The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-06-20
The old Railroad Bonds.

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The old Railroad Bonds.
We deeply regretthat the election
last week resulted in the rejection
of the proposition for the settlement
Of the old railroad bonds, and have
too much confidence III the honesty.
Of the people Of this& State to attrib-
ute this to a desire on. their part to
avoid !, debt for. which they are
rightfully responsible 1t arises
rather, from tlieir not correctly UNI
Outstanding The true nature Of this
claim. True they have been told
over and over again the whole truth
touching this matter, and during its
discussion this spring, nothing has
been left unsaid i'll the way of expla-
nation. Hence, it seems that no.
body ought to be ignorant in any
particular. But we must not forget
that every statement made with a
view to influencing the public to
vote aftirmatively upon this question
has been as often denied, and that
the denials have apparently come
from the least interested sources.
That the bond-holders have EN-
ployed writer's to present their claims
is easy for everybody to believe, be
cause it is natural that they should
have done so, inasmuch as they are
heavily interested pecuniarily, and,
therefore, no matter how conclusive
the arguments presented by these
writer's, the generally accepted
conviction that they & were paid
for" destroyed their influence except
with those who think for themselves.
A denial Of the charge that money
was paid for the, advocacy Of the
measure only made matters worse,
inasmuch as it<destroyed confidence
in the: veracity Of whoever uttered
it. On the other hand, those who
opposed the proposition is had the ad-
vantage Of seeming 70 be dlsinterest-
ed 1t was asked,g why should they
speak falsely : What especial per
sonal advantage can they have in
opposing it ? Surely nobody pays
them Tor doing So for nobody will
gain : sufficiently BY the rejection Of
the proposition to justify them lin
expanding money to procure that
determination: This is the way in
which the: matter presented itself to
the public mind: r." > 4 :. 49, 49, s~, -.
:, !. Nearly every dollar spent@to ! in
duce newspaper: writer's to advocate
the payment Of the bonds has been
worse than wasted. 1t has; done
the bond-holders injury rather, than
good. This is no newly formed
opinion at which we have just ar
rived. We said the same thing long
ago. When vote was taken to ap..
propr;ateS the 100000 acres. of in
terna proyement: lands to liqui-
date3the;bonds, (some six yearsgago,)
we discouraged the use Of money
beyond what was merely requisite to
print and circulate plain and au-
thoritatiyea explanation of the sub:
ject. life result time proved
that we we're right, and now again
s. the same consequence has followed
a similar: &c experiment. The fact is
the influence ofan apparently sub
:sidized zp1essis always against the
measure it,advocates, and the be.
lief becomes general in the public
mind that the press is subsidized
whenever those who differ about
everything else agree in respect to
this. Instead, then, Of railing at the
people for defeating this proposition
. let fair proportion of the blame bs
laid to the Encouragement on the
part of those who conducted thi!
.can,na;nn in behalf of the bond