The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-12-11
Of SOS 900 in bonds BY. the city Of st.

Cloud to the St. p. l. p. r. r., Go. ~
. bonus for crossing and running tho
Pembins liue Of said r. R. into and
through said o,ty," had perfected their
arrangements for "a tot.l defeat not
only Of the above bill ($l00,J00) but
Of any other siu.,lar one.", Wiser than
their day and generation they had re.
solved to cave the people Of St. Cloud
from themselves-the people who are
sueered At IS seeming "to have lost their
senses )" and as "alwsys too ready to
follow dem,goguery instead OF tho die.
tates of common sens" But, says the
Press, the "popular feeling" was dis.
covered to be so overwhelmingly in
favor Of the bonus that these gentlemen
decided not to defeat the bill-whioh
WAS either very oowardly Qor no per.
son or persons are ever justified In
sacrificing principle to public olanor)
or very magn.pimous. They ,cooolud'
ed, it says, to reduce the amount to $780,
900 and to make certain changes in the
bill, by which they claim to have
saved the city almost 100000, prinoi-
pal and interest. Not qaite SO fast,
gentlemen, it you please. The original
bill provided for $4,000 ia bridge
bonds, and $4,000 10 right of: way
bonds. The former amount was the
only one insisted upon by these who
desired to soc the railroad come into
St. Cloud. What the cost Of the right.
of.way would be was unknown, but it
was thought best to have authorized an
amount that would be suf6oient-only
so much Of that amount to be used By
the city as would absolutely be re
quired. As will be seen by tho com.
pact, it was to defeat the $65, 900 bonus
the vita1 part Of the measure-that
these eight individuals pledged. their
united efforts. What are the provis.
ions Of tho bill as passed, and to which
the Press states these gentlemen con.
sented! I. gives $65, 900 in bridge
bonds, and $4,000 in right.ofw.y
bonds! 1t will be seen by this that
the individuals who "were prepared to
defeat" any bill Of this kind, we're
Menssezoes utterly defeated The
friends Of the bill, in order to save de-
lay, were quite willing to reduce the
amount Of right-ot.w.y bonus, but ao-
solutely refused to allow ono dollar to
be stricken from the bridge bonus, and
not one dollar was. taken of. What,
then, did these gentlemen gain :?
Nothing; absolutely nothing. They
violated their solemn: compact on their
own showing; they failed to reduce
the amount Of the bridge bonus; and
they did not save the city one cent on
che rieht.of-way, as no more bonds
would have been issued BY the city to
meet that expense than have been is
sued. So, the claim they make is
all "denagoguery." -
That the city has not derived tho
benefit from this railroad that was an.
ticipated is we'll known, but the causes
are such as no man then forseaw-the
failure to complete the St. Vincent Ex.
tension to its terminus and the failure
to build the Brainerd Branch. At the
time this bonus was voted every person
believed both branches would be com.
pleted before the close of the year
1872. Had they bertrand both will
yet be built-St. Cloud would be to-
day in possession of all the increased
benefits that the friends Of the bill
claimed would follow from bringing the
St Vincent Extension into this city.
In closing this article, which has
already infrioged on space We would
prefer t. devote to other subjects, we
would say, in behalf Of the people Of
St. Cloud, that if the gentlemen il
whose names the Press. article is writ.
ten express their desire for "heartJ
co-operation and mutual good will
among the business men of the city in
public enterprises, and TO- join hands
in promoting her welfare, in. good faith
then they will find the people ready
and wiling for unity Of. action, W.
believe We can speak for: ALL. w
know We can tor The JOURNAL.
SENATOR RAMSEY is Chairman Of
the Committee on Post Offices and
Post Roads 10 tho Senate, and mem.