-five per cent. of their face value, and apply the same, without
discount, on their debts for the land, a method of liquidation that was
highly advantageous to the settlers. As soon as this was found out in
Minnesota, bankers and other capitalists sent agents to Holland to make
similar arrangements, and, in the course of the next three years, a
brisk business was done in exchanging those bonds for land, by which
thousands of settlers saved large sums of money, and a number of bankers
and agents made small fortunes. If I had returned to Minnesota
immediately I could have realized a very handsome profit by this
arrangement; but I had made agreements which compelled me to stay in
Sweden some length of time, and I left this business in the hands of my
former partner, Consul Sahlgaard, and the St. Paul Savings Bank. But
they did not grasp the importance of this matter until it was too late,
and the lion's share of the profits went to new parties; who thus reaped
the benefit of my plans, as is often the case under such circumstances.

As in the case of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the subsequent success
of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad proved that Messrs. Becker, Trott,
and myself were right, and if the Dutch bondholders had followed our
advice they would not only have saved their twenty million dollars, but
also made as much more. The bonds continued to depreciate to almost
nothing until the company was declared insolvent, a receiver appointed,
and very expensive legal measures were resorted to, until finally the
Dutch became disgusted with the whole matter and transferred all their
interests to an American syndicate headed by J. J. Hill, of St. Paul, at
present the well-known Minnesota railroad king. The sum paid was a mere
trifle. Hill's syndicate procured money for building the connecting link
and completing the system. The syndicate made twenty million dollars by
this transaction, and, within five years after the Dutch had sold their
bonds for a mere bagatelle and the company had changed its name to the
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, practically the same bonds were sold
on the exchange in Amsterdam for one hundred and fifty cents on the
dollar.

The only profit I derived from my connection with this business was that
I gained the respect and confidence of the Dutch capitalists, who very
soon understood that they would have been all right if they had followed
my advice. Therefore, when another Dutch company, known