The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1877-05-17

- ~" "s~' SAASASAOAO tss'~'S>> W. SsAS
old 7 per cent. bonds and Eiss1 rnew
bonds beafMg Gpercent. tere paysgg
able thirtyyeas from thek d: p and
redeemable at tie Measure of the Stats'
at any time after twenty years from the
first day of July, 1877. But these new
bonds cannot be issued until the peo-
pie adopt an amendment to the consti-
tuition "authorizing the appropropria-
ton of the proceeds of 10000 acres of
internal improvement lands to the pay
'ment Of the interest 81 principal 81
both, of the bonds to he issued under
the provisions of the act.'' z
This, then, is the question on which
the people are to vote on the 18th Of
June next. Shall we recognize the Oh
legation Of the State to pay it's bonds,
accept the proposed adjustment. on the
basis of paying so cents on the dollar,
and appropriate the proceeds of our in:
ternal improvement lands to clearing
off this burden and the stigma of repu-
diation?
We understand the whole debt, in
Guiding interest, now amounts to over
$7,000,000. Auditor Whltcomb, in a
communication to the Legislature last
winter, stated that fund had accumu-
lated from the proceeds of internal im-
provement lands, amounting to over
$4,000, and he estimates that during
the next twenty years the sales will ag-
gregate So, 600, 900, which by reinvest-
ing can be made to yield $5,5o0,0OO.
The plan provides for the payment OF
the interest on the new bonds for two
and i half years, so that no money not
already provided will he required for
interest prior to January, 1880. BY
that time, it is thought the sales of
lands will be sufficient to meet the in
terest and thus avoid taxation.
IS THE STATE BOUND TO PAY.
We notice that Governors Sibley,
Marshal, Miller, Davis and Pillsbury
have all urged upon the State the bind
ing obligation of these bonds. Sooner
or later, they must be paid, and the on.
ly question to settle is as how it shall
be done.
Gov. Sibley, in his message, in 1859
said:
Far better that we he visited by pes
thence or famine. for these are the in
StrumentS of God, for which we are
not responsible; but our own act in Vi
olatlon of public faith and the pledged
honor of the State, would sink Minne-
sofa, for all time to come, beneath the
contempt and indignation of the. civil
lized world.
lii 1869, Governor Marshal said:
In my judgment, the duty of the State
to enter upon an adjustment of this
suspended debt, begins the moment the
State has the convenient means and a.
bility to do so.
In his annual message of 1876, Gov.
Davis said:
The duty of the State at this stage
was an obvious one. It was to make
provision for an adjustment of the uues-
ton by means of the securities which
it held for that purpose. But this du-
ty was wholly neglected.
In his late annual message, Gov.
Pillsbury said:
With such unmistakable and impera-
tive commands from the voice of law,
equity and honor, is the question not
reduced to the simple one of our will
i1gness to pay an honest debt?
Judge Dillon, of the United States
Circuit Court, in deciding this question,
said:
That the bonds held by the plaintiff
are are, the Legal obligations of the state;
justice, have no doubt. Justice
and honor alike require the State to
recognize these bonds as binding upon
it, and in the end the court cannot
doubt that the people of the State will
so ordain. A State with such Il future
before it us the State of Minnesota. call
not afford to bear the Odium of repudi-
cation.
AS early as 1868, the credit of the
State was so bad that Minnesota per
cent bonds went begging in the New
York market. State Treasurer Scheff-
er, in accounting for this, said:
The explanation is to- be found in
the unsettled condition of the so-called
Minnesota State Railroad Bonds, which
have accumulated in the eastern mar
ket, and were exhibited and common
ted upon whenever the Treasurer has
had occasion to visit New York.
THE GRASSH0PPERs:
I,