St. Paul daily globe., 1890-03-30

which had in the meantime been re-
duced to three members by action OF the
legislature, fell due, and merry rows
they were. Norman King had regained
place in the detective department of
the police force, although the detective
department had been abolished. King
was some talk of Brackett's
resigning, but Winn was too
good Republican to do anything like
that. He held on and soon came the
Kelly affidayits. Newspaper readers
we'll remember those af1idaviiS and it is
unnecessary to go into them here. Suf--
flee it to say that great big muSS was
stirred up, serious charges against Com.
missioner Guile were made, and there
was general good time in police cir
cles. King, who seemed to be the dis
tnrbing element, was got rid OF, and
when the smoke cleared away. Commits
sioner Gjertsen was out in the cold and
Guile and Babb were running the police
department. Gjertsen did not count in
meetings of the police commission, and
whenever he attempted to say anything
he was Sunmarily sat upon. Guile and
GjertSen are now harmonious again, but
their alliance. is. of recent date. @
The growth of the anti-CathOlic feel.
ing and the subsequent decapitatiOn of
Capt. Harvey are sufficiently well re-
meInbtred and too remotely connected
with politics proper to bereviewed here.
But the same month which brought
forth these troubles also added another
to the pile Of broken pledges which had
been accumulating in the city hail. The
people had been told in September,
1888, that the Democratic city govern.
ment was squandering pubic funds and
causing the collection of burdensome
taxes, In September. 1889, it was an.
nounced that the tax levy had been in
creased 2.04 mills over the levy OF 1888.
No comment is needed.
When October came, the whitening
foliage and falling leaves seemed EN-
blematic of the death of retrenchment
and reform pretensions. The fact could
no longer be concealed that the mayor
and his heDchmen were running NUM-
cipal affairs to suit themselves and not
the public. In September, Babb. Guile
and Brackett went or quiet little
junket to the East. GjertSen was not
invited to be OF the party. When they.
returned. they advised the council to
adopt the police signal system of the
Municipal Signal company Of Boston. In
place of the one in use now. GjertSen
presented minority report advocating
the adoption of the system OF the Police
Signal company IF Chicago, said to be
as good as the other and much
cheaper. When the matter was aired
in the council the Brewer-Smith Signal
company. of New Haven, chimed in and
said that the triumvirate, Babb, Guile
and Brackett, had promised to adyer-
tise for bids and give the Brewer-Smith
system show, and had then broken
faith. A storm was raised. the news
papers took up the matter, and the tri-
umvirate was glad to bury the signal
system matter, and it is buried yet.
Mure retrenchment and reform.
About this time the King affidavitS
stirred up something of a dust in mu-
nicipal circles. They were aimed at
Guile aud Babcock, and were OF much
the same tehOr as the Kelly atfidavits.
They are well enough remembered, AS
is the official d,'ath of Police Surgeon
Tryon, which fol owed shortly. after,
and which caused little breeze, be-
cause of its alleged connection with the
anti-Cathofic question.
There are several other quarrels.scan-
dals, or whatever they may be called,
which have occurred rerently. The
trouble between Brackett and Maben
and the dismissal of Officer Hall and
Sergeant Krumweide are parts of the
history Of the rptrenchment and IT,
form police department and 90 to show
that even that branch of the city gov
ernment is not spotlessly clean.
The Recent Scandals.
The disclosure of the system which
City Clerk Haney was working On the
fees served to bring the civil side of the
administration up even with the police
division. Haney showed himself
worthy of his party. the party of re-
trenchment and reform, and when he
goes ont of Office it will I've with the
consciousness that, so far as in him lay,
he has been true to the ideals of his
party. The only cause he has for sOr-
row is that his retrenchment scheme
was discovered and he compeiledt0 dis
gorge.
For a long time business had been
dull in the council. The aldermen
had done no mischief for some little
time. One day few of them put their
substitutes for heads together and de-
cjded that 'he basket must receive Fire
Chief Stetson's head. Fortunately for
Stetson, the GLOBE discovered the
scheme and the matter had to
be buried. Then Calderwood aud
the council locked horns again over the
subject of rules. they locked hard,
too, and it would be difficult to decide
which won. Nimocks aud his rebate
system, which charged the city $4,000 to
find out what the city already knew,
furnished food for comment for a few
days. but they are of too recent date to
require recap.tulatiOn. The latest caDer
of the council has been the s'inyesfga-
ton" and the result need be no sur
prise to any one. 1t is in line with the
previous record of the administration.
The foregoing is brief hiStO ry of
the life and adventures of the r.. q 4.
A. All that has been done is he re re-
corded. 1t is record of stupe ndous
blunders, asSinine errors, dish Onest
schemes. intrigue. scandal and wran gle.
For fifteen months the retrenclin ent
and reform administration has had IN at
ters all it's own way in MINNEAPOLIS. 1t
can show nothing for its work bu"
broken promises, shattered pledges,
utter failure to do the will of the pe0-
merit has it undertaken that has
not been perverted, thwarted or crushed
by the dishonesty, reckIessneSs or thick
headedneSs of some one of the COM
ponent parts of the administration. Its
re cord proves that the life OF the :
present city government has been one
colossal blunder.
The outgoing mayor said: LET your
records be such that the ReDu bllcan
press may not call you boo dlers." Can
the city's rulers say: I'VE have done
SOP" No.
The in-gOing mayor said: I'VE should
hold our positions above selfish aims"
Can they answer: eve have done ite"
No.
Is the r. & R. record one to be
proud Off
HEADA{HhS.