Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-02-15
at s75 per month; one keeper of Pest house at

p@o pei uOulu.
CONDITION OF THE COUNTY RECORDS.
Mr.. E. J. Hodgson, from the special
committee appointed to examine the
county buildings, to report upon their
security as repositories of the public
records, submitted the following report:
To the President and Directors of the
Chamber of Commerce:
Your committee charged with the duty
OF examining the vaults and safes and
other repositories of the public books,
records, plats, etc, of the city and
county, with a view of ascertaining
whether the same are kept in places of
absolute safety or not, would report:
That they have made such examina-
ton, and that they find state of facts
well calculated to arouse the profoundest
establishment of every prudent man, and
that should incite the speediest and most
efficient remedial action on the part of
all interested. Should either of the court
houses, the jail building, or the city hall
be overtaken by sudden fire, the loss to
the city and county would be beyond cal
| culation in its magnitude, and in many
respects would be absolutely lrreparable.
1t is within the bounds of truth to say
| that every business, property, interest
and vocation in the city and county stand
in momentary jeopardy, by reason of the
unprotected condition of our public rec
ords. All the vaults in the new court
house have wooden floors and wooden
thresholds. Ingenuity might exhaust it.
self in attempting to find excuse or justi-
fication for this fact The shelves and
furniture in all the vaults are wooden,
| and of course are as dry and combustable
as finder itself, and liable to be ignited by
heat, if indeed they may not some day
add to the instances of spontaneous COM
bustiOn. Wooden floors and wooden fur
niture must be removed. The vault con-
nected with the office of the clerk of the
district court is full and overlooking,
Every available space seems to be utilized,
and streams of legal documents from
every law office in the city pressing for
more room. The vault is so darkened by
cases Of files that gas jets have to be used
sometimes in the day time, while we
think no artificial light should be permit
ted in the vaults at any time.
But still the vaults in the new court
house afford large protection, and under
ordinary circumstances would protect
the records in case of fire. When we
come to the offices of the auditor and
| treasurer we find books and records rep
resenting hundreds upon hundreds of
thousands of dollars utterly unprotected.
Not only arc they thoroughly prepared
| fuel for the flames and at the mercy of
| the first fire that attacks the building,
but they are within easy reach of any and
every hand that has any motive to change,
| to erase, to mutilate or destroy. 1t would
seem to be utterly incredible that such a
state of facts could exist among men of
the business capacity and caution which
repute attaches to the names of
the business men of st. Paul, and
can only be accounted for on the
ground that every man, woman and
child in the countyls above suspicion, and
beyond the power Of evil motive. And
indeed it is, under the circumstances, a
very high testimonial to the honor and in
| tegrity of our people that this thing has
not been matter of frequent occurrence.
Your committee, however, heard of two
cases. What is to hinder any man from
going to the treasurer's office and marking
his taxes "paid," except his conscience?
There would not even be the ordinary
fear of detection The millennium is
scarcely near enough to begin the substi-
| tuition of conscience for locks and bolts.
Surely we cannot afford to leave the in
valuable records in these offices in their
present condition one moment beyond
the shortest time that protection can be
made.
While in this building our attention
was called to the fact that there is no
means of unlocking the cells from with
out the Jail proper. A sudden fire i'll the
Jail would make it impossible to unlock
the cells, and the unfortunate inmates
must surely perish in their cells,
beyond the power of human help. Aside
from the humanitarian view of the mat
ter, what damning disgrace would it be
to this city to have a score of these
poor wretches burned to death for want
of the most common and ordinary protec-
tons used in jails.
At the city hall matters are in no bet
ter condition. All the maps, plats, pro-
files, etc., of the city engineer are with
out any protection or pretense of protec-
ton. Their destruction would be disas-
trous to the city.
Regardless then of the question of
new court house, we concluded that some
thing must be done at the earliest mo-
ment to protect the public records of the
city and county, temporarily at least.
The question remains, how shall this be
done? Your committee can hardly under
take any specific plan, but will venture
to suggest one or two methods. Vaults
may be built on the west end of the jail
building to accommodate the treasurer
and auditor. The vault now used by
the Judge of probate may be increased
in size or made higher, and thus
furnish room for all the important rec
ords of the old court house. The new
court house building may be increased in
size by tearing down the old barn between
it and the jail and building an addition
on the end: or additional vault room can
be made on the south end. Additional
vault room can also be easily supplied for
the city hall.
These changes or additions may, and
probably will, necessitate some changes
in the offices occupied by the various
officers.
In order, therefore. that the best
method may be adopted, your committee
recommend that the chamber of COM
merce appoint committee, which, with
like committees appointed by the city
council and the county board, shall form
Joint committee to act in this matter,
provided that the outlay shall not exceed