St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-07
Minneapolis Wakes Up to the
Fact That Money Is
Scarce.
Over $4,000 Must Be Saved
in the Next Six
Months. q
A Reduction of 10 Per Cent
in Salaries of City En- Z.
ployes Proposed. y
The Water Department Will
Not Lend Any of It's
Funds.

troller called the attention of the city
council to the fact that the way in which
that body was ordering improvements
and expanding money was entirely too
swift to suit the gait set by the admins
tIatiOn, which had been profuse in Its
promises of ''retrenchmenta and reform, -
before the election, and he advised a
careful revision of the appropriations SO
that the city might be able to pay Its
bills as they became due. But little at
tention was paid to the communication,
and now that the action of the aldermen
has placed the city just $4,000 short OF
enough cash to carry the different de-
partments through the year the RepuD-
ilcan aldermen do not know which
way to turn to get out OF the
hole. Some of the departments
spent their money on the come
easy. gO-eaSy plan, and now they pro-
pose to turn to their more careful
neighbors and take anything they can
lay their hands on to help them out.
With a disregard of all rules of buSl-
ness, one of the East side wards kept
men at work when there were no funds
in the treasury to pay them for their
labor, and now there is a number OF
poor labOrerS, many of whom have fam
lilies depending upon them for support.
unable to get the wages which are due
them.
Not one of the departments which
are run on bedrock principles, ana
which have any money Oh hand, ana
there are very few of them, propose to
help the aldermen out of the difficulty
into which their own extravaganza has
led them, and they will make hard
fight to retain poss esSiOn of any funds
they may now nave on hand. Inc
aldermen now admit that the antI-elec-
ton promises which have been so will
fully broken. should have been kept.
and now that retrenchment has become
an actual necessity, they are almost
at their wits ends. With an utter dis
regard of the principles defined long
ago by the administration, and in def
ance of the action of the city council,
the police commission not only in
creased the force by twenty-Six men,
but had their expenditures been kept
up at the rate assumed the police de-
partment would have cost the city S23,-
600 more than the appropriation. With
cOmmendable GOODNESS the commission
also informed the council that they had
selected a new police signal system
which was to cost ST., 400. and asked the
council to direct the proper city officials
to execute the contract. This, however,
the council refused to do, and the first
step in the great movement of retrencil-
ment and reform which had been
promised a year ago was taken. only De-
cause there was no more money Ito
spend. -
The committee on ways and means,
in whose hands the matter now is, have
under consideration several plans. One
of them is to reduce the number of EN-
plOyes in all the city departments. This
meets with considerable objection, aud
those who are opposed to it say that 1T
would be imposing an unjust hardship
upon the men who have worked faith
fully during the summer to throw them
out in the cold at tk commencement OF
what promises to be hard winter. Ii
is not likely, therefore. that this plan
will be adopted. Another plan and one
which will meet with universal favor
among the taxpayers is general re-
ductiOn of salaries. There was we'll
defined rumor around the city hall yes
terday that reduction would be recon-
mended by the committee. One of the
members of the ways and means COM
mittee in speaking to GLOBE reporter
on the subject. said: the aldermen
might set good example by reducing
their own salaries first and then would
be in favor Of making general reduc-
ton of 10 per cent in the salaries of all
the city officials and employees" 1t is
understood that the committee proposes
to transfer some money now in the
city treasury to the credit of the fire
department to make up the deficit, aud
also to recommend the reduction of the
fremen's wages to correspond with
those paid to policemen.