St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-20
THE STREET RAILROAD.
1t is Simply Tolerated, and Has no
Real Corporate Existence or
Right to the Streets.
To the Editor of the Globe !:

nect1on with this quasi (tnls worn Is uStu Will
industry,'') corporation has been so diligent-
| ly liberal, and its present management is so
popular, that I am constrained as one Of
many sufferers to insist that justice to the
public requires that it should be held TO the
strict conditions of the bond"
| In the first place the so-called corporation
is not corporation, and is only upon the
| streets with its rails and equipments by toler-
alton. have given the subject thoughtful
examination as a lawyer, and will give my
reasons for the conclusion stated as briefly as
the facts will permit.
The constitution of the state became prac
| tically operative in 1858. Section two, arti-
Gle ten, reads: 'sNo corporations shall be
| formed under special acts, except for NUM-
cipal purposes"
| This section received an authoritative in
| depreciation in the appeal of Cakes Ames and
| another exec utor VS.. The Lake Superior and
| Mississippi Railroad company, reported q
Mimi, 241. The court, upon the first hear
| ing, decided that the act under which the
corporation claimed its rights was anconStttu-
tio,al.
The interests involved being of great mag
nitude the court upon its own motion suggest
ed re-argument, and thereafter upheld the
integrity of the corporation by declaring the
| act constitutional. 1t would be both inu-
| tile and beyond these limits to review that
decision. 1t is ultima ratio, audit suffices me
| to say that careful reading of the able and
| ingenious opinion of Chief Justice Giltillan
demonstrates that the result was largely con-
tributed to by the immense public and pecu
mary effect of different decision. Such
| considerations do often and most properly
affect the decision of cases otherwise almost
equilibriant. This case, however, I would
not recalcitrate, If I could, because in its en-
! tire scope of reasoning it sustains the view
| am here offering.
| / make the following extract from Judge
Gilfillan's opinion, not because it contains
news to lawyers, but may be good reading for
such of the laic public as incline to favor the
omnipotence of legislatures.
| "That legislature might msapprehend the legal
effect of the act passed by it, just tmight mis-
take as to the limits of its constitutional power is
| possible. 1t might without intending to create
new corporation, attempt such radical and es-
sential changes in the constitution OF an old one
| as to amount to the creation of new one; and
| if such must be the necessary result of such
| changes, the act must be just as clearly within
|
legislature actually intended the result, and
fully understood that such would be the effect of
| the act.h
Let US now examine the facts connected
with this putative corporation. In 1853 the
| legislature of the territory of Minnesota
passed an act entitled San act to incorporate
! the Saint Paul and Saint Anthony Railroad
company Claws of 1858, passed March 2,
| 1853.
This act provides that James W. Davis,
| Eli Kinney, Luke, P. N. Smith, George
johnson, John Rollins, James Wells, G.
CARL, Emanuel Case, VIM. P. Murray, Will
| liam L. Larned, r. P. Russell, R. M. Spencer,
Alfred E. Ames, Ami Edmund and such
others as may become stockholders with
| successors, ETC., become corporation with
the usual corporate powers.
Sec. g That said corporation is hereby vested
with the right and authority to construct q rail
| road commencing in or near the town of st Paul,
in the county of Ramsey, and thence by such route
as the directors may select, to near the town'of
| ST. Anthony, County of Ramsey, as the directors
may hereafter determine.
Sec. limits, the amount and the distri
| button of stock.
| Sec. provides for stock subscriptions,
election of directors, officers, etc.
| Sec. 5 regulates the manner of subscrip-
lions to stocks, etc.
Section reads:
Sec. 6. That if said company shall not organ
| ize within one year from the date of the passage
| of this act and have the road completed within
| three years from the organization of said compa-
ny, then this act shall be void.
I have conversed with VIM. P. Murray,
Edmund Rice and G. Carl, who each in
formed me that they have no memory of any
| organization under this act. N'inlporte, it is
notorious that nothing practical was ever
done by this corporation.
Sec. gives the directors power to deter
mine the kind of railroad equipments, etc.,
ETC., and authorizes double track.
| Sec. s. relates to condemnation of lands.
Sec authorizes the corporation if neces-
sary to connect with or use any other road,
| street or bridge made by any other company
or persons incorporated or authorized by the
law of the territory and it is authorized to
contract with such corporations or companies
| for such use or connection, or for transfer
to it of the corporate or other rights or privil-
eyes of such other entities
The remainder of the act relates to details
which are of no importance here.
| March 4th, 1868, more than ten years after
the act of 1853 had lapsed by non use, and
by its terms and ten years after the
|
| entitled
can act to revive and continue an act, and
the corporation created by said act, entitled,
Anthony Railroad company" approved
March I'd, one thousand eight hundred and
fifty three, and to amend said act''
The preamble states in substance that the
act of 1858, entitled, as above
/ stated, ''and the corporation thereby
created be and the same are hereby
revived and continued and said act is hereby
amended so that the same shall read as fol-
| lows"
| Sec l. George L. Becker. w. H. Temple, la
| fayette Emmett, Eugene Underwood, John NJ.
Gilman. Dewitt C. Jones, Charles II. Lienau, P.
| f. McQuian, Louis Roberts and Parker Paine,
! and their associate successors and assigns be,
and they are hereby created o body corporate,
the name and style of The st. Paul Street Rail-
| way Company with the usual corporate pow
| ers.
See. g The said corporation is hereby
| vested with the right, power and full authority
to lay out construct, operate, maintain, and use
| railway, with all the necessary or convenient
tracks, side tracks, turn outs, switches, and
other appurtenances from the City of st. Paul
in the County of Ramsey in the direction of ST.
Anthony to the western line of said county of
Ramsey, in the direction of the city of St. An
thony i'll the county of Ramsey
Here we have an entire aeW body of
men, created a body corporate without pre-
tence that they have succeeded to, the rights
! of the corporation created by the act of 1858,
with the right to construct a railroad over
the same route excepting that the westerly
terminus is limited to the western line of
Ramsey County, instead of ''to or at the
town of st. Anthony in Ramsey County"
Ut may be stated that st. Anthony was in
Ramsey County in 1859
These notifications of the act of 1853 with
in the reasoning of Oh. j. Gilfllan in the
case of Ames and others before cited might not
L a.