
holds that the highest State tribunals in Iowa
having held, by series of decisions prior to
1859, the bonds issued by cities and counties,
to aid railroads, to be valid, and citizens of
other States having taken and paid for these
bonds relying upon these decisions, they must
now be deemed valid by the Supreme Court
of the United States-especially as those de-
cisions meet the appreciation of this Court
and are in harmony with the adjudications of
sixteen States of the Union. As to past trans
actions it can make no difference that the
Courts of Iowa no,u hold their own former
decisions incorrect. The Supreme Court of
the United States will not follow their oscilla-
tent as to snake sacrifice of truth, justice
and law" Accordingly Mr.. Ge'pcke got his
judgment, and we hope that it brought his
money. But the effect upon Dubuque was what
might naturally have been expected as con-
sequence of its manifest inability or indis-
position to pay its just debts. Since 1860 1t
has decreased instead of increasing its popu-
latlon, and if Mr.. Gelpcke hasn't obtained his
pay he must attend to it Immediately while
there is anybody left in that dishonest city, of
whom to collect it.
Recently the Supreme Court of the United
States has had occasion to reiterate its decis-
ion with relation to other similar bonds issued
by some of the counties of Iowa-and a great
commotion has arisen among the citizens of
that State who apparently never dreamed
when they borrowed it that they would ever
he asked to repay the loan or to pay anything
for the use of the money. Public meetings to
protest against the decision and to counsel re-
sistance TO the execution of legal process for
its enforcement have been held. 1t is natural
for those who elect their judges solely upon the
narrow issues of heated campaign to think
a town meeting the best place and manner of
determining the legal question whether or not
man ought to refund the cash he has bor-
rowed when the stipulated time of payment
NOaAASS
Kirkwood made one ofthe most cowardly mean
speeches we ever heard of, if last weeks pa
pers correctly reported his remarks. While
not openly advocating reputation, or resist
ance to legal process, he advised his hearers to
evade and delay payment and thus tire out
the creditors! As if those who had built the
railroads, to the completion of which Iowa
owes so much of her growth in population and
wealth, were a foe to be either resisted by
open force or circumvented by secret strate-
gy! And so this Ex-Governor ccunsels his
iellow-citizens to prepare some refuge of lies
to defeat their creditors and to resort to what
member of our Legislature from Somerset
County in 1867 was accustomed to denounce
as the technicalities of the law" to delay
them. Thank God, different pilot from
Kirkwood is now at the helm of State in
Iowa!-a man born and reared in Maine, up
on the banks of the Saco, and there taught
the lesson Of honesty and good faith toward
the public and private creditor.
Is not the course pursued by the counties
OF Iowa and Wisconsin, which is justified and
advised by prominent politicians and sane
toned by their vacilsting courts, a warning
to Eastern capitalists to invest their surplus
cash in developing the resources and business
of their own States where the returns if nom
inally smaller in promise will be surer of per-
Torrance, and the net result not only direct
gain to the lender and the State, but where
by the prosperity of the community in which
he lives, the fixed wealth of the capitalist will
be greatly enhanced in value. If loans are to
be made for the construction of railroads, will
it not be wise for Maine man to loan it to
build tracks in Maine, where he will not be
at the mercy of floating population with
loose ideas of honesty and morality, and of a
court rejecting the changing opinions of those
who elect them, than to send it to those Yves
tern States where he will have these evils to
contand With, and here the 7chancaa are that
the legal techncalities" of Gov Kirkwood
and of those who follow his counsels, will de-
lay him so long that he will be in his grave
ere, with infinite trouble, perplexity and ex-
pense, he can obtain judgment from the
Supreme Court of the United States against
his delinquent debtors. Xxi.