prevailed the state's financial reputation would have been vastly improved. Dr. Foster did not believe Gov. Sibley was sincere in his efforts to protect the interests of the state, and denounced him with the same persistence he had during the campaign of the previous fall. The doctor would never acknowledge that Gov. Sibley was the legal governor of Minnesota, and Tie contended that he had no right to sign the bonds: that their issuance was illegal, and that neither the principal nor the interest would ever be paid. The Minnesotian carried at the head of its columns the words "Official Paper of the City," and it was feared that its malignant attacks upon the state officials, denouncing the issuance of the bonds as fraudulent and illegal, would be construed abroad as reflecting the sentiment of the majority of the people in the the community in which it was printed, and would have a bad effect in the East when the time came to negotiate the bonds. An effort was made to induce the city council to deprive that paper of its official patronage, but that body could not see its way clear to abrogate its contract. Threats were made to throw the office into the river, but they did not materialize. When Gov. Sibley endeavored to place these bonds on the New York market he was confronted with conditions not anticipated, and suffered disappointment and humiliation in consequence of the failure of the attempt. The bonds could not be negotiated. The whole railway construction scheme suddenly collapsed, the railroad companies defaulted, the credit of the state was compromised, "and enterprise of great pith and moment had turned their currents awry." The evil forbodings of the Minnesotian became literally true, and for more than twenty years the repudiated bonds of Minnesota were a blot on the pages of her otherwise spotless record. Nearly 250 miles of road were graded, on which the state foreclosed and a few years later donated the same to new organizations. During the administration of Gov. Pillsbury the state compromised with the holders of these securities and paid 50 per cent of their nominal value. Will she ever pay the rest? * * * * *