The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-10-19
St. cloud, Mankato and Austin Railroad,
ST. PAUL, Mimi, Oct. l6, 1883

and others. have been handed by them
to the members of the executive COM
mittcc of the late Board of Directors Ol
the st. Cloud, Mankat0 and AustiOn Il
r. Co. for reply.
You are pleased to request informa'
ton concerning the status OF said rail
road, and call attention to certain res.
olutions adopted by your Board OF
Trade. We checrfully give you, SO far
AS possible, the desired information.
The resolutions ask, first, "why the
railroad is not being constructed" 1t is
as much matter of regret to us, as il
can possibly he To anyone, that nothing
further than engineering work has been
undertaken this season. You will have,
of course, observed, that the cOnstruc-
,ion company have, technically at least,
begun the work by placing engineers in
the field and partially locating the line.
The call for the survey of several new
routes necessarily delayed this work.
The first obstacle to the beginning of
construction" was, in part, the failure
of some of the principal places Oh the
line to respond promptly to the call for
aid, which required the work of raising
bonuses to be gone over agoin, and has
not even yet been fully responded to.
Notably your own city of Mankato has
not contributed cent in that direction.
These bonuses, it should be remember.
ed, were part of the consideration in
the contract for construction. This was
the beginning of the delay. Farther
more. within the last six months, the
value of railroad securieties held in
New York has shrunk the enormous
amount of four hundred millions of dol
lars. Look ut the shrinkage in ManitO-
ba and Northern Pacific stocks, in 10th
of which we in Minnesota have full
faith. Thus the financial condition Of
the country has proved further OBJ
staclc to immediate construction. Again,
iron or steel rails could only be obtain
ed with great difficulty. After the
completion of the necessary engineer
ing, the portion of the road which could
have been completed before winter,
would have been useless investment
until the completion of the remainder
of the road next year and Gen. Bishop
the present President, informs us that
the road can easily be constructed from
st. Cloud to the State line south of
Austin, i'm six months, commencing the
first of April next. There are very few
similar enterprises WHICH have been
exempt from similar delays, even in
better financial seasons than the pres
ent.
Let it he noted that the contract with
the construction company does not re-
quire the completion of the road before
Dec. 1884. Next, as to the matter of
franchises: The franchises are in the pos.
session of the Railway Improvement
Co. of North America" They were so
transferred as an essential part of the
contract to build. 1t was the best con-
tract we could make under any circum-
stances with that company, and the
only one we were ever able ton make
with any company. Nor did any per-
sOnal consideration influence the maxi
ing of that contract in any degree what
ever; the sole motive being the con-
struction of the road. The franchises
are valuless to the Improvement Com
pany, except the road he built, 50 that
company have nothing if they fail to
build.
Had we rejected this only opportunity
of constructing the line, then severe
blame would properly have attached to
the directory. Parties now disposed to
be censorious, would then have been
furious.
Let it once for all be understood that
we have contract with responsible
company, who have agreed to build this
road within the time specified. We
have not now, and never had any rea-
son to believe that they would not COM
ply with their agreement. The fran.
chises were transferred to, and are now
held Ivy this foreign construction COM
pany; and no railroad company in this
State, nor doing business in this State,
has any interest therein, all statements
to the contrary Notwithstanding.
In conclusion. we found this bank
rupt and an abandoned project, with its
land grant lapsed. BY long and assidu
Gus labor, we placed it upon its feet
Those who have been directors, have
given it their time, their money and
their efforts tor years, and they are Ger.
tainly far more disappointed at any de-
lay, than those parties who have done
little or nothing to advance this enter
prise. AS tins is the only proposition
we have ever had to build this road
and as these parties have not yet had
time in which to complete their agree.
ment, and rs we have reason to believe
that they are able, competent and tha
they intend to build this road within
the limits of the contract, we see ne
proper motive tor any reasonable mar
to prematurely question the situation o.
refuse to give all parties the full perioG
called tor in the contract before un
gerous criticism is INDUCED.
No statements or representations con
trary to the facts here presented have
ever been made by any members of thu
directory. And any other representa-
tons, from whatever source, are unjus
and untrue, and can be repeated only
from unworthy motives.
We have thus answered all your inter
rogatories, and in the light of the fact
presented, it would appear but reason
able, prudent and fair to wait till W,
see that the company does fail in build
ing, before making unjust and ungeneI
Gus comments.
Very respectfully,
w. II. OFFICER,
Chairman Executive Committee.
We learn that Moore, Piper 81 Co.
F have decided to enlarge their present