St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-01
Important Economic Ques-
tionS Which the Legisla-
tuPe Will Handle.
Cost Of the Court House and
Fees for County Officers
Are Two.
Democratic Candidates to a
Man Are on the Side OF
Economy.

An Important issue In the present
campaign, so far as the legislative tick
cts are concerned, is the cost of the
court house. When the building. which
is expected 70 be one of the finest in the
country and to be an ornament to Min
neapolis, pre-eminently a city of strIk-
ing examples of architecture, was
planned, no one thought that it would
cost S2,O0O,000. The legislative enact
ment providing for the construction of
the court house established the cost of
the proposed building at Sl.50O,OOO. On
that basis plans were drawn, estimates
made and the construction of the build
ing began. Now, $1,000, 600 should pay
for quite tidy building. Few cities in
the United States have public buildings
costing more than that. The sensible
business men of the city are unanimous
in the opinion that 81, $4,000 is enough
to pay for city hall and court
house. In the first place, the city is not
large enough now and will NOT be large
enough for several years to require
building of that size and magnificence.
But this building is to be erected for
the use of posterity. Very well. There
Will not be posterity enough in Mime
apolls IN long, long time to require
better that 81, 100000 building.
How the Building Went Up.
Well, the building was planned and
construction was begun. The super
vision OF the building was intrusted to a
court house commission. As recent de-
Veiopments have shown this commission
dldn't pay very close attention to de-
tails. An enterprising firm of archi-
tectS drew the plans, and. as they were
10 receive for their work certain pro-
portion OF the total cost, OF course they
were not particularly interested in see
ing cheap building 90 up. The COM
mission gave the matter no heed what
ever. The foundations of the building
were put in and the first story
was just up. All at once it
was discovered that the court house
would cost $4,000, 900. il the plans were
followed. There was roar of no I'M
certain sound against any such proceed
ing: The city needs no $4,000. 600
building" was the cry. And when one
comes to think of it the objection to
such cost is but just. The public
buildings in the whole United States
which have cost S6,000,0O can almost
be numbered on the fingers of one hand.
Then why does Minneapolis need such
palace? 1t would be too expensive a
building for the city, and would saddle
upon the community burden of taxa
ton under which property owners
would stagger for years. The construc-
ton of the building has already pro-
crossed so far that It's cost cannot be
limited to 81 100000, and have a hand
some building as result; but ex-
pert calculation shows that the cost can
be kept down to S2,eU0.O0O or there
aDouts. The public should be inter-
ested in sending men to the legislature
who will do their best to prevent this
attempt at extravaganza. IL is a sub
Ject which every taxpayer should pom
der well. Thanks to the board of trade,
1t has been thoroughly agtated. OF the
opinion OF the people concerning it,
there can be no doubt.
Fees for County Offices.
Another question of importance enter
ing into the legislative contest and trav-
cling hand in hand with the court house
matter, is the question of fees or salaries
for county officers. There are three
county offices the emoluments OF which
| are III the nature of feeS-sheriff, clerk
| OF cour:s and register of deeds. Tie
| profits OF each Office are enormous. The
| sheriff is estimated to clear about SlO.-
| 600 per year above all expense: the
clerk of courts about Sl5,OOO per year,
and his term lasts for four years; the
| register OF deeds about 800. 900 Are not
these pretty large salaries to be paid to
| county officers? A man, if at all thrifty.
can get rich off couple of terms in
| either OF these offices. ana one term
| even as clerk of courts fixes man pretty
well financially. Now, would it hot be
better to pay county officers fair sal
airy, as city officers are paid, and let the
fees go TO the county? If the fees were
| turned INTO the county, enough would
be realized to go long way toward
meeting the running expenses of the
county.
The board of trade is probably as
nearly non-partiSan as any public insti-
tuition in the city. The board took up
the court house matter and secured i'm.
dorsement of the public for its PROPOSE
ton to scale down the cost of the
building TO within reasonable limits, Il
has now tackled the fee question and.
without doubt, as soon as the people
come to realize just what the fee system
means it will again endorse the board
OF trade. In order to find out if posi-
BILE Just what may be hoped for i'm the
way OF legislation on THESE two imp or
ant economic questions the board O.
trade invited every candidate for the
legislature TO define his position or
both questions; to state whether he ia
Vored the limitation of the cost OF the
court house to S2,0U0,000, a compare
lively reasonable figure, and whether
ne favored putting all county offices or
a Salaried basis, These questions were
addressed TO both Republican and Dem
oeratlc candidates, twenty-one of eacf
party. What has been the result?
How the Candidates Stand.
All of the Democrats have responded
affirmatively and but three of the Re
publicans have replied at ALL Response,
have been received In writing from
nineteen out of twenty-one Democratic
legislative candidates. The two wht
have not yet replied in writing have ex
pressed themselves as favoring tn,
limitation of the court house expendi
ture to S2.0U0.000, and as favoring tn,
putting OF all county Offices on a salariet
basis. That shows the attitude of tn,
Democratic party toward these ques
tons. But there is more.
When the Republican county conven
ton was in progress one j. Waldo Per
kins introduced resolution binding thu
Republican candidates for the legis
lature to do all in their power, if elected
toward making the three feed offices il
the county, sheriff, regis er of deed
and clerk of courts salaried of
fees. A most acrimonious debate
lasting nearly an hour. followed
in the course of which Perkins wa:
roundly abused for trying TO make tn,
Republicans of Hennepin county take ,
decided stand npon any platform. The,
dared not even push it to vote.
was tabled. That shows that the Hen
nepin county Republicans are mol il
favor of saving any money to the tax
payers. Why? Because they look upol
the county as Republican, and decid
eddy opposed to limiting their opportu
mites for making money off the peopl,
who "pay the freight" There 70,
have them. The three Republican
candidates who did come up and fac,
the music on these questions were A. j
Boardman. j. E. Vandewoker and w. 6
Nye. And they did it in decided,
milk-and-water style. In fact, their re
plies might just as well have neve
been made. Three other Republican
candidates, johnson. Bradish ant
1 T.micnn ohcolutalu raf,,od -,