St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-19
COUNTY AFFAIRS.
The Delinquent Tax List Awarded
to The Daily Globe.
Shameful Partisrnship and Indecent
Unofficial Conduct by Auditor
McCardy.
The Annual Financial Exhibit Presented and
an Abstract Given Below.

The March meeting of the county commits
| sioners, was held at the auditors Office at 10
o'clock yesterday morning, for the purpose of
passing upon the annual report of the county
finances. There were present, Mayor o. Brien,
Commissioners Hardenbergh, Mitsch, Ames
and Espey. Later Mr.. Schumacher came in.
AWARDING THE TAX LIST.
After reading the minutes of the last meet
ing communication was submitted from
the st. Paul GLOBE, containing sealed bid
Offering to print the delinquent tax list for
1883 at So cents per description.
No other communication was presented on
the subject, but County Auditor McCardy
stated that he had been verbally authorized
by gentleman who was present, to publish
the tax list in paper (Which he did not
nance at 81 cents per description.
Mr.. Hall, of the GLOBE, being granted the
privilege Of making a statement called atten-
| ton to the manifest unfairness of county
official, not the publisher of a newspaper,
being allowed to put in verbal bid after the
written bid of the GLOBE had been opened
| and read. He claimed that no other bid but
| his could be properly entertained after his
had been made public and that it would be
especially unfair to award it to another at his
| figure.
Mayor O'Brien asked if the board had
| invited bids and the auditor replied in the
negative. Questions by other commissioners
brought out the statement that the commits
| sioners had right to act at that time; that
unless they acted then the disposition of the
tax list would be in the hands of the auditor,
| to give out as he pleased, and at any price
not above twelve cents per description.
Mayor O'Brien ruled that the GLOBE COM
munication was properly before the meeting.
! Auditor McCardy then developed the
| fact that his offer was made in behalf of
the Dispatch, and Capt. Castle, of that
paper, being present, the auditor asked him
| if he (McCardy) was not authorized to make
the offer.
Capt. Castle said he did not propose to cut
down on printing to nothing but he had
! told the auditor that he would be willing to
| publish the list at the same rate he received
| last year.
Auditor McCardy, had evidently bid So
cents for the Dispatch because that was
the GLOBE bid, as he was
obliged to refresh his memory by asking
Capt. Castle if he had gotten that price ac-
cording to the last years figures, and was
assured that he had
Commissioner Espey then offered the fol-
lowing:
| RESOLVED, That the st. Paul Dispatch be
designated as the newspaper to publish the
! delinquent tax list for 1888 at price of SIS
cents per description for two insertions.
Commissioner Mitsch moved to strike out
the Dispatch and insert the GLOBE. He said
this was not because the GLOBE was Demo-
cratic and the Dispatch Republican, but in the
| first place they only had one proposition fairly
| before them, and conceding them both to be
entitled to consideration, the GLOBE had
larger circulation than the Dispatch and it
should be given to the GLOBE as
matter of justice to the tax payers.
Com. Hardenberg seconded Mr.. Mitschs
motion.
The roll being called, the resolution was
| amended by inserting the GLOBE and adopted
| by the following vote:
Ayes-Mtsch, Hardenbergh, O'Brien.
Nays-Espey, Ames
Com. Ames raised the point that it required
four votes to carry any proposition.
Auditor McCardy, seeing faint hope,
promptly produced the statutes, which declare
! that four votes must be cast upon any propo-
sit1or passed by the board.
Is, Mayor O'Brien ruled that the statute meant
that there must be a quorum voting on a
proposition to make 1t effective, but the four
| votes did not need to be in the affirmative,
but only majority of them. As five votes
| had been cast on the proposition of designating
paper to publish the tax list, and as the
| GLOBE had received three out of the five votes
east, that paper had, in his judgement been
duly designated.
l.s-, THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
l. Auditor McCardy then submitted the an
nual financial statement of the county. The
following is a summary:
CASH ACCOUNT FROM MARCH 1, 1883, TO FEB.
80, 1884