St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-09
AN EXCUSE TO LIVE.
Capt. Berkey Doubts if the
Chamber Of Commerce
Has Any.
H. F. Stevens Feels Impelled
to Take Another View
Of 1t,
And a Warm Discussion Over
Legislative Affairs Re-
suits.
Resolutions Are Adopted and
the Chamber Concludes
to Live On.

The chamber of commerce devoted
an hour yesterday to the discussion OF
the question, why are we here?" 1t
also had little fun raising the ghost
of the defunct legislature and making
use of it in the same capacity that Sui
livan made use of Kilrain, as an object
for muscular exercise. But even a
worm will turn, and Hon. III. f. Stew
ems rose in his might and crossed swords
with Capt. Berkey. The result must be
called draw. Capt. Berkey started
the circus by asking what good he and
certain other members of the chamber
were accomplishing, and intimatlng
that they might as well resign and
leave the city to its fearful fate. The
gallant captain failed to see what good
came of all the weekly discus
sions on subjects of no interest
to st. Paul. The chamber had
been unable to get report of the
proceedings of the late legislature, so
far as St. Paul was concerned. The
city had taxation of S2,000,000, which
seemed to increase rather than dimin-
ish. The Ramsey county delegation
had not been acting for st. PauPS in
IGEGStS, anu LHG lucluDCl pICSSub
(Hiram +. Stevens, had promised to
been done. He thought it no use to
talk any further and was prepared to
quit unless the chamber did something
towards checking the extravaganza of
the public expenditure. He brought
statistics from many other cities to
show that st. Paul was not so prosper
Gus as they. Hon. Fl. +. Stevens arose
in his own defense and denied ever
having made the promises aScribed TO
him by Capt. Berkey. He had done his
best towards controlling extravaganza
and regretted nothing, not even the
raising of certain salaries. Mr.. Rogers
then proceeded to compare the
salaries paid here with those in
other cities. He showed that the city
and county paid bigger salaries than
the state, and this was not right
Thomas Cochran Jr. then attacked
Capt. Berkey vigorously, defending the
city against the aSperSimS cast upon its
prosperity. He denied that small
bank clearings we're any indication of
commercial stagnation, and believed St.
Paul stood at the head of the list tor
stability and conservatism of its bust
ness circles. Capt. Berkey suggested
mildly that Mr.. Cochran had not
always held the opinions he so vigor-
ously expressed. After a discussion
Manley B. Curry moved the following
resolution, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the committee on taxes,
city and county officials be requested to re-
port on the salaries paid to the officials of
St Paul and Ramsey county, with state
ment of the increase of those salaries and a
comparison with salaries paid the same
officials in other cities.
Resolved, That this report be made the
special order of the first Monday in August.
Resolved, That special invitation be sent
to all members Of the chamber to be present
to hear and take part in the discussion of
said report.
Instructions to obtain fuller informa-
ton as regards fees and number of en-
ployeS were embodied in an amend
ment. Mr.. Faulke moved:
Whereas Up to the present time this city
retains the right to control the use of every
power for propelling street cars within its
limits other than horse power and the steam
power in use on the two cable lines now in
operation; and,
Whereas, 1t is probable that the right to
use electricity and other motive power within
the city for that purpose will soon become
very valuable and its preservation from mo.
nopoly will be one of the most potent means
of promoting our future prosperity;
Therefore resolved, That our city council
be earnestly requested and urged to refuse to
grant to any person or corporation any gen
eral or exclusive right now retained by the
city. Second, that in granting any such right
for use in operating any single line the city
at large and the citizens along said line
should be protected with the greatest care,
so that the right to use such power shall be
controlled by the city and kept open to com
petition.
This was referred to the committee
Oh streets, roads and parks. In response
to an invitation from the board of fire
commissioners, the committee on build
ingS and fire department was instruct
ed to attend the annual inspection On
the 10th inst. The motion to adjourn
till September was deferred to next
week.