St. Paul daily globe., 1895-10-11
HE REGARDS OPPOSING COUN-
SELLS VIEWS A TRAVESTY
UPON CONSTRUCTION,
STATE RAILROAD HISTORY.
How and Under What Conditions
Certain Laws Were EN-
acted.

counsel for the defense in maintain
| ing that the saving clause in the
! charter was inserted with a view to
granting still greater privileges and
not to take away any of those al
| ready granted, he said:
But l must concede that counsel are
logical When Senator Davis said that
the words in such manner as not irl-
pairing or destroying the vested rights
of the corporation are words of linli-
| tation and exception, ana that the fran
chlses, privileges and rights conferred
are. the things excepted, you have
your major and and your minor pre-
misses and the conclusion is inevitable
| that the tail wags the dog'-the con-
| clusion is inevitable that the words
in manner not impairing or destroy
! ing the vested rights of the corpora
| ton are the important words in that
! section. | don't believe it, But this is
! the delectable haven to which we are
led by the great learning, the vast
wisdom and the marked eloquence of
| counsel. 1t is, in my judgment, tray
| eSty upon construction.
is this, your honor, l repeat, a con-
strUction borne out by the obvious in
! tention of the legislature, as expressed
in the statute? But because I insist
that the legislature of 1856 undertook
to save a vested power of amendment
to the people of the future. state over
the corporations they were then Great
ing and to guard the people of the
state against embarrassing conse-
quences from a charter thus freely
g1VeC-because I have denied, on the
high grounds of oVerruIing necessity,
that the legislature Of the territory of
1856 did not enjoy the power to ire
vCcably bind the state in a matter Of
the widest Importance to the whole
public, L am charged by the eminent
counsel with expressing sentiments of
rank socialism. If what I have said
is socialism, there are many socialists
If that is socialism, then Garfield was a
socialist and such is the. character of
Judge Cooley and numerous judges
who have occupied judicial benches in
this country.
81 am not disposed to criticise the
able counsel who felt called upon to
descend from his high place to thus
StignatiZe the language of the attor-
ney general in this case. 1t is not so
much the words said as it is by whom
they were said and when and where
they were caid. Had been disposed,
your honor, to play the part of a. DEM
agogue, 1 should have acted a different
part from that which have attempted
to act in the conduct of this case.
might, indeed, have armed myself
with striking phrases from literary off
springs of the learned counsel.
This might, perhaps, have gone un-
noticed had counsel not found it con-
venient to say to your honor, in the
course of his remarks, that I frequent
ly employed the word consolidation
industriously because of its odiousness.
This is the plainest assumption on the
part of counsel that this action is be-
ing conducted, not in fairness and cam
dor on the part of the attorney gen.
eral, but by the tricks of the shyster.
1 shall not, if the court please, in
dulge in any expressions in exoneration
of my conduct in this case. The court
will be in possession of my argument
and will Judge for itself whether coun-
sells aspersive remarks have been mer-
tied or not"
On beginning his closing address,
Gen. Childs said:
1.-THE views expressed by me in my
opening address have not been mate
| rally modified by the arguments of
| counsel on the other side. / agree
| with counsel on the other side that it
! is important for US to understand on
| what authority the company claims
the right to make this agreement. But
I fail to see wherein any Of the con-
| tentionS advocated by the state have
been materially disturbed.
81 invite the attention of the court
! to the conditions as they existed in
| 1856 The country was a. wilderness,
| and the purpose Of the people who oc-
! cupied the territory at that time was
| to find a market for their products.
| It required no great astuteness on the
| part of the men who lived in the
! state then to realize the Importance
| of constructing a line of railroad
| from St Paul to the head of Lake
F.! Superior 1t was no trouble in those
| days to secure a charter to build a
| road. But the legislatures, and es-
| pecially the one of 1886, knew that
| scarcely one of these companies would
! eyera be able to build the proposed
| road 1 hazard the statement here
/ that not a man in the company to
| which the charter of the original pred
| ecessor of defendant was granted
| could build single mile of road. The
only limitation the legislature placed
I on these charters was the right to
amend them.
| Nowhere in the original charter is
| there provision granting power to con-
solidate with any other company out
side the state. That power was grant
ed in 1865, the act providing that the
consolidation might be made with
roads running in the same general di-
rection. Therefore, taking that pro-
vision in connection with the right OF
consolidation granted by the original
charter, the latter must be taken to
apply only to roads running in the
same general direction, likewise.
eff the right to consolidate is a vest
! ed right, then the right to issue stock
is a vested right If the legislature
was so anxious to encourage capital
to come here, why was section II in
corporated in the charter at all? Why
make provision that the charter might
be amended at all? We are assured
by counsel that the purpose of the
legislature in inserting such a pro-
vision was so that it might bestoW
|
but could take nothing away No mat
ter how serious the evil the hands OF
the state were to be tied.
81 maintain, your honor, that the
counsel for the defense have not me-
my argument on the point that the
Northern Pacific has. no authority tt
| enter into this agreement. maintain
/ that on this ground alone this wri
| tba e.
were a domestic corporation, there
might be some force in the position
| that the granting of the power oi
/ consolidation On the defendant ear
ried with it the like power on ths
| mart of the cnmnan rurith x,rI,ial, IL 10.