St. Paul daily globe., 1889-03-08
What Has Been Done for One
Section Should for An
other.
The Financial Gain Greater
Than the Present Value of
the Lands.

is section of poor pine and mineral
land, bounded on the west by the Red
river valley ana its grain area; on the
east having as its natural outlet Du-
luth, the greatest lake port in the
world. 1t is ON the unwritten law of
commerce that the territory best COM
manded by natural center of trade, or
gateway to superior transportation
facilities, has the right inherent to DOM
mate over that territory by all legiti-
mate means. And this is the relation
that Duluth has always borne to the
country west and northwest of her, and
through which she has honestly sought
footing in the grain fields of the Red
river valley and those of the North
west beyond her. The inception of
the scheme to build what is now known
as the Duluth Sc Winnipeg railway
Sprang from the very reasons cited
above. Southern and Central Mime
sofa had seen the areas tributary to
them developed by railroads con-
structed upon generous land grants
from the state. Duluth, as the foral
point of Northern Minnesota, sought
the same advantages, and the legis-
lature of 1878 honestly gave to her the
means by which she was to open a sec
tion lawfully her own. Ii has never
OSSb tiiO PotiSJ VI eiiC NlSCoU VI Oul
legislators to build up one section of the
state and keep another down. Equal
justice to all predOminated in the de-
cision of the legislature of 1878 to give
to the Duluth & Winnipeg railroad a
grant sufficient for it to commence bona
fde construction upon. The road was
surveyed, maps filed, thousands of dol
lars expended and the most legitimate
methods used to comply with the terms
of the grant. A line running across
rough country, meeting with
many natural instructions and $50
miles in length could not be built In a
til unfavOrable legislation inspired by
great monopoly to destroy the road
checked its efforts. nothing was left un-
done which could show the spirit of
honesty in which the incorporators
were acting. And as it was, after nearly
a decade of battle with this monopoly,
the Duluth .S Winnipeg finally did
build twenty miles of its road, and cut
direct into the wilderness which it
must traverse before paying market is
reached. 1t is we'll to note that the OBJ
jections to the roads existence have
not come from the citizens of the state,
but originate i'll two other sources.
First, there are those members of the
legislature who honestly (wthOut ques-
tion) think the grant should revert to
the state school fund; and second, there
are the capitalists of strong rail-
road who recognize that the Du-
luth 81 Winnipeg line is the short
est long haul road that can ever
be built into Duluth from the Red
river valley. They fear competition
and its beneficial reduction of rates-a
policy which Minnesota legislators have
aiways-not feared-but encouraged.
To the argument that the lands would
be of incalculable value to the state
school fund the reply may be made that
they are of that character that makes
them valueless until iron rails and the
improvements il their train have given
them WORTH. What the state would |
make by taxation and increased values
in school lands in twenty years through
a railroad syOssing these lands would be
more-infinitely more-than could be
derived from them by their immediate |
waste for two decades and then sold. |
Civilization must lead if wealth is to |
follow, and the fOrerunner of civiliZa- |
ton is the railroad. This is a PROPOSE |
ton demonstralrle in figures easily |
calculable by anyone who will esti- |
mate the annual state tax upon |
line of railroad $50 miles |
long, and the per cent of gain |
in value to school lands by the intro
duction near to them of a railway. towns |
and very probable mineral develop
ment of the country. That this would
give to the farmers of the Red river
valley an outlet they seriously need is |
we'll evinced by their petitions to the
legislature to confirm this grant; and
that it is the duty of the legislature to
promote the best interests of all goes
without question. No argument has |
been adduced to show why this road
should not be built upon the terms of |
the act of 1878, and which the road is
now and has always been willing to
operate. The question of legality of |
title dwindles to an ininitesimal point
when the spirit of the legislature of |
1878 is considered, backed as it was by
the precedents of nearly twenty years.
Public men believed then that the de-
veIopment of the state was in re aIity of
greater value to the state treas
nry than the holding for dec
AIDES of barren lands-wilderness
unblessed. The Duluth & Winnipeg
considers and maintains the act of 1878
to have been valid and its own course
subsequently, in view of all the facts,
to be ample warrant for favorable legis-
lative action now. But the broad queS-
in this issue than any other. Duluth,
the third city of the state the pride of
every citizen who regards the common
wealth as whole-haS many legitimate
hopes and ambitions resting upon this
right arm of hers. Commanding as she
does gateway to the sea. She asks to
have an iron band placed across the
desert that divides her and the North
western grain fields, that their products
may find natural and easy outlook to
the marts of exchange. What other
ceiyed she now seeks. The state is to
aid her in making a new avenue to
sources of wealth for common people.
She does not seek to build herself up at
the expense of any other part of the
state. No, it is to enter into the possess
sion of what is her own that is desired.
No new grant is asked for by the
Duluth q Winnipeg road Lands are
not to be taken from the state that now
ton of a grant which has in equity and
justice belonged to the road for the last
ten years. And what the legislation is
asked to do the courts have held to be
just policy for years by.
The effect upon the state at large by
the entrance into what's now deserted
spot by railroad could not help but be
great. The greater the area under the
of civilization the greater
the aggregate wealth and pros
perity of the state and the
greater the revenue to the treasury.
If in ten years the state can realize
more from the confirming of this grant
(as it COULD than it could by selling
them now or then, is it not the wisest
financial policy to act to the advantage
of the greater gain. Under all the in
crease of land values for two decades
these lands have remained unchanged