Minnesota weekly times., 1855-06-12
MONDAY, JUNE IL, 1866.
THE BLUFF GAME VS.. THAT BLUFF.

era. One cannot start the subject of potatoes
nowadays, without finding half-a- dozen sides to
the question, or say "Jack Robinson" without
involving himself in the mazes of an argument.
In calling attention to the project of arpropri-
atng the delightful promenade on ST. Anthony st.
to noisy business uses-in deprecatng design
which seemed to us narrow and i'll considered,
we did not suppose we were initiating discussion
or broaching doubtful proposition, and in urg
ng its dedication to the public health and pleas
ure. we did not dream that we were, from the very
nature of appeal, stirring up wasp-ncst of
mplacable Grad -srinds. En-. ,,,r
The Democrat and Minncsotian suspend hostil-
tiles on the Nebraska Bill to unite against us on
the Bluff question. The refreshing relief thus
afforded to their readers from the unreadablc plat
tudes of editors! personality, is proof enough Of
the practical significance of the Bluff Question and
the columns they devote to its discussion are
emphatic answers to their ridicule. a.f ,oj ,
SIS St. Paul to be commercial city or . rural
vllage?'' is the dilemma proposed by the Mhnne-
sotian in the caption of its Saturdays article.
Will the exemption of three hundred yards Of
space out Of six miles Of river front from the stern
monopoly of business, make us ''rural villagc?''
Docs the Battery ON the North River, constitute
New York 'srural sillage?" Does Hyde Park
render London less the Commercial Metropolis of
the world? .rIf..n,,T adj t,sir,.tr
The exemption of the Bluff, we are told, is ga
poetic vision--a ridiculous absurdity." Is the
Park at New York ''a poetic vision?;' Are Frank
lin Square. Philadelphia, the Commons Of Bos-
to, and the Boulevards Of Paris, ssridiculous all
surditics?'' If they are, wiser men than those who
conduct the Alinnesotian have lived absurd lives
and died absurd beings. o.. n hloa a
s.Thc Bluff question:" the Minnesotian says,
'invoves the point as to whether St. Paul at this
time chooses to clothc herself in the garb Of
great Commercial city," &C., 'sor to devote this
great and only natural key to her future Com
merc:al prosperity to Parks, Pleasure Grounds"
&c. Now, We have as high an idea of the pros
pectiye greatness of st. Paul rs the Minnesotian
writer. If we were to remain ''rural village"
VIC could get an airing in Court House Square
and plant ''gardcn sass'' on our vacant lots, but
it is precisely because the dingy shadow Of our
commercial destiny rests on every thing else, and
appropriates all else to itself, that ask to have
this one sunny spot saved from the arbitrary ne
ccssities of brick and mortar. We believe in our
high Commercial destiny with faith whose very
fcrvor is our excuse for reterating these appeals
against the narrow avarce which cannot compre-
hend the co-existence Of beauty and utility, or
the possible compatibility of green trees and
''so!id blocks Of warehouses; We believe in a
Commercial destiny, indeed, second to none of
the cities to which the Minnesotian points its as
prations But the Commercial destiny of st. Paul
demands no such sacrifice Of its health and COM
fort and beauty, as is implied in this appropria-
tion of our only river promenade. No more SRI
diculous absurdty'' could be imagined than this
fmsy pretcnce that the Commercial interests of
St. Paul requires this deprivation. We surren-
der to the voracious demands Of this CONNER
cial destiny, touu miles Of extended rirer front,
forming natural levcc from one end of the city
to the other. We would not have the intolerance
of it's empire disturbed by green leaf or lin
tied by a blade of grass.
We give itup unconditionally. Loye-sick swains
and school-girls' we would have banished on pain
Of death, from its gum precincts. We ask for
THE PEOPLE a reservation CT three hundred yards
of perpendicular Bluf-a reservation on which
nature has already put its se:l by its very i'm
practicablity for business purposes, except at an
immense cost. We ask this exemption, not for
lack daiscal swans or sentimental school girls
or any other stereotyped butt of common place
derision,--we ask it for The PEOPLE. We de-
mand it not for the present but for the future-not
for the few but for the many, ay@Four miles for
business and three hundred Yards for sunshine
and the People. 80 If it were convenient for
Levee purposes, we should say nothing. If one
dollar could be saved to our commercial interests
by giving up this promenade to the grim Baal of
Brick and Mortar, We might hesitate to advocate
its reservation in the teeth Of that potent consid
Grafton. But the most relentless utilitarianism
sides with the ''Sweet religion of green trccs'' in
demanding that the place be left alone. The
natural Levee of st. Paul is already indicated in
its topography, and therefore no necessity can
be imagined for devotng this Bluff to use in
hibited by ITSELF Without promoting the commerce,
it impairs the beauty and din,inishes the attrac-
lions of Our city. If the Minnesotian is prepared,
as it boasts, to sacrifice all those features which
render city an inviting Summer resort for in
valids and gentlemen of cisure.' we are not; and
that citizens will soon be compelled, as it ex-
ultingly predicts, to surrender all their pleasant
shade, we will not believe, until every resource
Of entreaty and Of appeal is exhausted. Once
gone, no Park elsewhere can replace it-no do
nation of lands three miles off, with ssvsions of
Mendoza in the distance" can atone for the de-
privation. 1t is its convenience to the
business man rs an every day resort-it is
the inimitabe beauty of the prospect which
stretches along the windings of the river. losing
itself in the picturesque Bluffs up and down on
either side. and foiled every hand by the stern
contrasts of busincss-it is these which give it its
supreme charm.
The Battery would not be beautiful ten miles
father up the Hudson. The Park would be
nothing on a Pennsylvania farm. But in the
midst of the coarse practicalities which surge
around these islands of Delight in an ocean of
Tumult, ,-the Battery is an Elysium and the Park
a garden of Houris and such we ask to make the
Bluff on st. Anthony ST., and we ask it in the name
of the PEOPLE.
THAT BLUFF.
The Times thinks 900 would put the city in
possession of ssthat bluff.' How absurd! Whv
ne:ghbor, we are informed resident of this city