St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-09
OFFICIAL.
Proceedings Of the Common Council
Regular Meeting.
ST. PAUL, Jan. 5, 1856.

Returned
To the Honorable the President and Com
I mon Council Of the City of 81. Paul:
/ The resolution passed by your honorable
body Oh the 29th ultimo and placed in my
hands on the 3lst Of December. requesting
4 the President thereof to appoint a special
committee Of three 10 appear before tie
/ Board OF Public Works and ask said Board
/ 10 carry out the views Of the Common
/ Council as represented in the report of that
date, relative TO prices paid for labor by
city contractors on public works, is /
think, practically motion and
not a resolution as contemplated
( by the charter which the Mayor is To APP
prove or disapprove.
A motion to appoint a committee for that
purpose would have been wholly within the
/ province Of the Common Council and the
Mayor could not in any way gainsay it.
1 hence ] shall treat the resolution as a mo-
/ ton, and neither approve nor disapproye 1t,
and herewith return il.
[ have also before me, the report
of the committee therein referred TO
and if | may do 50 without giving OffenSe
to your Honorable Body. which do not de-
I sign 10 do. l wish TO say that L think the
recommendation in the last paragraph Of
the report, That IN the future no con-
tract be approved by the Common Council
unless IL shall first be satisfied that the con-
tractor is entirely responsible (which
think is right. and that he will pay. at
least, Sl.5O per day for labor and $500 per
day for teaInS" i a dangerous policy for
your Honorable Body 10 inauglrate, and, if
adopted. it would yitiate every assessment
upon property improved under the contract
and probably defeat the general tax
levy. 1t is not within the power
of the Common Council, therefore, tomake
such contracts. nor IN the constitutional
province of the legislature 10 grant such a
power. Ii is doubtful even whether the
constitution itself could be made binding in
that respect. if it contained such a prOvi-
sion. It is in the nature OF a sumptuary
law. which is repugnant TO the people of all
ciyiiZen governments and denounced in the
Declaration Of Independence and in the
bin Of rights Of nearly every state i'm the
Union. and which attacks rights that can
not be alienated by the action OF ma
jority OF the people themselves.
1t is alike detrimental to the best interests
Of the city and destructive of the best in
tereStS OF the labOreT, artisan and wage
worker, and hence to society itself, because
all wealth, all progress, Improvements and
prosperity i'm every form which distinguish
civilization from barbarism, are the results
of intelligent, well-OrganiZed and we'll
directed labor. If paid labor of every kind
should cease for any considerable length of
time i'm this city il would be given up 10 the
wild beasts and become as desolate as the
ruined cities Of the old world. If il is i'm
the power of the Common Council or any
other legislative body. 10 fix the pay of
laborer i'm the employ of a contractor or
other citizen at 81 so per day, or a team at So;
I...
shall not be paid but % cents the latter but
80 cents. or any other sum per daY; TO fix
the price Of shoes such laborers may require
at s. per pair, and meat and all other neces-
sarieS az twice the price others can obtain
them for. and it may require, likewise.
the teamSteTs 10 buy the feed for
their teams Of the contractors at
three times its market value.
The power then once admitted might be
used 10 ruin the very man the report seeks
- protect. The highest prosperity of
community is best subseryed when laibOf
finds full employment at good wages. be-
cause il is the money paid to labnTers that
gives life to business and forms the basis
OF local capital. Your Honorable Body has
the power to nix the wages of the employees
of the city and to regulate the number of
hours which, as 10 them, constitute
a days work, but YOU can.
in my opinion, go no further. What
influence that course will have on
private employers am unable To say. but
it is as true now as ever that 1.-The labOrer
is worthy OF his hire" and he also who
makes no effort to miSlead him, but tells
him the truth-that is that the price of
labor. like that of any other commodity,
will always be regulated by the law of sup
ply and demands his best friend.
EDMUND RICE, Mayor.
Jan. 8, 1856.
Accepted.
Aid. SanbOm moved that the vote by
which the report referred to i'm the com
municatiOn of the Mayor, and upon which
the resolution returned was based be re-
considered.
The motion prevailed. Yeas-13. Nays
Aid. Kahn. Starkey-2.
The said report and resolution were there
upon recOmmitted TO the Special Committee
of five, from which said report emanated,
for further consideration.
Also,
Annual Reports
To the Honorable, the President and Com
mon Council of the City of St. Paul:
/ herewith transmit the annual reports of
the following City Boards and City Officers
Oct 81, 1855. as required by law, and as
submitted To me. as follows:
Report OF the Board Of Water Commits
siOners.
Report of the Board of Workhouse Com
missioners.
Report of the Board of Fire Commission
ers.
Report of the Board of Public Works.
Report of the City Treasurer.
Report of the City Comptroller.
Report of the City Attorney.
Report of the Chief of Police.
Report of the Clerk of the Municipal
Court.
Report of the City Clerk.
Report of the Building Inspector.
Report of the Board of Health.
No report of the Board of Education has
been received as required by Section No. s
OF an act TO amend the charter of the CITY
OF 81. Paul and the acts amendatory
thereof, approved March .. 1885. That act
enumerates but eleven reports TO be made
in addition 10 all others required by former
existing laws. Ten of these have been
made, and two Others. tO-wit: The Build
ing Inspector and the Board of Health. 1t
is only within the last few DAYS that any
of the reports have come TO my hands and
the most of them not until yesterday and
to-day. OF course no examination of them
could be made and hence they
are transferred to You without COM
ment-further than to say that
some of them cover a period later than
the 31st of October. notably the one from
the Board of Water Commissioners land
perhaps others) which shows the import
ance of changing the law so as TO cover a
Uniform period of one year and making the
fiscal year conform thereto. The printing
and binding Of these reports for preServa-