Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1886-10-13
road men or railroad companies. Mr:a
Selah Ghamberlainson hehaifsn himself

TOSU mel OF I8AAEU0Us -
Selah Ghamberlainson hehalfrl1 himself
and most. Of the otheF bond holders made
an Offer, to accept IN FULL ssetttemens oV
per cent ofsthe face svaluesofthe bonds.
This was favored bysusny,staOngh, when
the legislature met not by nearly 2 ma
sjority. The scheme / tth0ught, both dis
honorable and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. be-
cause it put the atate I'M thelieAt OF . re-
pudiator of one half Of its debt,
and unjust to the state because 1t re-
quired the payment Of maRystimes more
than the state owed on any principle OF
law or equity. The scheuessWas pushe1
through by methods that L.Hould be glad
for the honor. of the state 10 have forever
forgotten That LQpposedthisearnestly
and untiringly from first to last those
who were then in the Legislature or in the
state will not have forgotten. A clause
was inserted in the bill-toa aid In floating
it through-giying out Of thaasum going
to the bond holders also, 900 I pay claims
due for construction of the roads. These
claims were largely held inslWinona and
many of them were at once offered to me
for collection But I declined to accept
them, being determined not to place my
self in a position where my interest or
the interest of my clients should stand
opposed to my duty Is = legislator, and
also being determined 10 oppose the
measure at every move so Tonga opposi-
ton could be of any avail. sIithus lost
individually thousands of dollars in fees.
The bill providing for the payment Of
the bonds was at the same time ;introduc-
ed into both the House and Senate. 1t
provided that there should. be issued
'ssuch IN amount of new bonds as should
be equal to fifty per cent: of the amount
of the principal and interest which shall
be due on said Minnesota State. Railroad,
bonds and the coupons thereto attached
or the first day of January 1884" BY
the bill as it was introduced and as it
passed the senate it wa provided that
the bonds to be issued should bear in
will be observed that according to the
terms of the bill the: old bonds and cou-
pons were to draw interest until January,
1884, at rate of Z per cent. This was
greatly in excess of the offer of com.
promise made by Mr.. Chamberlain.
AsINGLE HANDED FIGHT.
committee of ten, all of whom. were in
favor of it but two-Mr. McCracken, Of
your county, and myself. In4the COM
mittce either Mr.. McCracken OF l pro-
posed as an amendment that the rate of
interest on the bonds to be issued should
be four per cent per annum instead of
five, and after a protracted discussion the
committee with one exception agreed to
that. l also in the committee moved to
amend so that the rate Of interest to be
calculated on the bonds and coupons after
the date of the act up to January 1884
should he four per cent instead of seven,
and that the interest should be. computed
on only fifty per cent Of the sum then due
instead of the whole sum due, IS provid-
ed in the bill. This was also agreed to
by the committee with but one dissent,
and the bill was ordered reported back to
the house with the accommodation that
the amendments should be adopted. But
as soon as the bond men heard OF the pro.
posed amendments every possible effort
was made to defeat them You will OBJ
serve that inasmuch as the amount of
bonds to be issued was about. a, 900, 600,
the sum saved to the state inaiuterest on
the new bonds would have been 443,0 900
per annum, making for the thirty years
which the bonds might run 81, zoe, 900,
and the sum saved to the state by the re-
duction of the rate of interest from sever
per cent to four per cent, for; nearly two
and one-half years from November 1881
until January 1884, was " $500 ,000.
When the bill was reported back as so
amended TO the House such Influences
were brought to bear on the members of
the committee of ten that when the ques.
ton came up in the House, according to
my best recollection but one iMr. Nc
Cracken) stood with me for the amend
ments. OF Mr.. McCracken it is simply
justice to state that he was aAeays fearless,
always able and Arrays stood By his conuichons.
In the House it was moved by, some q
who favored the original bill that the Sem
ate bill sohich had not been amended, should
be substituted for the House bill; which
motion prevailed. The Senate bill hav-
ing been taken up and the above amend
ments moved, n Of the most, protracted
and heated discussions of. the session fol.
lowed. 1t lasted all the afternoon, until
after dark, the lobby Of the House being
filled with state officers and other specte-
tors. l had prepared myself in advance
with the data to prove, and! did prove,
that the bonds of other states at, four per
cent were worth q. premium, and l had
caused an examination Of the finances and
income of the state to be- made to show
that it was wholly unnecessary 10 post
ponc the first payment of: interest until
1884: that we were able to pay:t at once,
and it was therefore
BOTH wRONG AND UNNECEsaARY
for the state to add the interest Of the full
sum of the old bonds and coupons up to
1884 to the principal, and sthatit was e.
pecially wrong to calculate. that interest
at seven per cent when We had the funds
in the treasury to pay it, and when &c.
cordlng to tho, claim and proposition Of
n..o. n. U.nsnLc~1s- 49, a.
had been demanded. I donnot: now re-
collect certainly whether Mr.. McCracken
took any part in the discussion IN the
House on the amendments. According
to my recollection he did not, though he
was just as earnest as l. II, 8 did not,
| no one aided me in the discussion or in
| the preparation for it or in any way In
| the contest which wa made; while on tho
other side there p were very numerous
| speakers. All those who. finally approx
ed the bond bill stood. INTELLECTUALLY At
| every step. The ,bondholders' attorneys
were in the House during the, whole time
10 be consulted by any one OF that side,
and prominent senators were busy in the
House every minute during the discus
sion, doing all they could To- influence the
the members TO vote against ths. amend
ments. The amendments were voted down.
| When the vote was taken I was ex-
hausted and nearly discouraged. Mr..
Fletcher (the speaker Of the. house, at
once came to me. and addressed me In
substantially these words:
You are right. 1t would be an outrage on
the people TO permit that bill IA. pass In tts
present form and It shall not pase until, your
views substantially have been incorporated In.
to it. After listening to your argument there
can be no doubt ~ to the matter. I am aston.
| fahoA fhof tia aanafo nnAloA n In thAt firm mr.
that any n should oppose your views. I
voted against yon now beceuse I might be
time and the meeting Of the houso tomorrow
morning I shall zee the Governor and Mr..
Chamberlain and induce them, III an, to
assent to these amsndpents. / 10 not wish To
oppose the governor, II: possible TO- avoid 1T:
But II I annot induce him to consent / shall
have to follow my v Conviction OF right
and vote for the amendment"
He told me at the same time that while
l was talking he had spoken to D. II.
Sabin, John F. Norrish and / believe
~.sAI q ~ (yo~~S&nnL ~hn AAvnaI ~1th