St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-25
MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS.

Aid. POtter'S proposition that the city
should own and control the plant neces-
sarY for street lighting purposes is a
movement in the direction of the much
promised. but not as yet attained, re-
trenchment and reform. This is the
second attempt Mr.. Potter has made to
hold the Republican municipal admin
isIratiOn to its prediction promises.
was introduced in the council
providing for the appointment of
a purchasing agent. Although it
was shown that such an officer could
save the city thousands of dollars each
year the ordinance was promptly killed
for the one reason as was aptly eX-
pressed by one of the members during
The debate THAT the city now has
thiTty-nine purchasing agents" The
purchasing agent would have saved ten
times his salary every year. The cost
of lighting the streets. provided
it is done by the city
and not farmed out to cOrpo-
ratiOns would be greatly diminished.
but it is safe to predict that the council
will not adopt the suggestion made by
Aid. Potter for the season that 1--WE
aldermen are agin' retrenchment and
REFORM
The city assessor in his annual re-
port to the council will recommend sew
eral changes in the manner of raising
funds to meet the expenses of the city
government. He will recommend that
each citizen be allowed at least $500
worth of household furniture which
shall be exempt from taxation. In
lieu of this each voter will be as
sessed for poll tax, and before he
can enter one of City Clerk Haney's
ble-back-actiOn voting booths,
where, alone with God, his conscience
and lead pencil. he will decide who
shall steer the municipal ship. he will
be required to exhibit his poil-taX re-
ceipt. Under The system OF assess
mentS now in vogue, there is glarlng
inequality. One instance. at least, has
been discovered, where a man whose
entire property in the world consisted
of lot of secondhand furniture, for
which he paid $50. was assessed
as much as his next door neighbor, who
had paid clean $1,000 for the furniture
IN his house. At present nothing is eX-
empt, and the assessor is of the opinion
that a man should be allowed to enjoy
a certain amount of property which is
absolutely necessary for his existence
without being fined" for having it in
his possession.
Some of the councilmen who had fun
with Aid. Parry and his snow ordinance
are now realizing that, with perhaps
few notifications. the ordinance intro
duced by Don Juan of Bethany
might have been a good thins. Mr..
Parry has had considerable experience
with Minnesota snow storms. and now
some of the aldermen believe that he
was right when he said that it wasn't
pleasant to wade through foot of snow
on the sidewalks.
Attorney R. L. Penny has been re-
tanned by the Visual Signal Company
OF New Haven, Conn.,, to represent
them in Minneapolis. This company
claims that it was to have had a chance
TO bid on the new police patrol system
for Minneapolis. Mr. Penny is quoted
as saying that unless the company he
represents is given a chance to com
pete for the money the polio commits
sion proposes to eXpend. he will know
the reason why. Perhaps the reason
will be that majority of the comm is
sioners have already decided upon the
Boston system.