St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-09
some REASONS WHY
The Democrats Are Going to
Carry minneapolis in the
Fall.
General Disgust at the Re-
trenehment and Reform
Hypocrisy.
Extravaganza Instead of
Eeonomy--The City Clerks
Slop-Over.
And Democratic Victory, Like
Influenza, Is in the
Air.

If the Minneapolis politicians of both
parties continue to lay wires for the
next nine months as they are doing
now. the political network will be as
complicated as the overhead wires that
daily threaten death to the poe-climb-
ers. Every man vino was ever known
| to be a candidate for Office refuses
| positively to be interviewed except on
| one particular, and that the probable re-
| suit of the coming local elections. Re
| publicans are hopeful, that is about the
way they put it; while the Democrats
| expect to get the mayor, twO-thirdS of
| the aldermen, a majority of the park
! board, and majority Of the legislators.
| They make no bones about it either,
and the Republicans-mos of them, at
! least. feel the same way, though they
could not consistently come out openly
| aud admit it. Democratic victory, like
| influenza, is III the air, and even the
! always confident PrOhibitionSt will
| admit that the next election will be 4
| Republican Waterloo.
There are many reasons why the po-
| litical observer thinks thus. 1t is
strange. though so soon after Republic
can victory in the Flour City that public
| opinion should change and remain so
| firm in its determination to turn out the
| present administration. But such is the
| case, and there are good many
reasons written in the Democratic
diary on this point, which will be sprung
| on the voters of Minneapolis when the
| proper time comes. Mavor Babb en-
| tered office with the handsome majority
of 5000 votes, a credit to any man, but
| could he or any other Minneapolis Re-
| publican be returned with as handsome
margin to spare now? He could not,
and no Republican in the city on the
falls, no matter how popular,
could De elected mayor at
this time, and the opposition to the
| party is growing stronger each day.
There are many reasons for this. One
| of the principal reasons is that during
the strike last spring the people of
Minneapolis thought that Mayor Babb
did not do his duty as chief executive
OF the city; that he played into the
hands of the street railway company.
| How true this was the GLOBE does
not propose to say now, but it
makes no difference anyway, as
long as the great majority of the voters
| think so. This was the first ''5lack
| eye" the present administration re-
| ceived.
Then again, when the present city
| council was elected, it went into power
with all the blaze of reform that could
| possibly attend the inauguration of st.
| John were he elected president of the
United States On the Prohibition
| ticket. What did these thirty-three
| Republican aldermen do when
| they got installed in office?
| They proclaimed from the houSetops
and the church doors that salaries must
| be cut, the fee system abolished, a num-
| Der of clerks ill each Office dropped out.
| in fact a clean sweep of everything
! touching Oil the expensive was promised
Was the promise kept? The committee
on salaries dallied with the salary cues
| ton until the public grew weary and
forgot all about it. The committee an
nounced one day that the proposed cut
III salaries would aggregate S40, 900. Did
it? Not much. An increase was made
all around except in few cases. The
city clerk was given IS, 100 on the I'M
derStanding that all the fees of his Office
should be turned into the city treasury,
and the city to pay the help of the
Office. But the clerk, who was cham
pioned from the day he first appeared
i'll the race by Aid. Tom Downs,
allowed the Office to run it
self for several days while the
legislature was in session, and saw to it
years, and that the public law" clause
covered the fees paragraph in the bill
recommended by the Council committee
on legislation. 1t was we'll worked, and
Tom Downs. true to his friends, stayed
with the amended bill until it was safely
housed in the governors office. Clerk
Haney then proceeded to hire costly
help, and pocketed the fees
In the poor department ''incidentaF'
and 'medicipaf' expenses have been
allowed the city physician. which were
unheard of under the Democratic adj
minlstration. The physician is given a
for it and puts in bills for medi-
cine. Another of the many GREW
ances the taxpayers have against
the administration is the treat
ment the Anderson & Douglass
company received when they came in
and offered to spend S2,000,000 in the
city, building cable lines. if franchise
were granted them, beside securing
competition in the street railway bust
| ness. Again, because a few of the
members of the committee OH water
works wanted to help out some of their
friends who were in the coal business,
they refused to give the contract for
furnishing the pumping stations with
| COdl W q bCiIIOCIdGs IlOuSu HIS Dlu Was
much lower than the company that got
the contract. The rigid enforcement of
obnoxious Sunday laws is another of the
reasons Oh the category of objections to
the present administration besides, the
| limit of the bonded indebtedness has
been reached. and the city is practically
bankrupt. So much for ''retrench-
ment and reform" administration.
These are few of the running sores on
the present city government gOn which
Democratic orators will dilate SIX
months hence, and on which the pres
ent city administration must write it's
obituary.
WILL BUILD a BRIDGE.
The MiIlers' Belt Line Getting