St. Paul daily globe., 1889-06-25
FINALLY INDORSED.
The Board of Trade Asks That the

board OF trade" SAID PRESIDENT wy
man yesterday morning, when that
august body had been called to order,
Ito take immediate action relative to
the Anderson, Douglass & Co. fran
chise. will say, in regard to the mat
ter that the council will act on the peti
OH it at all we must do it at once. We
cannot put it off till our regular meet
ing in July"
The secretary read the resolution rec
commended by the special committee in
dorsing the franchise as follows:
Resolved, That this committee do recon-
mend to the poard of trade that that body
recommend to the city council the granting
of such franchise to Anderson. Douglass Il
Co. as it may deem eXpedient, after first pre-
serving always the best interests of the city.
Judge Atwater rose Immediately and
denounced the report as being abSo-
Iutely worthless as an Endorsement to
the council. He thought that the board
of trade ought to have brains enough to
formulate what they considered a plan
to guard the best interests of the city.
he thought a provision, that the city
should purchase the lines or that the
company should pay rental after
a certain time should be recommended
to the council. He was not willing to
vote on the recommendation and have
the council grant the franchise without
proper restrictions, and then lay the
blame to the board of trade because
they indorsed it, but he would tell the
council what restrictions to make.
Leander GOrtOn defended the COM
mittee. They had been instructed to
find out whether this new franchise
nj nlh fro,, al,
not, and had found that it would not.
President Wyman called B. F. Nelson
to the chair, and, after w. E. Steele, of
the committee, had said he agreed with
Judge Atwater, only that it was the
full boards, and not the committees,
work to make the provisions, made
very expressive speech, saying:
II don't agree with Judge Atwater at
all. | believe that this matter of grant
ing franchises is the business of the
men whom we have elected as council
to guard the city's interest. 1t is not
our business. We have influence only
as any other body of business men who
express their opinion. The committee,
after taking the legal advice of the best
lawyers of the city, have found thatthe
franchise cali be legally granted. The
question of legality is the only one
that has been raised, and now we should
indorse it. If the council cares any,
thing for our opinion. and suppose it
does, it simply wants our Endorsement,
we formulate detailed provision.
Ezra FarnsWOrth favored general
Endorsement. In speaking of Anderson
& Douglass, he said:
"They do not ask for AN exclusive
franchise"
Some one questioned the statement,
and Mr.. Farnsworth, turning to Mr.. An
derson, asked:
"Do yOu?'
"No," was the answer, 1--WE DON'T"
"When company comes in and SIM
ply asks for the right to compete, am
| in favor of granting the privilege" con-
tinued Mr.. Farnsworth," and next week,
if another company comes in, let them
do the same"
Nelson Williams called on Mr.. Ander-
son, who said: "What we ask for is a
right to build cable lines on certain
streets. Wewill bear the burden of
law suits, the burden of damages, and
run the risk of the experiment.. Ii the
city grows we will make money. If it
does not, we won't lose much on the
present basis of population. If, at the
end of fifteen years the city has not in
creased much in population, then we do
not want to pay rental. But if the city
| then has grown to have three or four.
| hundred thousand of inhabitants we
will pay for the use of the lines"
Judge Atwater said that Anderson
| & Douglas made the same answer
that Thomas Lowry did fifteen years
ago, that they wanted the franchise,
and didn't want to insure the city any
thing. He made few remarks not
very complimentary to the council, and
thought it would be glad to accept sug-
| gestions from the board of trade.
question in his mind whether fifteen
years was not too long time to allow a
company the use of the lines. 1t was a
valuable privilege, and the company
was making great deal of money, and
| fifteen years of their existence was just
expired. But he was in favor of free
| competition, and wanted to see the new
company get the franchise with proper
provisions. However, he wanted to
| place himself on record as favOring re-
strictions. w. E. Steele explained that
| the committees report was merely to the
board, and not to the council. 1t was
for the board to place the restrictions.
Judge Atwater moved that the report
be referred to the railroad committee,
| or the committee OH city affairs, or some
| committee to have the restrictions at
tached, and try to report next Monday,
"NeXt Monday morning will be too
| late, the council acts Saturday." said
President Wyman. This matter of
referring to another committee is just
in line with all the other actions that
have defeated this Endorsement so far.
Two weeks ago the great point was that
we had no legal right, now it is that the
council won't provide proper restric-
tions guarding the city. Why,
there are such men as Aid. johnson
and Cole, and Barrows and Lowell here,
one of our own members. Don't you
suppose such men can protect the city?
! Why this is mere dodge-a Quibble.