St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-16
The POT is BOILING.
The Republicans Are Down
hearted at the Very
Outset,
But, With Their Usual Clever
ness, Are Preparing for
8 Storm.
Local Minneapolis Politics the
Groundwork for an Up
rising.
Political Gossip From Mime
apolis Concerning This
and That.


course this good deal to take for grant
larly in the face of the threatened dis
memberment Of the party. The Henne-
pin Republicans feel as their friends
throughout the state do on the political
situation, though of course they could
not be forced TO admit it, even in
grand jury room. They know abuses
have crept into the party so
thick and fast in the past
few years that al that will soon be left
of the latter will be the abuses. The
great SD odle' scandal that followed
the election of Senator Washburn is
fresh in the minds of the voters of the
state. The indifference that overSpread
the Hennepin delegation wnCn tile Ques-
ton of forcing the Milwaukee and Mani
toba roads to cut down their interurban
rates; the neglect to do away with the
court house fees and substitute paying
salaries are some of the stumbling blocks
that the Hennepin Republicans must ell-,
dcavor to explain away before they can
hope for an Endorsement. As in former
years they will try to show that they
had no time To attend to everything, and
hence some things had to be passed by.
1t will be seen, however. that large
number of minor matters were given q
great deal of attention, while those
more important were allowed to die a
natural death.
With their usual foresight the Henne-
pin Republicans have already "caught
onto" the situation, and have begun to
talk seriously on local as we'll as legis-
lative matters. They have come to the
conclusion that the next mayor of Min
neapOlis will be Democrat, and on
this hypothesis they have begun to fig
ure carefully. The council cannot pos
Sibly have but small working majority
and the police commission must be eX-
tinguiShed. The old idea of establish
ing board of public works has been
revived, and is likely to play a strong
hand in the coming local struggle. To
meet the wishes of the leading men of
the party IN this particular. the charter
must again be amended. The dictatOrs,
it is said, have already declared that to
carry the board OF public works through,
the city council must be reduced to one
alderman from each ward. This plan
seems to meet with favor among good
many Republicans, because they think
they see in it perpetual Republican
council. They think they could
elect at least seven of the
thirteen aldermen every two
years without much trouble. In
addition to the proposed reducing of
the number of aldermen to one from
each ward. will be the complete wipiig
out of the offices of street commission
ers. 1t is the intention now of the Re-.
publican leaders to have but one alder.
man from each ward, who shall receive
at least POO year, and whose duty it
will be to see that his ward is kept IN
pnDH condition tn nnrSnnolly
tend street openings, sprinkling. etc.,
and do all that laboriOus ~ work that
the street commissioner draws his SO
Il month for now. The aldermen then
will have but little local business to at
tend TO, as the most of it will be
looked after by the memh hers of the
board of public works. The greater
part of the work which now falls on the
aldermen will be put on the Shout
derS of the new body. 1t is proposed to
have the board consist of four meni-
berS. and the mayor member eX-Offi-
clio; the four officers to receive at least
$1,000 a year each: but as to how these
members are TO be selected has not been
settled yet. This seems to be where
the bone of contention that threatens to
Stay the Philistines lies. Some are in
favor of having the act framed after the
fashion of the amended police commits
sion act, thereby placing the appOintive
power i'll the hands of the governor: 9TH
ers want it placed in the council. where
they think the ''middle- Weights''
would stand better show than at the
state capitol; while few. scarcely
enough to mention. want the entire
matter placed in the hands of the peo-
pie at large. These aforementioned few
would favor submitting the whole ques-
ton to a vote of the people to ascertain
If they favor the establishing of such a
costly board, and if so, let them elect
those whom they see fit, but The majority
of the SchemerS are entirely opposed to
this; they give it out straight that if
such matter were left in the hands of
the people to decide, it would be killed
too easily. and the only way to accom-
plish anything is simply to make the ne
ceSSary arrangements for the introduce
ton of such bill, and when
the legislature meets. rush it
through: The majority of the
gang interested in this new deal, favor
the appointment of the board by the
governor two for term of four years
and two for term of two years each,
and succeeding appointments to be
made by the council without regard to
politics. The idea of having the cover
nor appoint the first members of the
board is to get good, strong party men
on the board, who can be depended
upon to make a good record, thus pre-
venting the small fry from getting into
mischief and spelling matters. An
other reason is that they do not want to
throw the city council into any political
mess at time when no other
idea in making the salary high,
is to pretend that they want bust
ness men on this board, who could not
afford to give so much of their valuable
time to the city for anything less. The
reasons given are very plausible, but if
the proposed change should go through,
the Minneapolis taxpayers will see
themselves contributing Handsomely
every year to the support of a few
political deadheads who fought in the
Republican ranks until the leaders
deemed it necessary to pension them
off in this way. Gbe new board. if
ever authorized by. the legislature,
would take charge of the water aud
sewer departments, paving, street
openings and other public improve
ments which are now in the hands of
the city council. 1t was thought
when Mayor Babb confirmed the
GLOBES announcements of the proposed
abolishing of the police commission,
that Minneapolis would get rest in
this line. but it remains for the Republi-
can party to completely bankrupt the
city, as they have begun so well to do.
The Peoples Political Reform club is
spoken very lightly of by Republicans
on the stIeet who are not interested in
it, but there is good deal of talk going
on about the same club behind the
scenes. The Republicans try to put on
q n niv nf ind tFnrp M NEyhon n
is preached. and say that the platform,
as thrown out to the readers of the
papers by Sam T. Johnson, is the same
that the present administrator adopted
a year ago, and is following closely, but
the Reform club members claim that the
two RS, which was the coat
of arms decided on by the