Year: 1879

The Little Falls 3 Dakota Railroad.
The question Of issuing county bonds
to aid in the construction Of the proposed
LATHE Falls & Dakota railroad, which
has been attracting the attentionaofs the
people Of this county for the past few


months, hasalready been auitet thoroug ghly
discussed in our columns by correspond
ents an various partsof the county; ,Par-
ties entertaining every shade OF. opinion
in regard to the proposed issue of bonds,
have had full and free use Of our columns
to disseminate their views, and the va
rlous sides and phases of the question
have thus been very ably presented to
the public. 1t is not our purpose to in,
fringe upon the patience Of our readers
by stirring up and continuing indefinite.
ly the discussion of this question, nor to
attempt to add anything new to what
has already been published on the sub.
ject, but we wish to say that it appears
to us that those who are in favor of lssu>
ing bonds have the best of. the argument,
Upon general prin ciples we regard debt
as dangerous to the best. interests Of the
people, Individually and collectively,
but: we have no doubt that there are
many Instances where il. would be folly


to let opportunities pass unimproVed
rather that to borrow. money. Some Of
the best and most fortunate investments
ever made, as we'll as some Of the poor
est were made on borrowed capital
The principal danger Of running in debt
is the liability of the debtor to misapply
his borrowed capital, or to overestimate
the value Of the thing tor which the
debt IS contracted. The success of an en-,
terprise supported by borrowed capital
generally depends entirely upon the cor


rectness of the theory and plans of those
who are managing it.. The discussion Of
the. question of Issuing railroad bonds
tends to make the people take a broad
and comprehensive view of the various


theories advanced. and will doubtless re-
suit in their accepting and endorsing the
right theory. In considering questions
Of transportation, trade and commerce, a


view should be taken broad enough to
include all the conditions bearing upon
the subject. For instance, q superficial
observer is on the frontier seeking an ad-
vantageous place to locate. He finds,


perhaps, small village in some place
where the land is poor, and where there
is very little to invite the agriculturist,


but where there must ultimately be a
good commercial point. He is offered


town! lots for trife, but refuses to buy,
and he travels on to a locality where the


prospect is more pleasing to the eye. A


few years afterwards he is astonished to


learn that the property he might have
bought with months wages is worth


many thousand dollars, Such was St.
Paal twenty-five years ago. At that
time St. Paul was mere village, the
Merchants Hotel, the first hotel built
thero and now the best one in the
State, was then shanty made of tamarac
poles, and the village and its surround
ings presented decidedly unpromlsing


appearance. But the situation of St.


Paul was such that it necessarily became


commercial centre, and wealthy and


prosperous city. At Minneapolis city
of equal size and Importance has been


built under the steady and increasing in,
fuence of the trade in lumber and -four


Notwithstanding the splendid natural
advantages that Minneapolis enjoys in
regard to its water power and location, it
would be nothing more than a village if
several important railroads were not
available to make it a commercial as we'll
as manufacturing city, for there can be
no extensive manufacturing without a
corresponding commerce and the facilities
for transportation that make commerce
possible. Accordingly few weeks ago
Minneapolis voted by large majority to
issue bonds to the amount of quarter of
g million dollars to aid in the construc-
tion of new railroads. We have talked
with people who actually believe that
railroads do more damage than good.
There was time when there were no


railroads.. and poverty was then much
more common than at the present time,
The good housewife. then spun the
yarn and wove the clota, that clothed her
family, and people in',general lived on
coarse and cheap food. It was then i'm


possible for the common people to live in
q manner that would now be considered


comfortable. Farmers and their families
sometimes toiled for years trying to pay
| a debt of no more than hundred dol
lars. A couple Of weeks ago a reliable
| old gentleman informed US that nearly
sixty years ago he hauled oats thirty
miles with yoke Of oxen to Buffalo, N:


T., and sold his oats for 124 cents a
bushel and took his pay in nails at 1o
cents pound. We did not learn where
the nails had originally been carted from.
In those days transportation on anything
like an extensive scale, could be had only
by water. Therefore the cities were all
where they could be reached by naviga-
ton, and nearly the entire wealth of the
country was in and around the cities and
towns so situated. The history of the
world from the earliest times down to
the present day. shows that civilization
cannot be maintained IN country where
the means Of commercial intercourse do
not exist, and that the highest civiliza>
ton, the greatest wealth, and the most
general prosperity, exist where the means
Of transportation are the most thoroughly
improved. These facts show that pros
perity and the means of commercial in
tercourse go hand in hand, and this prin,
cipal holds good even down,to the neigh
borhood wagon roads. ..'t 7 ou: can deter
mine at once whether the people IN a
community are prosperous Or not By
l :