St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-26
Wherein the Republican Adj
ministration Has Been
Found a Failure.
How Retrenchment Has Re-
trenehed and Reform Re-
formed.
P. B. Winston--The Sort Of
Man He Is and What He
Represents.

Who will it be? Are the people salts
fed with the sort of administration that
has been given them for the past two
years? Are they willing to perpetuate
such an administration? Are there
good reasons for making change? If
so. what are the reasons?
Some of the Republican papers, par
ticularly the Journal. have been en-
deavoring to disseminate the theory
that the mayor is at best mere figure
head. What reason is there for such a
statement? Because several of the
men who have held the executive
office of the city have been
fgureheads, nonenties, as it were. it
does not follow that the position in itself
entails no power Orinf1uence. The argu-
ment that the mayor cannot be mayor
unless the city council is composed of
men of his own political faith is not
strong enough to stand alone, much less
demonstrate its force. Apply the same
argument to higher office, that of pres
ident of the United States. 1t cam
paign orators and party organs were to
shout to the voters of the nation during
presidential contest. "What is the use
of your electing president while we
have a majority in congress; he can do
nothing" how would the argument be
greeted? Would it not be received as a
joke? How does the president of the
United States differ from the mayor of
a city? Both are executive offices
purely. The president of the United
States looks after the execution of the
laws of the nation: the mayor does the
same in the city. The president of the
United States has the app0ntiye power;
Hoo. 10, al,
United States must sign all bills before
they become operative, and exercises
the veto power; the mayor does the
same. Wherein do they differ essen
TALLY? Not once, but many times has
the president been of an opposite pOlit-
1cal faith from the dominant power in
the house. Some of the presidents SO
situated have been mere figureheads;
but whenever man of sterling worth,
q man of ideas, man of positive quail
tiles, man OF energy, activity and in
telligence, has found himself in the
position of chief magistrate, even with
:he opposite policical party in power in
congress, has he failed to make himself
felt? Has he failed to exert an influence
upon national Legislation? Never. So
with the office of mayor, although Oh
small scale. Because several mayors
hove been, figureheads has not been
the fault of the office. The office is
what the man makes it. The same ar
gument used to be used against the Of
fee of comptroller. Its occupant was
always looked upon as mere figure
head. 1t remained for a Democrat to
show the people that it could be made
something else. The same possibility
exists with regard to the office of mayor.
The mayor is the balance wheel of the
engine of municipal government. If
the balance wheel is of the proper
weight the engine will work smoothly
and do its work well.
Now. what are the issues of the may
orally contest?
On this subject again the Republican
press has been endeavOring to create a
wrong impression. A couple of DAYS
ago the Evening journal tackled the
mayoraity question, and, as usual, fell
through Itself. In less than half
column of space it demonstrated to the
fullest extent Its entire ignorance of the
subject under discussion. through the
agency of a plenirude of paragraphs
and the tricks of fakir it deduced the
conclusion that the only question at
issue in the city campaign is whether
the saloons shall be given more latitude;
whether they shall be allowed to run on
the absolutely wide-open policy. 1t was
lodging of the issue. No one with a
grain of practical common sense and
even pretense Of Judgment believes
for moment that that question is one
10 be considered. 1t is a question of
municipal administration in the broad
est sense of the term. 1t is question
of whether the city's business shall be
transacted i'll just, equitable, honora-
bic, busincss-like method, or whether
these questions shall give way to mar
TOwnesS, folly and injustice.
Even granting that this is wholly a
matter of freedom for saloons, the pO-
sition taken by the Republican press
is untenable. The salOonkeepers are
not clamorlng for wide open" policy.
fairness. They, that is most or them.
do not believe that John Jones. who
owns a saloon on Nicollet avenue, and
whose piece is gilt-edged because he
can afford 10 spend small fortune on
decorations. should be allowed to keep
open house Sunday after Sunday while
Ole Olson, who OWNS an obscure saloon
IN South Minneapolis. is fined 500 and
threatened with ninety days III the
workhouse for selling glass OF beer
TO friend Oh Sunday. 1t is believed
that the majority Of the people of Mn
neapolis will agree with them in that
such policy is unjust. Why should
the owner of one theater be allowed to
run saloon in connection with il while
another theater manager two blocks
away is prosecuted and hampered
Tor the same thing. Why should the
leading hotels keep their barrooms
open all day long Sunday after Sunday
while the owner of saloon is arrested
If he merely goes into his place of busi-
ness on Sunday to get his OverShoes OF
umbrella or TO write a letter? Then
how is the midnight closing law en-
forced? Only last winter certain sa-
lOonkeeper stopped at his place five
minutes after II o'clock on Saturday
night to count up his cash. A police
officer saw him and watched him all
night. That man, to escape ar
rest, remained in the place all
night, sleeping in chair. and
then was arrested when leaving
IN the morning and find $50. On the
same day another saloon not many
blocks away was running all the time,
and men were going and coming from
it constantly. That is sample OF JUS
tice under the present administration.
Look at the situation now. Not Sa-
loon in the city is closed on Sunday and
all run long past midnight. For time
the judges of the municipal court ac-
cepted the professions of the administra-
ton in good faith. Every saloonkeeper
Il Ill