The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-02-23
KNOTT'S WIT.
The Naughty Speech Ab0Ht a Railraad.
HOW J. PROCTOR KNOTT MADE
FUN FOR THE HOUSE.


The House having under considera
tion the joint resolution Is. T.. No
I'D extending the time to construct &
railroad from St. Croix river or Lake
| TO the west end of Lake Superior and
to Bayfield,, Mr.. Knott said:
Mr.. Speaker: If [ could be actual.
ed by any conceivable inducement tC
betray the sacred trust reposed in me
by those to whose generous confidence
am indebted for the honor of seat
on this floor; if | could be influenced
by any possible consideration to be-
come instrumental in giving away, in
violation OF their known wishes, any
portion of their interest in the public
domain for tine mere promotion of any
railroad enterprise whatever, should
certainly feel strong inclination to
give this measure my most earnest and
hearty support: for ] am assured that
its success would materially enhance
the pecuniary prosperity of some OF
the most valued friends l have on
earth; friends for whose accommoda-
tion would be willing to make al
most any sacrifice not involving my
personal honor or my fidelity as the
trustee of an express trNst. And that
of itself would be sufficient to coun-
tervail almost any objection L might
entertain to the passage of this bill
not inspired by an imperative and in
exorable sense of public duty.
8ss But, Independent of the seductive
influences of private friendship, to
which l admit L am, perhaps as sus-
ceptible as any of the gentlemen see
around me, the intrinsic merits of the
measure itself are of such an eXtraor-
dinary character as to commend it
most strongly to the favorable consid-
Grafton of every member of this
House, myself not excepted, notwitb-
standing my constituents, in whose
behalf alone am acting here, would
not be benefited by its passage one
particle more than they would be by
a project to cultivate an orange grove
on the bleakcst summit of Greenland s
icy mountains. Laughter.
Now, sir, as to those great trunk
lines OF railway, spanning the conti-
nent from ocean 10 ocean, confess
my mind has never been fully made
up. 1t is true they may afford some
triffing advantages to local traffic, and
they may even in time became the
channels of more extended COM
merce. Yet have never been thor
oughly satisfied either of the necessi-
ty or expediency of projects promis-
ing such meager results to the great
body of our body. But with regard
to the transcendent merits of the gi-
gantic enterprise contemplated in this
bill 1 never entertained the shadow of
a doubt. Laughter.
4, Y ears ago, when | first heard that
there was somewhere in the vast terra
6ncognita, somewhere in the bleak re-
gions of the great Northwest, stream
of water known to the nomadic in
habitants of the neighborhood as the
river st. CroiX, / became satisfied that
the construction of railroad from
that raging Torrent to some point in.
the civilized world was essential to
the happiness and prosperity of the
American people, if not absolutely in
to the perpetuity of re-
publican institutions on this continent.
[Great laughter.] I felt instinctively
that the boundless resources of that
prolific region of sand and pine shrub
berry would never be fully developed
without railroad constructed and
equipped at the expense of the gov
ernment, and perhaps not them
Laughter.
had an abiding presentiment that,
some day or other, the people of this
whole country, irrespective of party
affiliations, regardless of sectional
prejudices, and "without distinction
of race, color, or previous condition
of servitude," would rise in their
majesty and demand an outlet for the
enormous agricultural productions of
those vast and fertile pine barrens,
drained in the rainy season by the
surging waters of the turbid St. Croix.
Great Laughter
These impressions, derived simply
and solely from the g eternal fitness
of things" were not only strength
ened by the interesting and eloquent
debate on this bill, to which / listened
with SO much pleasure the other day,
but intensified, if possible, as l read
over this morning the lively colloquy
which took place on that occasion, as
l find it reported IN last Fridays
Globe. 1 will ask the indulgence of
the House while read few short
passages, which are sufficient, in my
Judgment, to place the merits of the
great enterprise contemplated in the
hCstouAO AOH uuuCT UISCuSSlOu DC-
yond all possible controversy.
The honorable gentleman from Min
nesota Mr.. WILSON, who I believe is
the bill, in speaking of the
character of the country through
which this railroad is to pass, says
this .--.-.-- EI
we want to have the timber brought
to rs as cheaply as possible. Now, if
You tie up the lands in this way, SO
that no title can be obtained to them
for no settler will go ON these lands,
for he can not make living-you de-
prive us of the benefit of that timber"
Now, sir, i would not have it by
any means inferred from this that the
gentleman from Minnesota would in
sinuate that the people out i'll his sec
tion desire this timber merely for the
purpose Of fencing up their farms SO
that their stock may not wander off
and die of starvation among the bleak
hills of the st. Croix. Laughter /
read it for no such purpose, sir, and
make no such comment on it myself.
In corroboration of this statement OF
the gentleman from Minnesota, find
this testimony given by the honorable
statesman from Wisconsin Mr.. Wash
burn;l Speaking of these same lands,
be said /;
"Under the bill, as amended by my
friend from Minnesota, nine-tcnths of
the land is open to actual settlers at
$3.50 per acre; the remaining one
tenth is pine timber land, that is not
fit for settlement, and never will be
settled upon but the timber will be
cut off. l admit that it is the most
valuable portion of the grant, for most
OF the grant is not valuable. 1t is
quite valueless ; and if you put in this
amendment of the gentleman from
Indiana you may as well just kill the
bill, for no man and no company will
take the grant and build the road"
simply pause here to ask some
gentleman better versed in The science
of mathematics than ! am to tell me
if the timber lands are, in fact, the
most valuable portion of that section
Of tho aOrsvtfrx, ord thox, xry,,r,I1 ho on