St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-07
AN AUDITORIUM BUILDING.

As in many other measures in which
the public benetlt and the municipal
capacity of this city has been paramount
in the mind of the champion. Aid. VIM.
A. VAN SLYKE again suffered a rebuff
when he offered resolution in the
council Tuesday night to transform the
market house into an auditorium. We
all know what an eventful time there
was acted here when the old sheds On
Seventh street were replaced by the
present market house building. Many
opposed its erection then. and, as was
seen the other evening, several of the
council linguists sat down upon Mr..
VAN SLYKE in peremptOry manner
when that gentleman proposed recon-
structing it. Aid. SANBORN said that
the market house always had been and
always would be nuisance to the city.
But it is a great rodent conservatory
and that is where the building has taken
unto Itself the monopoly OF worse
nuisance, for if there are not sixty rats
to every nail and screw in the market
house, then there are none. From
time indefinite Mr.. VAN SLYKE
has been personally and zeaiously
promoting the welfare of the city by his
indefatigable work toward the laying
out of parks, erecting electric light
masts and public buildings. When
money is needed for public demonstra-
tons, it is always WILLIAM A. VAN
SLYKE who is seen clubbing his horse
about the streets in vigorous and sue
ceSSful canvass for funds and subScrip
tions. Foremost in the work of the ice
palace commi ttees, he performed the
public wor ks to the actual damage and
cost of his private business. Undaunted
when defeated in the county election
of 1888. he at last finds himself in the
council, armed as usual with resolu-
ton sincere in its purport to supply
the public need. For the past six years
the question as to the need of a spacious
auditorium has been so frequently
mooted that at the present day the past
stands up Oh its hind feet and mockS
us with the cry of "chestnutsr' Do
we need a building whose capacity will
accommodate the host, or is 1t that we
never expect visitation from anything
OF body? During the educational con-
vention the irritating want was glar-
ingly manifest. Every building in the
city might have been beSieged by the
remnants of great number of visitors
and all would be glutted and many left
out doors, if 5000 people sought shelter.
With all the acclaim that has recently
gone out to the East for more patronage
in all the departments of a city's develop
ment, there is ever this recurring yoid
in our capacity for entertaining In a
truly metropolitan manner the review
ers of our progress. st. Paul dare not
ask for national convention because
her parlor isn't big enough, and the
nights are too chilly for lawn cots.
Whether the market house is a public
nuisance or not, and the public verdict
would probably condemn 1t as such, it
is yet fit for much better purposes than
those to which it is now donated. An
auditorium in which 5000 persons
might attend a public or private affair
in comfort is the very structure which
st. Paul has needed for the past five
years. If such structure can be judi
ciously reared from the unsightly mar
ket house, Aid. VAN SYKES resolu-
ton should be supported by every man
who is in earnest sympathy with the
public need and the city's equipment.