St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-10-23

MADE one or the most outrageous and abusive
2ttacks On me that man ever made, but the
next day at the polls, behold! / had the larg-
est majority that ever was polled in Winona
county. Applause and cry of ''good?'l
want TO prove without any doubt the malice
aud falsity of every one of his charges. His
first charge is that there have been certain
ATTACKS MADE ON MR.. LOVELY
in this district which have made, encour-
aged or allowed. wish to say here now,
ladies and gentlemen, believe that when any
man appears as candidate for office, either
mis- moral character OF his fitness in any re
spect is proper matter at issue, but 1 started
out in this campaign determined to make no
personal issue, and to have naught to say
about John A. Lovely's moral character, and
there never has been word said in the news
papers in any sense whatever abusive of or
derosstory to John A. Lovely that WAS either
Endorsed by me, Or sanctioned by me. or
winked at by me, or wished by nae. Ap-
plause. That is not the kind of q canvass l
an making. But will say this, that over
in Albert Lea, where MIR. LovelF lives, some
of you may nave been. and there is little
feeling there that will once in awhile burst
out and cannot be restrained; and if Mr..
Window thinks that any man. or any ten,
or any 100 men can stop that talk he has not
been in Albert Lea. Laughter. The sena-
tor next says that he knows tho reason WHY
l left the Republican party-that after max
@O-NNN~N
against him, at certain time.
for eighteen months, I got just one
vote. Look at the disiugenuousness OF the
man. Long after had withdrawn from that
canvass, and 1 was at home. and all my
friends knew that I was not q candidate, there
was Que man in the legislature that said he
wouldn't vote for Window under any circum-
stances, and who cast his vote for Thomas
Wilson. That is the sole basis for his state
ment. Next he refers land l wish to call at
tention to this particularly to my efforts to
tax railroad lands. You will remember that
it has been said throughout the state that
have made something of an effort to tax the
LANDS OF CERTAIN RAILROAD COMPANIES
IN the state. In the legislature,in 1881, made
up my mind that certain OF these railroad
companies, if not all of them. were COVERING
I'D the lands of their stockholders and direct
ors and holding them in the name of the COM
pany for the benefit OF the stockholders and
directors, and therefore l instituted an in
quiry, offered resolution in the legislature
that committee be appointed to investigate
and report whether this was true or not. l
wSs appointed chairman of that committee.
By the way, permit me to say that for the last
ten or fifteen years matter that has at
tracted nay attention and annoyed me was
that certain rich men by some Chi
cancery or legal legerdermaiu, were
enabled to avoid their share of taxation and
to require the men of mi ldling fortunes and
the poor men to pay their taxes. and there
has not a year passed for the last ten o. If
teen years that L have not felt almost i'm
PEELED to wage war on this iniquity. But
have dlsliked to become personally hostile to
my friends and neighbors, and therefore
have been still. But when l went into the
legislature and had good reason to
believe that such men as Alex Mitchell,
Russell Sage, Selah Chamberlain and num-
Der of others, men that were at the head of
the different railroads Of the state, mon that
controlled the railroads of the state and many
of the wealtkIest men or our state as say,
when was led to believe that these men
WERE HOLDING THEIR PROPERTY
throughout the state exempt from taxation,
and compelling the poor men of the state to
pay these taxes, felt that l was bound in con-
science and honor to take such steps as might
be necessary to uncover this iniquity and TO
make 1t manifest, and to have such legisla-
ton as would remedy it. man who is a
millionaire and would compel these poor men,
who are driven out GA to the fontier by their
poverty, to pay their (the rich men's) taxes.
dssery es the hottest place in that place which
they say is at every point very bot Laughter
and applause And, my friends, | don't
know what v olla do justice to such men II
the old-fashioned notion which | got from the
Westminster confession OF faith, and the
longer or shorter catechism, be lot true; il
there be not a he'll know not what will do
plausel. This having come to my notice,
I INTRODUCED THIS RESOLUTION,
asked for an investigation, and that investi-
CATION having been maize, 1 pushed thai
through. l unearthed the facts, | made re-
port, and that report passed on the last day
of the session, against a fight as bitter aS
could be made, because these railroad COM
p&nies have their winning ways, they have
their tools wherever you go-but.a at any rate,
fS w
on the tax rolls.
Mr.. Windom says: 'sHe (Wilson) prides
himself and boasts loudly OF his efforts to
tax railroad lands. The real reason may he
briefly stated. The Winona & St. Peter
Railroad company, some time ago, sold ali
its lands to private parties. and, as they had
been decided the lands which had belonged
to that company and still belonged to their
friends. were taxed. This at once inspired
the Judge with an intense enthusiasm for the
taxation Of other lands
In other words, Senator Window wishes to
convey to his audience the idea that / am
or was the attorney of the Winona & St. Peter
Railroad company. and he states positively
that the company had sold all its lands
and therefore had noue to tax and
that this fact inspired me to make
an attack on other railroad companies.
In the first place, [ never have been the
saaried attorney of any railroad company or
corporation or man in my life. 1 have tried
suits, and many suits, for railroad companies.
l have tried suits for other corporations, and
when these suits were tried. and when | got
my fee felt that that company or that per-
son and myself were even; that they owed me
nothing and that 1 owed them nothing.
TApplause. And at this very time that be
speaks of, the Milwaukee & St. Paul company
gave to me- and asked md 10 try, suits that
were arising in the locality in which [ lived,
as also did the Chicago 81 Northwestern COM
says that the Winona st. Peter company,
at the time that introduced that bill. had
sold out all its lands, he makes a statement
that is at variance with the facts,
and he cannot be mistaken, for
these facts are notorious and of record.
1t had sold all the lands which had been
earned by the building Of the road to Waseca,
distance Of l02 miles, but the road Is over
three hundred miles. 1t owned nearly all the
lands earned by the building of the road
from Waseca to the western boundary of the
state, which was about one million acres. all
of which then stood untaxed. The records Of
the state land Office show it, The reports of
the railroad commissioners show it,
AND IT Is A FACT,
public and notorious. This is not ALL In the
investigation as to the taxation of such lands
/ compelled the land commissioner of that
road to come before our committee for ex-
animation.
Now, next. He goes ON and speaks about
the anxiety Of the Winona & St. Peter Rail-
road company TO get its attorney into con-
gress." | will read:
1.-The anxiety of the Winona Sc st. Peter
Railroad company TO get its attorney into
congress may be accounted for by the fact
which was recently reported to me- that this
company has claim against the government
for several thousand acres OF land
When a mau wants to make a statement that
he knows to be untrue, to jure another. he
will usually say, sit is said sos / am told So
The insinustion is that that company having
that claim, / would be their tool to do their bid
ding, etc. Who told him? Now, on the other
hand, John A. Lovey, the man for whom he
is speaking, comes up and says-and about
the same time-that
.Mr. Sparks. the commissioner ,of the gen
eral land Office says that the Winona & St.
Peter company has had certified to it three
or four or FIVE hundred thousand acres of
land more than it is entitled to-
So, that instead of there being
claim on the part of the Wi
mona & St. Peter Railroad company
Eainst the government John A. Lovely says