St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-24

sit was a purely local measure" Under
his patronage the bill was passed through
the senate and received executive approval
on the 2Sth day of February, 1888.
Now to keep up the connection we turn
to the records of the common council of the
CITY of st. Paul and find that Ordinance 26S
was passed on the Sth day OF February,
1882, in which was the following provision:
Now. therefore the common council of the
citv of ST. Paul do ordain: That the
said CITY of St. Paul declines to purchase the
said railways, property, rights and fran
chises (of the st. Paul City Railway company
and that the right of said city to
make such purchase as reserved and
nrovided in said section of said Or
dinance CNo. 50 is hereby waived and
forever relinouished; and that the right and
franchise to lay such lines of railway in the
streets of said city in the manner provided in
said ordinance and also in ordinance OF said
CITY No. 224 entitled an ordinance relating to
the acceptance and regulation of street rail-
roads in the city of st. Paul and all the otner
rights. privileges and franchises granted or
conferred are hereby granted, confirmed ana
continued to and in the st. Paul City Railway
company.
Ordinance No. 224, referred to in this eX-
tract from Ordinance No. 26S, refers TO
regulation regarding paving between the
tracks.
We now come to discuss the pertinency
of the ordinance and the act Of the leglsla-
ture confirming it to Mr.. MERRIAAI's status
as a business refOrmer. The public Will
very readily grasp the situation when we
inform them that at the time Mr.. MERRIAM
was securing this extraordinary legislation
he was a large stakeholder and director III
the St. Paul Street Railway company. In
the first place. by the use of such methods
as are best known to the SO-called business
reform element that seeks to elect the Re
publican candidates at the coming election,
Mr.. MERRIAM and his associates had secured
from the council REIMBURSEMENT OF the
citv's rights that were secured in Ordinance
No. 81: then secured from the legislature a
confirmation of the councils action, and
thus deprived the people of st Paul OF
franchise OF untold value to them and ere
ated giant monopoly in our midst, putting
thousands of dollars into the pockets OF the
stockholders of the concern, Mr.. MERRIAM
being one of them. That is Mr. MER-
RAMS record as a reformer of business
matters pertaining to the public.
A very strong conviction has taken
hold upon the public mind these latter
DAYS that public office is public trust and
is not to be perverted to individual gain.
If that impression is correct and worthy to
be regarded as a principle i'll the admins
tration of public affairs then it is as clear as
the MONDAY sun that Mr.. MERRIAM is not
a fit man to be mayor of the city of st.
Paul. And more especially so at this time
when 50, 500, 900 of our city bonds are to be
placed. and the Republican candidate for
mayor is at the head of a banking institu-
ton that may have an appetite for good big
margins. When the people of st. Paul want
their business methods reformed they will
select man to do the job who knows re-
form when he sees it.