St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-24
KICKED To The LAST,
The Court House Commission
Came to Its End Yester-
day Evening.
Commissioner MitSeh Raises
the Old Cry" Inadequate
Accommodation"
DR.. Day Raises His Voice in
Protest, and All Ends
Well.
Everybody, of Course, Re-
ceives the Usual Tickle
Of Admiration.

The new court house and city hall has
now been turned over TO the county and
city authorities. Last night saw the
last of the court house commits
sion, when its final report was
presented to the joint meeting of
the common council of st. Paul and the
commissioners of Ramsey county. The
meeting was held in the council
chamber, presided over by Mayor
Smith, with the following gentlemen
present: Aid. Book, Cullen, Fisher,
(iehan, Kavanagh. Leithauser. Minea,
Pratt. Weber and Yoerg; Commissioners
Boyd. Bohland. Lavallee and MltSeh.,
Commissioner MitSch objected to the
proceedings of the special commission.
claiming that after the expenditure or
the first $500, 900 the building had been
proceeded with without authority OF
! law. lie wanted an explanation from
| DIR. Day, who arose to reply, but Dotn
| gentlemen were reminded by the pre-
! siding officer that there was no matter
before the house upon which to base
discussion.
The report of the special commission
was placed before the members. 1t
embraced history of the old building
of 1850, the creation of the commission,
| and construction of the new JOINT build
ing, and a detailed account OF Its cost.
From the concluding page of the report,
the following is qG0ted:
1T is with sense of relief that the com
mission have after years Of labor come at
last to the completion OF their WORK HOW
well it has been done, we must leave our
work to speak for itself.
From its organization to its close, the com
mission has been thoroughly harmonious,
and not a single case of serious DIVISION
among them can now be called TO mlnd. Inc
great edifice is of massive and com
plex structure and filled with deli
cate machinery, and is turned over
to YOU in complete working order.
All contracts for the structure of the build
ings and furniture, together with very few
minor items in the latter, were let by public
advertisement and competitive bias, ana Il
is more or less a source OF regret that OF
contractors, who were mainly our oW
citizens, did not in many cases,
realize a legitimate profit on their labor and
materials furnished. 1t is, however, a source
! of pleasure to us to be able 10 certify to the
| care and integrity with which they per
| formed their respective duties.
The commission are under obligation to
the mayors of st. Paul, c. d. 0'Brien, Ed
| mund Rice and Robert A. Smith, who have
been successfully, ex-officio, chairman of
cur board, and have in all cases case
ment and experience in our deliberations.
| Also to L. w. Rundlett, city engineer, for
valuable assistance in calculating tensile
! strength of iron in construction, and other
| engineering problems arising during the
| progress of the work; and to the auditors
! of Ramsey county, j. j. McCardy,
| James OBrien and NJ. f. kaln. who
| have been successfully our secretary. AS
| well as to John W. Roche, city comptroller,
| who audited our accounts, and to George
| Refs city treasurer, who has disbursed the
| building fund. also to our attorney, W. ).
| Moore, who guided us free from the laws
| delay"
Aid. Cullen offered the following res
| olution:
| Resolved, By the common council and the
! county commissioners in joint convention
| assembled. that the report of the city hall
| and court house commission this day made
to said convention, be, and the same is here
by accepted.
And as slight token of the appreciation
! of this body for the faithfulness and integ-
| rity with which the commission has dis
charged the duties upon them imposed.
That the acts and actions of said commits
| sion are hereby Endorsed and ratified without
further consideration, action or reference:
| and The said commission be and the same is
| hereby discharged.
County Commissioner MitSch re-
marked that whilst he had no objections
to offer to the report itself, yet ne had
worked as faithfully as any one in the
interests of st. Paul and was not sat
| lSGeQ WIFI Tile way III WHICH Iuc UOdIu
of commissioners had been served in be-
ing left entirely without room in
which to hold its meetings.
DIR. Day and others explained that the
special commission had no authority to
assign apartments to the various
officers and bodies, but it was
question for the joint COM
mission. and when the special commits
siOh should be discharged it would then
be in the power of the former to make
arrangements for reassigning the apart
ments, 1t was stated that some of the
less important departments were in
possession of apartments superior TO
their necessities, and provisions for
changes would probably be made. 1t
was also stated that the business Of
some departments had greatly increased
since the commencement of the build
ing, which neceSsitated larger quarters
for their use than was originally con-
| templated.
With these explanations Mr.. Mitsch
and every one seemed satisfied, and the
resolution offered by Mr.. Cullen was
unanimously adopted.
The total expenditure incurred in
building the court house aud city hall
is 81. O29, 1924. There is balance in
hand of Sl4, 540.16.