Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-04-20
THE Il. II. EXTENSION QUESTION

Gro. w. CoGB, in this paper, pub
fishes a letter from Judge CoTHREN,
giving that gentleman's legal opin-
ion touching the present County
liabilities, in case any town or towns
should accept Mr.. C.'s proposition,
and under it render aid TO extend
thc Mineral Point Railroad. lie is
clearly Of the opinion that town
may accept this proposition without
danger of becoming liable for It's
portion Of the present debt, and adj
yances strong points OF reason to
sustain that opinion. The people
will read his paper, and judge for
themselves Of its soundneSs-
There is one point, and one we
think Of Importance, upon which we
wish the Judge had animadverted,
to-wit: suppose town or towns,
should under Mr.. CoBB' proposition,
give aid to extend the road, receiv
ing in return therefor n portion OF
the present indebtedness, dollar for
dollar, would that i'll any manner or
degree affect the present status OF
what would remain of the County
Bonds? Would it, to amy extent,
commit us--the peoplc-to the pay
ment of the remainder? Or, iii other
words, would such action Oh the
part Of a town, be taken in law as
. IN admission Of the debt, and leave
rs in a condition that we could not
rs adyantageously fight the remain
ing portion Of the debt, as we now
fight the whole?
Much depends upon the DISPOSE
ton Of this question, and the people
cannot, and ought not, be expected
to act Oh Mr.. ConB's proposition
until this point is settled beyond
cavil. We have talked with able
iurists on this point, and find that
their general opinion is that the ac-
ton Of town, or any number OF
towns, would not change the status
Of the bonds or in the least weaken
the County in her efforts to defeat
their collectlon-that any town may,
as an individual, acquire and hold
the bonds Of the County of which
she is a part. Some even 90 So far
as to express the belief that the ac-
oaptance by Interested towns Of MIR,
CoBB's proposition, would ultimately
tend to secure n compromise of the
whole matter, on better terms than
we can now get, or are likely To
have offered. In support of this
idea the argument Is about thus: If
the towns become the holders Of
$500, 900 of these bonds, they can,
ut pleasure, compromise with the
county, at Il small figure; and, more
than one half the bonds being thus
disposed of, the holders Of the re
maindcr might reasonably DC cN-
pcctcd to compromise on the same
terms. This reasoning to our minG
has force. II is believed that could
certain parties, who hold n majority
Of the claims against the county, be
induced to compromise ut so cents
ON the dollar to-day, those holding
the minor part would b. found will
ING to do the same. This being
true, why might we not hope that,
with a few towns Of the county the
owners of the major part of the
bonds, the owners of the lesser part
would be governed by them? And
the towns holding these bonds could
afford to compromise with the coun-
ty at 30 cents on the dollar, because,
trr the half which they, the towns,
would be out, they would have a
railroad running through them. For
instance, suppose the town of
Dodgcville should subscribe $780,
900 under Mr.. Cobb's proposition,
and receive in return for it Sl50,00O
of County Bonds, and then sell
these bonds to the county for $I5,-
600; she would have u railroad at Il
COST of $4,000. True she would
have her portion Of the old bond,
10 pay in addition, bat the SIS, ZOO
she would receive from the county
for her $4,000 Of bonds received
from the K. L. Co, would NOR,