St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-06
FICTITIOUS ENTERPRISE.

With its usual facility for getting scoops
on things that never happened, yesterdays
Pioneer Press published what it palmed off
upon its readers as a report of the board of
water commissioners, which in fact was no
report and which did not come within
range of a truthful statement of what had
been done by the board. In this mornings
GLOBE will be found an authentic state
ment of the condition of our water works
and of what has been done during the last
year in extending the water system. A
comparison of this official report with the
fictitious one published by our morning
contemporary yesterday will disclose the
gross inaccuracies of the statement which
the Pioneer Press published. Without
attempting to wade through the so-called
report as published by our contemporary
and pointing out the errors which occur in
almost every line of it, we simply call the
attention of our readers to some of the total
footings as illustrative of its general in
accuracy. In its report of the miles OF pipe
laid in the high pressure service it is stated
that four and half miles were laid on st.
Anthony hill. The report of the water
superintendent shows that there was over
fourteen miles of pipe laid The residents
on st. Anthony hill who suffered the an
nOyance of having their streets torn up all
summer can very readily verify the
accuracy Of the superintendent report
over that of the Pioneer Press. The manu-
featured report of the Pioneer Press
shows that eleven and a half miles
of pipe were laid in the city service
proper, when the official report shows
there were less than five miles. Worse
than this, however, in its bearing on the
whole matter, is the statement made that
the water mains laid i'll st. Paul last year
amounted to but 1873 miles, whereas the
figures should have been within few feet
of "a miles-mOre than four miles more
than mentioned by the Pioneer Press-a
clear case of treachery in endeavoring to
belittle the real enterprise of the city as
shown by its record of public works. These
few instances are cited to show merely how
wide of the mark it was in the minor de-
tails. It was in the more important matter
of handling the finances-of the receipts
and the disbursements of the money ap-
propriated for the water works-that the
widest shooting was done. The Pioneer
Press reports the receipts at 81, 32S, 6O9.2s.
The actual receipts as shown by the Official
report were S59S. 379, or upwards OF $780,
600 less than the Pioneer Press had charged
up to the water commissioners. In its report
OF the disbursements it missed the mark
again by $40, 600.
There is nc rational way of accounting for
this willfuI perverSion of facts and mali
cious misrepresentation of the operations
of one of the most important depart
ments of the city government, except that
it is in the line of policy which that paper
seems to have marked out of losing no OPP
portunity to villify our city government. and
to even go out of its way to place the city
of St. Paul in the worst possible light be-
fore the public. The natural result of the
publication of such articles as the Pioneer
Press attempted to palm off as an authentic
statement of the doings of the department
in control of our water works, if allowed to
go uncontradicted, would be to produce the
impression upon the public mind that ST.
Paul was the most profigate and cor
.upt city in the world. With such
a document before it, appearing as
it did in a st. Paul newspaper, our
neighbor over the way, the Minneapolis
Tribune, would find material for years to
come to hold this city up as an example of
all that was wasteful and corrupt Fortu-
nately, however, the official report of the
water department was ready to appear upon
the heels of this infamous scandal, and to
give the facts to the public. What makes
this ungracious conduct of the Pioneer Press
more inexplicable is that by waiting one
day longer, it could have had correct and
authentic statement 10 have given to its
readers. A newspaper which has no higher
conception of journalistic enterprise than to
attempt to gain scoop at sacrifice of
truth, and to make reputation as news
gatherer at the expense of the good name
of its own city, is of very little value to any
community.