St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-10-13
TOPICAL TALK.
Municipal

Municipal Municipal taxation
Is a favOrite theme in
Tax Reform. the Twin Cities just at
this time. Death and
taxes are the two things most dreaded
by mOrtals, and at the near approach of
either human nature unGergoeS more or
less excitement. Thus the rates of tax
alton, recently fixed by the municipal
governments for the ensuing year, have
provoked the usual annual discussion
relative to the Necessity for forcing
down expenses, Topping off salaries,
and all that sort Of thing, which as
usually ends in talk. As matter of
fact, but few public officials are over
paid. and whatever is done in the way
of retrenchment must be done in some
other direction. In obedience to res
olutiOn adopted by the chamber of
commerce of this city, the committee on
taxes, city and county officials have sub
United report in which the salary
list for 1889, OF both city and
county officers is given in full, and a
comparison made with the salary list
for 1888. While there have been in
creaSes made In some departments and
decreases in others, we fail 10 see any
special Inequality or EXPERIMENTATION
among those who receive salaries direct
for their services. 1t is true that re-
form might be accomplished and the
revenues of the public treasury in
creased by making all the offices strictly
salarled. The latest offices are those
where the incumbentS receive fees; and
in some instances the income is out of
all proportion to the services rendered.
This could be remedied by putting all
county and city officials on salary and
requiring all the fees and revenues from
an office to be converted into the public
treasury. 1t is poor policy to keep a
public official down to a starvation sal
AIRY. 1t may be true that plenty of men
can be found who are willing to work on
small salary, but that is no justification
for paying less for a thing than il is
worth. Ii man earns dollar day in
the public service he ought to have the
dollar. If he earns SO it is 10 excuse
for cheating him out of his earnings to
say that somebody else is reduced to the
extremity of being willing to perform
the same labor for half the money. The
waste of public moneys is not in what
is paid out to faithful public servants so
much as it is in paying contractors
double prices for public improvements.
and often Improvements that are not
needed. Whenever our city fnanclerS
grasp this idea they will have maize real
progress in the direction of securing tax
reform.
Big Talk 1t is a noteworthy
fact that there has
and Fever been a year in
ST. PauIS history when
Little Work. so many big things
were proposed in the
&c nd
tie really accomplished as has been the
case this year. Private enterprises
have been pushed vigorously enough.
and the building record of the city will
be something phenomenal. But how
about public improvements? There is
the Seventh street cable line, but that
come down to us as unfinished business
from last year. We started in this sea-
son to have a million-dollar opera house
before the SNOW fell, and now the sea-
son is drawing to close without even
the shadow of prospect for one OF any
sort. Then we were going to have the
most extensive system of improved
electric motor lines that ever gladdened
the heart of city. here are
we? There was great deal of talk
in the early part of the season about the
extensive system of parks and boule-
wards. They are not in sight. And
thus We have gone on, and talked the
spring and the summer and the autumn
away, with nothing to show for our talk
except the echo of our own voices. Per-
haps it is not our fault that affairs took
this turn. because we couldn't control
circumstances that rose up unexpectedly
in our pathway. But we will be at fault
if we get in the same tangled condition
next year. We have the whole winter
before us to plan and to talk over mat
tiers. There is no excuse for not being
ready for work. and on big scale, when
the next season opens. We made the
mistake once of pOstpOning the discus
sion of these matters until the time had
arrived for action. Let us not repeat
that mistake, but do our talking in the
winter and our work in the summer.
The Need for "a national archi-
lecture Is needed more
National than a national flower"
was the remark of
Architecture. prominent architect OF
this city the other day
while discussing with a company of
friends, the particular flower that
would most likely be agreed upon as
the symbol of Americanism. Il mean
an architecture, he con tinued, (which
should smack of our soil. our history
and cur many-Sided origin Take st.
Paul here for Illustration. There is no
city on the continent which has more
beautiful homes and elegant business
blocks, nor one showing a greater va
riety of architecture, and yet what do
yOn see that Is even suggestive OF atype
of American architecture. 1t is Queen
Anne. Romanesque, Renaissance, or
oil n
fashionable or architectural caprice"
HAS any such thing as distinct
American architecture ever been
evoIved?" l ventured to ask. Ser
tainly," he replied. "but so long ago
it seems to have been forgotten; for it
was away back in the colonial times.
If, instead of going to the European cap
| itals to study their professions, our
architects would travel through their
own country and study early American
architecture l have an idea they would
fluid more consistent prototype for con-
temporary buildings than most of the
composite edificeS erected. The East
ern seaboard states present many diver
sified types. There are old manor
houses, churches any public buildings
which may be studied to advantage.
The older neighborhoeds of New York
and some of the New England states
are rich in examples of colonial archi-
lecture. The same is true of Pennsyl-
vania. particularly the country around
Philadelphia. The Southern states,
with their fine old houses, present a
wealth of material for the consideration
of architects ambition to perpetuate the
colonial traditions. II my estimation.
there is nothing grander of the classic
character than the capitol at Richmond
In the latter city the value of the noble
examples of colonial architecture can
best be appreciated by contrasting them
with the Queen Anne houses that have
sprung up since the earthquake"