Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-04-17
Letter from Hon. N. Richardson.

Letter from Hon. N. Richardson.
1.-THE following letter has been crowded out
by the financial statement during the past
two weeks, but we give it q place in this issue.
I'D. Transcript
Little Falls, MIMI, March %, 1879.
Editor Little Falls transcripts:
notice in your issue of the goth inst. that |
Benjamin, Of Little Texas, has come back at
me lively on the railroad bond question. Be-
fore proceeding to answer him will say that |
look upon Benjamin as a fast friend of
mine; and I assure him, and all others who |
may take different view of things from what
Go, that do not propose to entertain other
than the most friendly feeling toward them on
that account. But a sense Of duty compels
me to score to the line on all questions of
great Importance, involving, as this bond
question does, vital interests that can not be
considered too carefully, and that ought not
be acted upon hastily. I do not wish any
person to vote for the proposition to please
me, nor do think many entertain the feel
ing that Benjamin spoke about in his first
letter, that because would be likely to get a
fat job out of the building of the road, on that
account they must oppose the measure, Some,
l am sorry to admit, may entertain such q
feeling as that, and do all in their power to
defeat the proposition for fear that I may get
q chance to mako dollar out Of the enter
prise. If there are any such, apprehend
they are some of those for whom I impover-
ishcd myself in order to keep them from suf-
fering In making such confession of their
depravity, they unwittingly acknowledge
very important fact that is, that there will be
chance for a person to get fat job and
In e +ho ho
built. AS to that matter. I beg leave to plead
guilty, and will say that in case the road is
built I en- terrain the hope that 1 may be able
to make money enough out oft to at least
pay my debts; and further hope and believe
that many others in the county will do the
same thing, and thus relieve themselves and
their creditors OF great dell Of embar-
rassnent. But as to those who talk as Ben
jamin reports them, judge that they prefer
to live surrounded with poverty and ignor-
ance rather than to make the least effort to
better their condition; and if by chance they
should have wealth forced upon them by the
building of this railroad near their farms, the
last thing they would think of would be to pay
their debts. I expected that we would have
to overcome the opposition CT the St. Paul &
Pacific Railroad Company and the influence Of
the Minneapolis Milers' association but little
did I think of finding a man who lived any
where neer the road trying to defeat it. If I
stand III the way of the enterprise, I will
gladly turn my chance over to any one who
will take it. [ am merely director of the
road, and there is no pay in it. I may never
get cent out of what time and money I put
in, Be that as it may, am bound to see the
end of tt G project, either with an ignominious
defeat or !. magnificent triumph. I am sure
that I am right, that the bonds asked for are
a mere pittance compared with great and last
ing benefits to be derived. If the people are
ignorant with regard to the question, they
must be enlightened. Benjamin and myself
are the best chaps I know Of to enlighten the
people on things of great and vital import
ance; he with regard to theology, and myself
on the railroad bond question, I am credibly
informed that he has been preparing himself
for entering the ministry, and for several
years has devoted himself almost exclusively
to the requirement of knowledge pertaining
TO theology. Therefore, if I should desire
to Benjamin for it as to any other person
But when it comes to his knowledge about
building railroads, and as to what would bt
best for the people of Morrison county to do
I consider him a perfect failure, and his at
tempts t., enlighten the people on that question
a miserable farce, and he has demonstrated to
a nicely that he is supremely ignorant of tn,
subject on which he has at empted to enlight
en- the people. For instance, he says in hi
last letter, s'if the road is ever built it canno
we'll avoid running to Little Falls" I canno
, imagine what geography he could have con
l suited that showed Little Falls so near on
direct line from Sank Centre to Motley, S,
; thai it could not we'll be avoided. All tn
maps ever saw make Little Falls about thir
ty miles out of line; and common sense will
teach any man that in case the road one
goes to Motley, Morrison county will remain
poverty stricken as she is for many years, ane
until she shall bond herself to build the roat
to Sank Centre without aid.
infer from Ben amin' letter that he would
favor bonding the county to improve tn
water power at Little Falls, which shows, afte
all, that he has something of a generous spiri
in him, and that all he lacks is to know how
and where to apply it. Now let us examin
( this proposition little. Without railroa,
leading westward into the large prairie coun
try where there will be an extensive marke
for lumber, timber and wood, it would hardl,
pay to go to the expense of improving this
water power. The saw mills already built il
the county, ifthev had log enough, could abou
: supply the home demand for lumber and say
mills at this place could hardly compete will
: the mills north and south on our present lin
v of railroad. FIGURING mills here might d.
some better than saw mills. They could affor,
: to buy and make into -four the most of tn
: wheat raised in the county, which would b
sufficient to supply one good mill, The COS
of all this, if done by the county, would no
come much short of one hundred thousant
!. dollars, so that we can plainly see that tho re
suits would be small compared with the out
lay. Besides, there ore no capitalists propos
ing to take hold of such scheme, and inves
a dollar Of their own money CT even take tn
mills and run them, if built wholly at the ex
$ pense Of the county. Such a scheme IS so i'm
practicable that no capitalist or business mai
of extensive means has seriously considered
} such a proposition, if we are not to get tn
,. proposed railroad, which would open up al
extensive market for lumber, and furnish
= wheat enough in return to use the full capac
) ity of the great water power at this place
, We may as we'll drop the bond question, ant
employ Benjamin to tell US what we shall d.
to be saved, for he knows all about that ques
ton. His theory, as founded on the Script
, ure, is, "Seek first the kingdom of heaven AM
all things else shall be added - and my theor,
with regard to temporal matters is for US t.
seek first the railroad, and all things else viii
be added. That is, capitalists will improve
the water power and put up extensive say
: and grist mills and. as a natural conse
quence, will build bridge across the river, ant
MAKE improvements OK various k1nUS "ltuOu
asking county aid. I do not oppose issuin!
bridge bonds; but if we do not feel able t.
give bonds for both, let us give bonds to Sc
cure the building of the railroad. We mus
not lose sight of the fact that the building o
the railroad naturally insures the building 0
bridge, while the building of a bridge vii
have but little influence in bringing the rail
road.
Benjamin confesses to belief that coult
greatly benefit the county with my pen, il
case my letters did not SAVIOR so strongly q
speculation, and we're not in the interest o
capital. Very good, Benjamin. There is al
old adage, although a homely one, which ap
pears to be to the point. 1t is said to be i'm
possible to draw blood out of turnip. Th'
meaning is that it is impossible to get money
out Of a man who has none. The difficulty
with Morrison county is, she is settled mostly
with poor people; no one has any money
any account to speculate upon. Very few car
hire man to work and pay him when he il
dono VIZ ara a1l moor tOpether. mVSel