St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-25
apolis frequently went East for wives,
but It was rare that young people of the

TWO rival cities 1Dtfrmarrled.
In 1857 came the disaster at the falls,
VIII ich took more than a million of dol
lars to repair And here there was
truce declared for year or two, for st.
Paul was just as badly frightened as
anybody at the prospect of the destruc-
tiOn Of the great wat + power at Mime
apoIis. A disaster of this kind would
have been catastrophe for the entire
state. But after large municipal and
governmental expenditures the calamity
was averted and the merry war went on.
All things considered, Minneapolis
had the most aggressive crowd. Col.
William S. King was the representative
warrior at Minneapolis, and his paint
was never of. But meantime ''tEe still
SOW that drinks the swill" was at work.
Men of wealth in both cities were
quietly picking up the broad acres be-
tween the two municipal giants, and
thus getting ready TO eventually unite
the twins.
In 1872 the cities Of Minneapolis and
st. Anthony were united, and just about
the same time Col. Girart Hewitt. z
gested the possibility of a municipal
union between st. Paul and Minneap-
oils. The howl that went up from both
ends of the line proved that Mr.. Hew-
lit had exploded the cap before the load
had been rammed home, ard he at once
subsidized, but kept right on
BUYING NTERURBAN ACRES.
Meantime, from 1870 to 1880, the man
ufacture of -four by the so-called patent
process came into general use, and the
milling interests at Minneapolis in
creased with marvellous rapldity. The
railways which had been building
meantime had struggled to concentrate
their interests at st. Paul, but soon
learned that the lines which sought to
do business in Minnesota must have
dep0ts and terminal facilities in both
cities. The 1obbing interests were also
divided between the communities, with
st. Paul in possession of the lions
share. Manufacturing of all kinds be-
gan also in both cities, with Minneap-
oils In possession of the lions share
and then, about 1880, both these am
bilious communities began to take plide
in the name and prosperity OF the Twin
Cities. For thirty years each had been
fighting for supremacy over the other.
and it just then began to dawn upon the
minds of thoughtful men OF both COM
munities that these cities were the two
ends of one great municipality, the two
poles Of one mighty magnet; that while
they had two names. and each had
separate governments, they were in fact
but one gigantic commercial, monetary
and manufacturing center.
1t seems very remarkable that what
all the rest of the world discovered
years ago. the parties in interest have
not even yet found out. One cause of
this fact has been the unreasoning and
unreasonable attitude of the MinneapO-
lis newspapers, especially the Tribune
under the management of Mr. Blethen.
Worried and annoyed because the peo-
pie of Minneapolis have seen fit to lib
orally patrOniZe the great st. Paul MORN
ing newspapers, the Tribune has sought
incessantly TO make municipal oyster
OF Minneapolis, and has continued TO
proclaim that "what hurts st. Paul
helps Minneapoiisln This isshort-eighted
policy has been adopted by a large NUM-
Der of ttioaghtiass people in Minneapos
lis, and other thoughtless citizens of ST.
Paul have retaliated, until antagonism
has taken the place Of cooperation TO
the injury of both.
1t now looks as though the final bat
tie had been fought, and that the mill
tant period of st. Paul with her imme-
diate neighbOrs would soon end. There
Is really no obstacle to a complete mu-
nicipai union between the Twin Cities,
if that is considered desirable. Ramsey
county is one Of the smallest in area in
the state, and union between Ramsey
and Hennepin would leave the cOnsOli-
dated county still smaller than either
Stearns OF Otter Tail.
THE COUNTIES ONCE JOINED.
the union of the cities would be merely
matter of detail. Probably no one
will deny that there would be an i'm
mense saving to the taxpayers of the
two cities by this union. or that public
improvements would be made with
much greater facility by working to-
gether. The financial and commercial
union now pending fOreshadOwS per-
feet municipal union OF sOpe kind.
Ii Is somewhat remarkable and a very
encouraging sign that this latest move
toward consolidation comes from Min
neapOlis, and that the Tribune is the
medium through which the sentiment
seeks the public ear. For more than
twenty years, and under all its varying
changes in management, from its eS-
tabIishment by w. d. Washburn,
through Col. King, Pap" Green and
Deacon Nettleton to its final resting
place with A. j. Blethen. the Tribune
has played upon local prejudice. with
out ever missing an opportunity to be-
little such interests as We're peculiar to
st. Paul. 1t is hardly necessary to re-
call the fact that both the morning
papers in st. Paul, under the present
managements, have pursued diametri-
cally opposite course to this, and have
sought to allay rather than to intensity
sentiments of local jealousy. The re-
suit of this has been that the morning
papers in st. Paul have large and in
creaSing business in Minneapolis, while
the Minneapolis morning papers are en-
tirely ignored by the business interests
of st, Paul.
The characteristics of the two cities
are as different as those of Philadelphia
and San Francisco-but it is singular
that people do not discover In this very
fact an element of strength. st. Paul
is and has always been cosmopolitan.
Its original settlers were Americans,
Irishmen, Germans and Frenchmen, but
during the forty years of its history the
amaIgamatiOn of these different nation
alities has been perfect. Minneapolis
was originally settled almost exclusively 4
by New Englanders. The influx of
ScandinavianS is of comparatively re-
cent date. and the process Of amalgama-
ton is only just beginning. Each city
in it's municipal processes clingS TO the
traditions of the past, and there is much
yet to be done before the public mind
will be ready for complete social and
political union. But the wind is finally
In the right direction, aud if the news
papers Of both cities begin at once the
process Of education, the consolidation
Is not far removed.
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