The Republican journal., 1888-03-22
From Veteran of the 18th Maine.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL: was
very much surprised to see private letter of
mine, to Prof. Bateman. published in the Jour
nal last December. | ought to give Batemau =
roasting for doing it /; but will forgive him AS it
Is by MS generosity and courtesy that receive
your valuable paper, the reading of which is
very interesting to me. and by which | Get all
the news from old bleeding Waldo" also
take great interest in Prof. Bate.nan's letters.
When Batciian was a hey, he was very GOOD
| boy. lie was The Youngest man in the old l4th
| regiment; only Is year, old, green and red
headed. But that doesn't matter: he was a
good boy. much better. probably. than he is
now, since he has gone into politics He and
many others of the l4th regiment will remem-
DER mat we left Savannah, Ga. the 9Th day of
May 1860. and marched to Augusta. Ga. ar
irving at the latter place or Sunday. the 18th
| day of The same month. jeff Davis was
brought Il prisoner into the city the same day.
al . 0 CLOCK 7. NJ. and many of us went to see
nm. can't say whether Bateman saw him or
NOT, as he was on the sick list at the time The
| sight OF Davis was nothing new for me. as I
| had seen the old scuundrc in Bclfa>t AWAY
doubt many of the old settlers of Belfast and
waldo county we'll remember the OCCASION
Jcl Hit,e speech to the soldiers, and told
| them that with such men as they were he conld
whip the world. About twenty wears latar
some of those same men, PERHAPS who listen
ed to him on that day, were guarding him
from Augusta. Ga, to Fortress Monroe; as
20. "A, OF the l4th regiment got that honor.
would like to hear what iateman or any 9th
er of the 14h regiment can remember of that
occasion.
1t did not surprise me t.,at we had war
Democrats in the time of the rebellion. bur il
beats the deuce that we have to-,lay an old
soldier that can be Democrat. | should think
that ali of them would have "kepubic4n'' writ
ten on their hearts. 1t is written on mine. and
also the name ''James G.. Bainc," and want
| to live to see him President. We have 81 yrrat
many Old soldiers in this city: there are nine
q. A. Il. Posts. ana some Of them humber
! over 400 members.
This is a big city. /, WAS twcnty-one wears
old the 10Th day of February last; that being
the date when the first city officials took the
oath. Minneapolis is large for her ace but
She is a beauty, Still growing and will cont uc
to be the prize dani>el of the Northwest. She
has all the pluck OF woman on a Dakota
claim. and is in the field 30 win. Size started
III with the motto over her door: sect there
iIi,' and She Is getting there. Twcnt>-tvo
Years ago Minneapolis was little place above
st. Paul, Of about 5000 population. and On tie
west side of the Mississippi river. Not a
schooihou>e or church to speak Of ard no
public improvements Of any kind " uhatclpr 1T |
that time. Land on the outside of the citv
limit, was worth from fifteen f. thirty dollars |
per are. remember one farm of one burr !
dred and sixty acres. only a mile outside of |
the city. that was sold for $4,000. To-,lay the |
same land j. four miles iDSjde the rv limits |
ana covered with business blocks. and :, |
worth morc t!!an million dollars. Well. such |
is iife--in the W,>. Didn't huy the land. |
but | could haNe done so. and might t,-.lay /
have been editor. We ROW have a p0l uI;,- /
ton of nearly two hundred thousand >ui;l>.
and our city limit, are large enough 10
contain TWO millions. Minneapolis is tAc lasg-
est wheat market ia the world: lArgtr than |
Chicago. Milwaukee, and DuIu!h combined.
mills to he found iii the world. and also some
of the finest public buildings. llennciiu loun-
ty. the location OF Minneapolis, is nuil, lin. one
of the best Court lIoti>e> and city balls in the
Northwest. The site alone cost $50 900 and
when it is completed the whole cost will l.c f,,l-
ly two million dollars. We have thu iii,>t EN-
position building in the country. uni il ha,
come to stay. We have 80 manv iiur Buildings
that it W Nouf be hard 10 name them. Twenty
tWo years ago there WAS hot i school house in
the city; now we lave over fifty. and many Of
them hcaute> Of architecture We have some
OF the best hotei> IN the Northwest and in fact
We have every thing to make our city one of the
finest in the worl'l. We have ali kinds of r,ti@-
ION, IRON The plain Quaker to the salvation Ar
my W" have for pubiic buildings the Clam
Der Of Commerce, Corn Exchange. Lumber
Exchange, the Wa>hbufn Home, donated hy
The late tNGov. G. {. Wa>llburn. We have
many hospitals. aIi in good condition. We have
public parks ahd some of them ar,. very tine
ones
When came to this city twrnty-two wears
ago there was hut one bridge trcn, the West
to the East side of the Mississippi River:
Now there are five. and two more in process of
construction. All that time railroads were few
IN the city; to-day there are many. AMI they
have ear shops and machine shops in every Ill
rtction. In fact, it is city OF railroads, aud
has communication with every section of the
country by rail. The future of Minl.rapoli, is
ilNed fact. She has the lumber, wheat. flour,
railroads and manufacturing Interests Of a large
Northwest, and then >lu has Il Productive
country outside TO make it Il large and GROW ing
city. lIennrpin County is the richest county
in tn" State. There j, but little ot tnc land in
tie county that is worth les than so per acre
and great deal Of the farming i;tpd j. worth
32,''iii pei The lr,,,|vt> OF your vel. con
duclcd paper can get Soiu. idea of the growth
of this 'its tor the past twenty year, when
they wi hat has beelI done in The WHY of pub
lie improvements. Fer the last year there has
been expended in round numbers twelve .Hil-
Ion dollars cannot enuncralc the fllhji
enterprises or tel. their cost in detail. TAX
he paTing, curh>. cutters. sewers, water mains
sidewalks, and pumping stations. ihe improve
ments have been about all til" tax PAYERS could
stand. 1t costs to -ht the city alone Si5S,0oo.
That would be sufficient even 10 rua your city
government in Belfast. We have in the city
thirteen wards, and lhirt, ,-sX aldermen. In
oar next election, i'll November. We >hal!
choose thrty-nnc aldermen. and all of our
State, county and city officials; together with
President and vice President. The Democrats
claim that they will carry this state; however.
| think that Minnesota viii 90 Republican, aud
if we could have James G.. Blaine for 4 c.uli-
date we would give him 80 600 majority.
We have in this state the rum interest to
fight, rs YOU do in Maine. and in this city it is
Il power We have tive hundred and thirty
five saloons, and their interests are large. As
the Democratic party favor> their interests
here as it does every where. the saloon element
will 90 entirely with that party ln spite of
this have no doubt the Republicans viii pull |
through and eject their ticnct from President
down to our city government by good round |
majority. This is going to be lively year in
politics in this State, but the Republicans are
to win the victory.
lou can't tell how interesting it is for |
a man out West that ever had any inter-
est in his native State and County to re- |
ceive and read paper like the Republican |
journal. 1t certainly is to me. | get all the |
t.... Il