The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1890-12-05
THEY ARE WRATHY.
The Members of the City COun-
Gil Take Exception to the
Statement" Published
Monday.
An interesting Paper.

The members of the city council do
not take kindly to the statement pub
lished in these columns Monday con-
corning the benefit which the Board of
Public Works has been to the city. The
article was read to them just before the
council meeting last night, and the air
was sulphurous for few moments.
They denied nearly every statement OF
where the board has saved money and
where the council had equandered 1t.
AS no member of the board put in an
appearance at the meeting, there wa
no one upon whom to vent their wrath
directly, but the city attorney was i'm
mediately set at work drawing up a
lengthy resolution, which they desired
to place upon the records. The meet.
ing was considerably delayed bv the dis
cussion of the int resting topic, and the
opinion was unanimous that the board
would have 10 go.
When the subject was taken up in the
meeting, the city attorney strongly adj
vised that the resolutions be not placed
upon the records, but signed by the
members as statement. He said that
the council might some time regret it's
hastv action, and that it was in any case
merely answering a newspaper article,
whoever instigated it.
Several members still desired that the
resolutions be placed upon the records,
but the calmer judgment of the attorney
prevailed, and each member signed it.
The councilmen were thoroughly IN
dignant at the statement published Mon
day, and feared that unless answered
it would be believed by many. Of
course, the members had no Ill feeling
toward the FREE PRESS, as this paper
gave the statement only as that which
the board or it's friends claims for it. in
the belief that by airing both sides of
the question the people could come to a
better understanding of the real merits
of the case.
The council expressed fears that the
Board of Trade committee, being COM
posed of lawyers, would prevail in the
Joint committee To make the two com
mittees even, Aid. Jorgensen, was ad-
ded to the council committee.
The statement by the council is as fol-
lows:
The undersigned desire to state:
That it is with displeasure that we to-day
read, in the Daily FREE PRESS, under the head
of Statements of what it has saved the city, "
tha article which DllrnOftS to be inspired ana
dictated by the President of the Board OF Pub
lie Works.
the Common Council OF the City of Mankato,
and citizens who have heretofore been council
men, it is totally false. The statement that the
council has in the past, or that IL now desires
man, the sum of six hundred dollars, is untrue.
The statement that the council, III 1889, at
tempted or desired to squander fifteen hundred
dollars, or any other sum, upon the Agency Hill
road is also false. Neither is 1t true that the
Board Of Public Works has saved to the city
the sum of fifteen hundred dollars IN laying
is apparent to the undersigned that large
sum of money has been lost to the city IN lay
ing said mains and in repairing MIGRANTS con-
structed and placed by said Board j PuDIc
Works The comparison of eXpendit - eS OF the
city during the years 1889 aud 1890 respective
| ", is misleading and in many respects untrue.
No account in this article is made OF the wash
outs during the year 1889, nor is there any
statement in this article setting forth the
amount or extent of improvements made dur
ing each of said years. There is no statement
in the 1890 table OF expenses or the cost Oh
street or sidewalk inspector.
There is an account made for the year 1889
for blasting ce AN item for an ice breaker and
many other items not annual expenses.
Any fair man will at once conclude that TO IN
| clude such expenses as the above is unfair. We
do not desire to appear to be hasty III this mat
ter, but to allow the article above referred to
| 90 unchallenged might seem to invite an enron
! eous opinion on the part of the tax payers OF
| the city concerning the doings of the Common
| Council as we'll as the doings and value OF the
| Board of Public Works.
FRANK HENI.EIN CLEMENT SCHROEDER.
GEO. POND, >. LAMM,
H. JORGENSEN, SWAN JOHNS ON,
HENRY HILLESHEIM.