St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-07-11
HELOT GROWS ANGRY.
Ingratitude Makes Him Weary Of
Posing as a Public
Apologist.
Members of the Board Of Education
Turn Like Adders and
Sting Him.
Speculation and Not Legitimate
Business the Foundation OF
Minneapolis Fortunes.
mess. Followed Strictly. Not
Very Lucrative.
AM out of the defense bust


+ - AM out of the defense bust
fkt Js1otness.
NNEA/f There is a current proverb
@ySa to the effect that if you save a
ME~@ ~ mans life he will make you
w. ESSeeYregret it, and this must also
W TlD apply to a mans reputation.
~ Last Sunday devoted my time
~ and squandered good space in
~ the GLOBE in defending the
fair fame of the board of education, and
here, after my kindly work, B. F. Nelson
mounted my attenuated form and demanded
a retraction or blood. This was positive
ingratitude. l had not said word about
Mr.. Nelson, personally, and did not know
he needed a personal defense, but if he
does. some one else must make it. Even
my loyalty to Minneapolis will carry me no
further. I heard in the mouth of common
street rumor the most damaging reflection
on the integrity of certain members of the
board, and in my indignation / asked the
board to rise in it's corporate majesty and
hurl the lie back in the teeth of the ira
Queer.
But did the board rise?
Not bit of it.
It shut itself up in its private Office, drove
out the reporters and auditors and transacted
its public business in the dark, as far as the
public is concerned. Yet this is the board
1 was defending. All honor to A. T.
Ankenny for the stand he made against this
star chamber business. He only went into
the board this spring. has nothing to con-
ceaI and does not wish for concealment of
any kind. Do the other members? Messrs.
A Toll Male do;
voted for the secret session and it is fair
question to ask them if there is anything
they are ashamed of or wish to conceal
from the public. They are the servants,
the public the master and the master has
the right at all times to know what the
servant is doing. l was surprised at Mr..
Nelson's vote. He is Democrat and is
widely known as an honest, honorable
gentleman. What sympathy can he have
with this suspicious. dark-cloSet style Of
transacting the public business?
The board buys great deal Of lumber
from Mr.. Nelson.
Likewise considerable hardware from Mr..
Miller.
Il other members had commodities for
sale, the board would probably buy from
them also. And this is radically wrong.
There is law, if not in the charter or
the statutes, at least an unwritten law,
which prohibits any member OF such an Or
ganization from being interested in any Of
it's contracts. This law should be held as
inviolable as the law of the Modes and Per-
slams. II the board buys stone from Mr..
x, it enters into contract with him to pay
SO much money for certain stone, and if he
is member of the board he is violating the
law. Then suppose the board were debat-
liner o11acTinn nf hui1dinu coboo1
and 1t was a question whether the building
is really needed. Might not the fact that,
if the school is built Mr.. x would furnish
the stone influence him into believing the
school was necessary? This explains why
the school board should never buy material
from any of it's members. Of course Mr..
Nelson is too honorable to be so influenced
and of course Mr.. Nelson is too honorable to
be so influenced, but the principle should be
maintained.
But this board matter is rapidly becoming
chestnut. The people won't rise in their
wrath and the board won't rise in its
majesty and will probably go on doing just
as it pleases, quoting the famous eXpletive:
The public be damned.'
l was struck by remark made the other
day to the effect that very little or compare
lively little of the great wealth piled up in
Minneapolis was made in legitimate bust
ness, without speculation. 1t is certainly
true. There are no merchant princes here.
but the reason is that no merchant has been
in business long enough to have amassed
fortune at it. There are mercantile oppor-
tunlties now, which, when carried along,
will yield fortunes, but it is quite safe to
say that not one Of the colossal fortunes Of
Minneapolis was made by strict and sole at
tention to any mercantile and professional
calling. Speculation made the money.
Fortunate deals in Minnesota lands and
timber and in Minneapolis real estate were
at the bottom of all those heavy bank &C
counts. Those who steadily pursued a pro-
fesson may scarcely be called in comfOrta
bic circumstances.
Take few examples.
Judge William Lochren has followed the
law for long years and has reached the head
of his profession. His ability is generally
recognized, and his success as a practi-
toner has been pronounced, yet he is a
man of only moderate means. D. A. Sc
combe is another prominent lawyer, with a
long, good practice, but it has netted him
only good living. Seagraye Smith is an
other one, and r. G. Benton, A. II. Young,
and Col. Fred Hooker all go to bear this
out, and J. p. Rea, George G. Ripley aud
others might be added. On the other hand
those attorneys set down as wealthy, made
great money through speculation. The late
w. w. McNair reared an immense for
tune on fortunate deals Oh pine lands and
his brother-in-law, Eugene M. Wilson, who
was associated with him, also reaped a rich
harvest. to which his lucrative practice is
adding. Mart B. Koon invested his her.
itage very advantag eously, and made his
one talent yield five other talents, while
that horny-handed son of the soil, j. B.
Gilfillan, speculated very protitably in East
side dirt, using his practice as sort of side
bet.
Perhaps the manufacturers are eXcep-
tiOns, but some of even them owe their
wealth to fortunate speculation.
The PillsburyS, while they ground for
tunes out of wheat were equally fortunate
in their land deals and have millions safely
laid away in the Gull river country. Dorilus
Morrison made money out Of everything,
but as much out of land as he did out of
saving lumber, grinding grain and building
harveSters. o. a. Pray was rich outside
Of his family and j. B. BasSett beyond his
saw and -four mills. But even in the cases
of those who grew rich solely in manufac-
lures they are the exceptions.
There was T. B. Walker, who used to be
shoemaker and is now the leading mill
ionaire of Minneapolis, if not of the state
Loren Fletcher and c. NJ. Lorng used to
run general store in the days Of Minneap
oils infancy, but they specialized well.
Run through the long list OF men of wealth
and nine out of ten laid the foundations of
their fortunes On land speculation. The
remark heard was undoubtedly true.
A writer in the Cincinnati Enquirer once
said: ''Three years ago the chances for
money-making in legitimate business in
Minneapolis were no greater than in Cincin-
nati.' He ended there and the
natural conclusion is that the situation
within three years has changed and the
chances ale now better in Minneapolis than
in Cincinnati. Certainly this is the opinion