The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1890-12-12
MR.. sAYLOR HAS A SAY.

In VOuT ISSUE VI DOCs LOU ann6aI6 u
statement of what the Board Of Public
Works has saved the city In one year.
The report is a good one and is inst what
il wanted. and if it is an actual fact that
the citv has saved 81, 900 at the hands of
the Board of Public Works, then the
city is under obligations to the board
and cannot fail to show their apprecia-
ton by retaining it .untrammeled. leave
it perfectly free to operate as it sees fit.
If it has the ability to save the city
81, 900 in the first year, with little more
experience the taxpayers will be re-
lieved from taxes entirely. But is that
statement true, or is it a nicely written
article for the express purpose of mis-
leading the public? In the absence of
the chairman's name to that very i'm
portant statement, and my personal
knowledge of the statement, and in lust
ice to the city council l will saw it is an
imaginary myth. Mr.. Pitcher tells you
the council would have spend $1,000
grading down Agency Hill and putting
the dirt on the court house square if 1t
was not for him. Why don't he tell the
exact truth in that matter and let the
reading public judge for themselves
whether he saved money in that partic-
ular instance, or if it was to the con-
trary? Does Mr.. Pitcher think that we
people living on Agency Hill will leave
that hill as it is any great length of time
without having it properly graded
down? in spite of the old fossils notwith-
standing. Let us look and see if this
great tinancier saved the poor tax-pay-
ers any money. For ST. 500 was to take
ton of the city engineer, and Mr.. Hink-
lox xx,illinn md 70
pay $500 of that out of his own pocket
and we could have got fully that much
more from the county fund. I have
every reason to believe, now this is true,
and no living man can contradict it, and
with such men as Mr.. Huxley, Jos.
May, Casper Pots, Jacob Guenther and
several others l could mention, ranging
in property from $40, 900 to 5000 hav-
ing their homes located on this hill, does
any sane man think it will be long be-
fore the hill will be graded? And then
what will it cost? Can it be done at five
times the cost or not? Remember, at
the statement gave, it could have been
done for less than cents per cubic
yard. Where is the saving to the city
in this case? Mr.. Pitcher told the coun-
Gil they dare not vote this money if they
wanted to. 1t was illegal and not in
their power, and if they did assume
such power he would serve an iDjunc-
ton on the work and stop it. But when
the high school excavation was let, Mr..
Pitcher appeared before that same coun-
Gil and urged them to buy the dirt out
of that cellar at 10 cents per yard to put
on the street, commonly called Cemetery
road, not at the expense of the proper
ty on that street, but at the expense of
the City of Mankato. But, gentle reader,
you will remember that was different;
and as for the $500 spoken of in that
statement to the best of my knowledge
and belief there is no truth in it, as it is
the first ever heard of it when | read
it in the FREE PRESS. AS to the other
statements in regard to saving so much
money, | will not say it is all wrong, for
| don't know. But l will say this, some
of it is not true, and if anybody wants
to know what part of the statement is
not correct let them call on me and |
will convince them or eat crow for
month. In conclusion [ will say don't
think the B. of p w. has saved the city
money enough to make any perceptible
difference to the tax payers, and | don't
see why a man that can save the city SO
much money in go short time can af-
ford to work for the measely sum of
$500 per year. He ought to be worth
million
The fact of the matter is the B. of P.
W. simply don't want to be left in the
soup this. winter as snaps are scarce,
and even at the expense of the city
councils ability and integrity they are
ready to make it apparent to the tax
payers that they are the only men that
can save the city from destruction through
the recklessness and extravaganza of the
council-a set of men that embrace the
heaviest taxpayers in the city. leave
the moral for the reader to find.
Respectfully yours,
L. d. SAVIOR.