St. Paul daily globe., 1889-05-26
MOULDING OPINION.
The Tribune Does 1t in the st
Louis Case With a Club.

LOUIS O0SC w IIu q OluU.
The wild, weird Tribune took adj
vantage yesterday Of the fluctuation of
railroad stocks which brought the st.
Louis securities to the bottom of the
list, to publish a scarifying editorial
asserting that the present management
of the road had wrecked it by standing
out against the wishes of the citizens so
long that the merchants had entered
upon relentless boycott. The Market
Record of yesterday replied to the
Tribune's roast, getting back at it III
this fashion: -
A SAVAGE ATTACK.
The Minneapolis Tribune, paper
that has generally been fair on all pub
lie questions. under its present manage
ment, made savage editorial attack on
the Minneapolis & st. Louis road and
officers of that com pany this morning.
The Tribune made up It's case by exag-
geration, distortion of facts. and by
either most uniustifable mistakes or
downright Misrepresentation.
To show that the company has been
wrecked in three years, as it claims.
through ''rulnOus war with the city,
that ''has been to the DEATH" it says:
yesterday the common stock of this
SIC" If the Tribune had gone back
to the early days and traced it through
to this time, it would have found the
following facts: That in 1884 the stock
sold down to nc, in 1885 to 101ac, in
1886 to 1611ac, in 1887 to SIC.
Ii it had gone further it would have
found that the stocks of the Manitoba,
the road the Tribune is apparently help
ing to swallow the st. Louis road, sold
down from 1861 in 1882 to 1241s in
1856 and to 92 in the last three years. If
the Tribune had been dispos sed to COM,
mon fairness, as all great journals
should be, it would have said that rail-
road properties shrunk in values during
the last three years from one common
cauSe-lOwer traffic rates-and not
because they either tackled the city of
Minneapolis or joined with it to take
pany's property. The Minneapolis &
st. Louis road did, more than one year
ago. offer to have its tracks lowered at
once, without prejudice to legal rights
and to let the expense of it follow the
determination of the court in the final
decision of the suits then pending.
The city did not see fit to ac-
cept the proposition then because
it claimed to have been informed by its
legal advisers that the courts would
soon compel the road to lower its tracks;
and besides, the Manitoba road appa-
rently for the purpose of unlawfully
raping the st. Louis road of its property
encouraged a grasping crowd of real
estate dealers to attempt to acquire it
by force when the city had failed of
getting it through the courts.
The rulings OF the courts have so far
supported the position of the ST. Louis
company. The officers of that company
acted in spirit of fairness when they
offered to let the tracks go down year
ago to accommodate the people and
leave the property rights to be deter
mined by the courts. They could do
nothing more. Ii they had acceeded to
such clamor as is voiced by the Tribune
they would have been recreant to the
trust and shown themselvs unfit to
handle important interests.
DENY THE WRECKING.
Col. Springer, general solicitor of the
St. Louis road, smiled grimly when the
I'ribune'S Grafton was alluded to by a
GLOBE reporter. why" he said, "the
article was written by Manitoba en-
ploye. l recognized some OF the ex-
and could have as fierce an article on
our side by paying for it,
II don't know what the editor of the
Tribune wants arbitrated. 1t must be
one of two questions, either the owner
ship of that track or that the question
of trading it for some other property.
Neither of these question that can be
arbitrated. In reply to the assertion
that the present company has wrecked
the road it is sufficient to say that the
Rock Island road since it bought its con-
trolling interest has entirely rebuilt the.
road, at cost of $4,000, 600, and con
structed extensions worth $4,000, 600
more. Is it sensible to say they have
wrecked a property into which they |
have put Sc, ,OOO, ,OOO?'