The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-04-08
OUR RAILROADS AND OUR REP
RESENTATIVE.

RESENTAT1VE.
The St. Cloud Press of last week
asserts that The JOURNAL is opposed
to the construction Of the Superior
and Southwestern railroad and of its
proposed connections centering in this
city, and that this opposition IL based
on ill-feeling toward MIR. Gilman
Our esteemed contemporary is serious
ly in error. TIE JOURNAL is in ia
vor of the construction of as many
railroads centering in St. Cloud as
there are different directions for them
to come from, and it would be delighted
to see Mr.. Gilman build, run and enjoy
the profits of them all. The more
roads and the more profits the better.
This paper has denounced the scheme
fathered in the last Legislature by
Mr.. Gilman because it believed it to
mean, not the construction of any
railroad, but the obtaining Of charter
rights and of the control Of an ex-
tensive swamp land grant for purpos-
Is of individual benefit and specula-
ton. 1t did not and does not believe
that Mr.. Gilman and his friends
mean or did mean business. They
have 80 often whispered in the ears of
our people the words Of promise of
the great things they intended doing,
and have so unvaryingly failed to do
anything, that we do not in the pres
ent instance feel disposed to grant
them the unbounded confidence de-
manded so far in advance Of any in
dication of actual operations. Messrs.
Gilman, Clarke and Mcclure have
their railroad company incorporated
and organized and books are open for
subscriptions to its capital stock. Let
them now give practical evidenceof the
sincerity oftheirprofessions by putting
money into the enterprise, as they are
abundantly able to do, and pushing
their railway work ahead, and we can
assure them that The JOURNAL will
give them its heartiest cooperation.
We should be happy to see these gen.
tlemen make million dollars each
out of the construction of railroads
intended to assure "the future of our
city," but we have no disposition to
assist them in making fortunes through
trickery at the expense of our rail-
road interests. They want to get
something for nothing, and we pro-
pose that they shall render some
equivalent for the values received.
The Press is just as far astray in
stating that this opposition comes from
unfriendly feeling toward Mr.. Gil
man. 1t has been with unfeigned
sorrow and with great heaviness Of
heart that we have felt called upon,
by high sense Of duty, to criticise
our Representatives legislative course.
We had hoped that he would do so
many good things for St. Cloud that
The JOURNAL would be able to
shower upon him, upon his return, its
warmest and most glowing COM
mendation-that he would secure
the passage Of measures so big with
lasting benefits for our young city
that the most unwilling lips would
be compelled to pour out their &C.
acknowledgements Of his excellent SER
vices. Or, failing in this, we had
hoped that he would at least
do nothing Objectionable, SO that we
might spread over him and his record
the charitable mantle of silence. But
it was failure and disappointment all
around. The things he should have
done, he did not and the things he
should not have done, he did-and
there was no health in him. His
railroad scheme was a trick I; his
school division bill was an outrage ;
and his one other bill is Of no present
account VIII atever and of very prob
lematic benefit at any time. 1t is his
own fault that his course has secured
for him only the denunciations of his
constituents, whose indignation is in
tensified by the thoughts of the daz"
cling ante-election promises he had
fed them upon last fall. And, much
more in sorrow than in anger, we add
that his services in no wise exceeded
his reward.
The Mark Lane E4prees, Of Tues
day, in a review of the foreign
breadstuffs market, says: The
Spring planting has been eAsctually
completed bvth here and on the Con-
tinent. The condition of the newly