The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-11-01
The Anti-A1onopolist

icoPoHueu Dy taxation to meet the Oblle
- ZION implied by the letter of the bond.
-, Second-That sovereign State cam
~, win honor go behind an obligation SUI
ne Nc as this. and enquire what she owes, al
-. - why and to whom she owes it.
- Inc above is fair statement of Il
90 views that have been literally espresso
p and that anything short of this full settl
&c ment implied broken faith. dishonor
81 81 the State and deserved opprobrium to Il
1t people
= NOW let us see. There has lately bee
<. created for some special purpose, specie
le ranked as human, that combines MOI
u tnan any other class, the concentrate
70 meannesses OF mankind-they are know
as carpet baggers. [ look in val
t. among common words and language t
} nnu the implements with which to dc
r. scrloe them. They were political outcast
? from the northeast and west that. dead i
e poltlcs and saturated and possessed b
e all that is Infamous, like dead bodies the
e noated down the stream to the sufferin,
g oroken South-then rotting as they ros
; 10 the surface, spread poison, contagio,
q ana death all around them. Backed u,
i oy the administration at Washington the,
MN gled IN Southern politics, took DOS
session OF, and made the policies. for ;
NUMBER OF Southern States. Bought ur
.nelr legislatures, bought up their admin.
lstratlons procured the issuance, under
lhe forms OF law, of over one hundred
Inllllons OF State bonds, with the seal OF
I!e otate ana all the accompaniment de-
signed to give them validity; they then
s.ole the oonds, divided them among
themselves and friends, and now cody ask
sne lax payers to pay them, principal
salo, these men were no common
robbers, for they reached Their
felonious fingers way on and into the fin.
ture, and, by loading debt upon posteritv
stole the inheritance of children whose
Iatners were yet unborn.
Shall the people of these crushed South
ern States respond to this Obligation bv
taxation that will confscate PROPERTY and
Iarther spread the ruin and bankrnptcv
mat has palsied the South and made their
suHerings almost more than they can bear
or snail they go behind the face of the
oono when the world had notice of how
they came to be issued,) and inquire how
ihuch the State received for them? That
IS the question; and no wall that theorists
can oulld, can be thick enough and HIGH
enough to hedge in behind the shallow niea
Oh State sovereignty, the searching inouiry
OF the people who are themselves the
State. VIC
some twenty years ago the Territorial
government of Minnesota issued two and
quarter millions of bonds under the fol-
lowing circumstances:
Inc general government had made a
munl1cent grant of public lands TO aid in
the construction of various lines of railroad |
IN II, thls State. The people of the Territory |
!then comparatively few in numbers and
impatient and restless for the construction
OF the roads, were made the easy
uupes or the designing policies
anat promised them the speedy
construction or their roads and
development of the territory. An amend
=, 10 the constitution was passed nv
! .ne Legislature, submitted to and adopted,
~ d la sc popular majority, but with full
'hu coilipleted pledges on the part of au
lnors and advocates of this scheme that
ever be called upon to paw one dollar NV
'axatlon, either for interest or princnal of
hese bonds. POI VI
they asserted that they had taken from
he railroad companies mortgages and
,ther pledges as abundant secnritv for
MS indemnity, and believing this. and ,
eiylng upon this, they voted for the ,
n 11e, to the constitution. 3
ne agreement was to issue five millions t
, = Otate ponds, the roads to receive ten I
nousand as they graded each mile of +
oad, and ten other thousand of bonds ner =
lille as the roads were completed. t
Inc companies went Oh. era ued after
tsnlon sundry miles and drew therefore C
"o millions and quarter of what are n
no"n as the estate railroad bonds ,, n
Il course these bonds would not sell at f;
ny such price as was of practical account [
Tue construction of the road. They G
ere wanting In the essential elements Of
'cur'ty, ana tainted by the purposes of re
re parties by whom their Insurance was e,
N
IL is difficult to tell at what time. or tn CT
We detailed account of the prices or as
'ocesses at and by which the bonds were m
'tained by their present holders CO
nc price would range all the way from -
'thing TO flfty cents upon the dollar.
but, taxing right rule of estimates the (
DIX actually done on the different lines
ouid he very small percentage of the s
!, VI tne bonds received for it. Now. Y
nougn the work done for the State. as NJ
'uers turned out, was y ne means "
'Itn THIS sum, still it would seem ripn1 r.
proper that this work should be Maid q
!, and II this amount could be distribn- &
rightly between the holders of these -
nos exact justice would, it seems to me 81
done in the premises. IS
" men the failure to negotiate the bonds g.
become complete and work upon the g.
ds was about being abandoned, the par 81
interested spirited through the Lepis- \
IRE an act authorizing the bonds to be
elved by the State Auditor as a basis
banking. This act was fraud upon
statute book.
his fraud was unknown and even nm.
pected by the distinguished gentleman
was then governor, and deservedlv
"a nigh IN the estimation of all who
W him, and who has illustrated. "a
ch as any other man, the virtues and ha,
patriotic impulses, that have made his rails
'ru an ornament to the State. through IN. n
ng life of public usefulness.
I'LL, this banking bill never passed the -,
lslature. Under this bill. bonds were For
oslted with the auditor to very CON vu
raole amount. If I remember cor {