St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-27
T'S''BUBDLE,BUBBLE"
hToil and Trouble, Caldron
Boil and Caldpon
Bubble.
Another Scandal Is Cooking,
and Almost Ready for
the Feast.
Babb's Babblings Demoraliz-
ing Republicans and STIR
ring Up Strife.
There Are Indications OF
More Volcanic Eruptions
Into Council.

Into Council.
Like misfortune, scandals never come
bingle-handed and alone. Now that the
council Doodle scandal has almost been
entirely forgotten for the time being,
another one of much larger proportions
is said to be ready to burst on the I'M
suspecting public. The seat Of this
boiling, but invisible volcano, is known
but to a few, and these favored ones are
''pulling hard against the stream" in
their efforts to keep quiet and say moth
ing. One of them, however, was so
much annoyed at knowing so much that
he was forced to tell a friend to relieve
his mind, and so it began to spread I'M
til it ran into the arms of GLOBE re-
porter yesterday. The scandal, If it ever
materializes, will have a tendency TO
increase the cost of the new court house
building. but this publication of the af-
fair may have a SalGtary effect upon the
parties concerned, and save the dear
public several thousand dollars.
When the court house commission
was first appointed and the site selected
for the new building, which is now i'll
process of construction, it was estimated
that 50. OOO. 900 would buy the land and
complete the building. This was not
very encouraging to the taxpayer, who
thought that if a similar building that
cost only $500, 900 in Ramsey county and
was large enough for twice the amount
of business done there, was good enough
for st. Paul. surely S2.OUO,000 building
would be more than Minneapolis would
require for many hundred years to come.
But what was the taxpayers aStODiSh-
ment when he read an account of the
commissioners meeting and the opinion
expressed by some OF the members that
before the building would be completed
it would cost s.. 000,0 600. Many pertinent
questions have been asked about this
additional 81, 100000 and where it was
TO 20. etc, but eVaSive answers came,
and so the latest figures have not been
"run down" TO their original starting
point, except by one or two outside
those directly interested.
There are few in Minneapolis who
know that there is member of that
court house commission, who, it is SAID,
is very much interested in giving the
contract Tor the StOneWOrk to an Eastern
firm; that he has spent many days and
almost as many nights in trying to make
other members of the commission be-
lievt that the said firm is the only one
that can ill the contract as it ought to
be: that the said commissioner, it is
said. is a member of this Eastern firm,
and that this is the reason he is working
so earnestly in its interest. Figures on
the stuneWork, it is said, were prepared
some time before the last meeting OF the
board, and it was on these figures, per-
haps, that the opinion of the ultimate
cost of the building was based. From
this it would be inferred that the COM
missioner in question might be inter
eSted to the extent OF Sl,OO0,00O.
The Republican situation in Mime
apolis is decidedly mixed and the wise
heads of the party are at loss to know
what to do to save the party from de-
feat next fall. Many theories were adj
vanced while Mayor Babb was in the
East. viii E. Steele announced his
mayoralty candidacy on the grounds
that the city wanted a mayor who
would give it a buSinesS-like admins
trati0n. and that he was just the man
to carry the Republican party to victory
and insure the city good conservative
government Wits idea of running a
Puritanical town like Minneapolis did
not take well with the goody-goOdy ele-
ment, and they Immediately proceeded
70 tear his candidacy to pieces. They
even went so far as to influence certain
local papers against him, and now he
finds that he has not as many friends
among those who ought to be his friends
as he had before he announced
himself for the mayoralty contest. A
Of 20
If the latter were successful, he pro-
posed to give such an administration as
the late Mayor Rand gaVe-neither too
wide open nor shut up tight. Contlnu-
ing the majors friend said: eff Mr..
Steele should be nominated and elected
mayor, YOU would see a great change
in business here. The saloons would
not be allowed to run the city, neither
would they be forced TO shut up tight
on Sunday. A happy medium would
be struck, and while the extremists
would not like it, the great body of the
community would hail with delight
such a course. This is the course fol-
lowed by Mayor Smith, of st. Paul, and
explains the success that has at tended
his administration. Mr.. Steele believes
that no other platform will win this
time, and he is prepared to meet the
voters right there"
Mayor Babbs latest on the enforce
ment of the Sunday law, and his belief
as 10 the present laws relating to sun
day observance, have kicked up any
amount of dissensiOn among the Repub-
licans. Those who are anxious for party
success openly denounce the mayor for
his recent utteranceS, which they say
cannot but antagonize the Intelligent
voter. They do not believe that the
MAYOR meant what he said, but on the
contrary it was nothing more than a
"feelerp sent out to ascertain what the
real sentiments of the public were on
this matter. They believe that the
mayor would like to get denomination,
and to insure MS election they think his
Sunday-l Acknowledgement interview was
for nothing more or less than Eight OH
the subject" Those who think thus of
his honor, say tn t as the people have
been heard from, Mayor Babb will use
his influence to so regulate matters from
n police standpoint that the average
citizen will have 40 reason to complain.
That is to say, saloons will not be
forced to comply with the law so closely
as heretofore. and hereafter the strings
of municipal government will not be
drawn so tight. This will be a novel
sight for the city to see, with Mayor
Babb at the helm. Republicans gener-
ally are curions to know just what Babt
means, and are watching him very
closely. The fact that he has not de
fined his policy yet confirms the general
opinion that he wanted to hear from the
public first and then govern himself ac-
cordiDgly.
There is a war of large-sized proper
tons brewing between number OF