St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-05
IT'S GOVERNMENT Is A MODEL,

ITS GOVERNMENT Is MODEL,
There may have been mistakes in it, as
there frequently are in all classes of busi-
ness, but the intention of its officers
are honest and honorable, and it
is infamous that newspaper should
do thing like this and ira
duce these officers. | am in
! favor of having the city officials arraign
these traducers and making them stand
before the people as liars and Williams.
! Mr. Morton wanted Mr.. Driscoll sent
| for.
EX-MAYOR RICE,
| EX-Mayor Rice The vice president of
this body, who has made these charges
f: is not here. The chamber of commerce is q
body organized to look after the interests,
honor and credit of the city, and if these
charges are true, they ought
to be sifted to the bottom,
because if they are true. the city and the
chamber of commerce is in disgrace. Now
l want to ask the vice president OF this
he makes. l once had the honor
to be mayor of this city,
and if what this paper says is true, / did
not do my duty at that time. 1t was my
duty to see that there was no steal
ing going on. don't believe
there was any. 1 gave great deal of
time to the office, and carefully investigated
the accounts of all the city officers again
and again. don't believe there were any
names carried on the pay roll of those who
did no work.
Now, this is not question OF
politics. 1t is not question of who shall
hold office, but a question of the credit of
the city, vital question to every
citizen. l don't feel that l can
stand in this chamber if these
charges are true. l could be of no further
use, either here or in the city at large,
if they are true. The question
ought to be probed to the bot
tom not as matter of politics, but
as one affecting the honor and integrity OF
citizens. want to ask
THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THIS CHAMBER,
who represents it in some measure by lay
ing its news before the public-I want to
ask him by what authority he
says that the predecessor of the
present mayor was obliged to bribe gam
blers in order to apprehend criminals.
COMPTROLLER ROCHE
was asked to speak. He produced the
itemized report about which so much talk
has been made. He recounted the efforts
which he had made to secure clerk hire for
his Office so that he could make out his re-
port in eXtenso. Continuing, he said that
the statements made by the Pioneer Press
concerning him were false from beginning
to end. A reporter from the Pioneer Press
had come to him from Mr.. WheelOck with
some questions for him to answer, concern
ing the bonded debt, the amount of tax
levy, etc. He made a full statement in
answer to the questions, showing the bonded
debt to be something over $3,000,000, the
interest on it to be $50, 1000 OF $50, 900 per
year less than in any other city,
and other items of interest. The
next thing was the Pioneer Press
editorial of March %, written from a Min
neapolis stand point, in which all the fig
ures were distorted. The low tax levy was
not mentioned and nothing put in but mat
ter detrimental to the interests of st. Paul.
If the editorial had the effect intended it
would have been to prevent the negotia-
ton of the bonds, bids for which were
opened April 30. Mr. Roche said that he
had been comptroller of the city for twenty
years now and no one had asked him to sup
press any of his reports. During his re-
marks he was interrupted several times by
Republican members, but was allowed to
bers the floor on questions of personal
privilege.
Gen. Bishop sympathized with the men
whose characters had been aspersed. He
took no stock in the allegations, but depre-
eating hasty action, moved to refer for one
week.
Mr.. Oppenheim-The charges are false
and we want them sifted to the bottom.
CoTrI DN,T -ETNn HIM
P. II. Kelly moved that committee be
appointed to ask Mr.. F. Driscoll to appear
before the chamber. The motion was
carried, and Mr.. Kelly and Capt.
Berkey were appointed. Returning
ed: The clerk informed us that Mr..
Driscon had gone to the chamber of COM
merce. Have you seen him? Laughter.
Mr.. McClung argued that this matter
ought to be investigated Immediately, and
have an immediate report made. If
what the Pioneer Press says is true, which
he did not for moment believe, these
men, Mr.. Roche and Mr. Murray, should be
punished
Mr.. Delano rose to point of order as to
what was before the house, and the pres
ident decided the matter before the board
was to lay the whole matter on the table
till next Monday, and that that was debat-
able.
BRING HIM TO BOOK.
Mr.. Hall said the Pioneer Press stated
the information was taken to the Office at
IL o'clock Saturday night Now he wanted
the proprietors of that paper given an op-
pOrtunity to inform the chamber who was
authority for the statements in the publica-
ton. He did not believe the paper had any
authority, but give them chance. Let us
know the mans name
A great many points of order were raised
and a good deal of excitement prevailed
The motion to lay on the table was then put,
Mr.. Murray calling for the yeas and
nays.
When Capt. Berkey's name was called
he rose to make a personal explanation,
expressly disclaiming any sympathy with
the attack, and when he got through
voted against laying on the table,
but caused a great deal of laugh
ter by finding that he had voted the
wrong way, and so changed his vote to aye
On the roll being called the vote resulted as
follows:
Yeas-Bishop, Blakeley Drake, Fair
child, Fogg, Gribben, Harbaugh, Hodgson,
Ingersoll, Merrill Seabury, Stone, Strong
-13.
Nays-Barney, Berkey, Delano, Hall,
Kelly, McClung, Morton, Murray, Open
helm, Rice, Rundlett Somers. Sanborn-13.
President Sanborn in explaining his vote
said he doubted whether indeed the article
in the Pioneer Press was of sufficient weight
to warrant an investigation.
DELANO's RESOLUTION.
The resolution offered by Mr.. Delano was
then taken up and Mr. Seabury moved as
substitute that a committee of five be ap-
pointed to report ON this matter next Mon
day morning.
A motion to adjourn was made and cali
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