St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-29
IT GROWS AND GROWS
How Minneapolis People Feel
Toward the Worlds Fair
Commission.
All Sorts Of Complaints Raised
Against That Worthy
Body.
Clerk Conger, of the Board of
Education, Is Slated for
Removal.
Going for the Convention
Mahoney on the Park
Ordinances.

Is the feeling toward the Minnesota
worlds fair commission the same in the
country that it is in Minneapolis? If it
Is, there is not one chance in one hun
dred for the commission to raise the
money necessary to make a creditable
exhibit of the resources and products of
the state of Minnesota at Chicago in
1893.
1t is fact, however painful it may be
to the members of the commission to
state 1t, that the people of Minneapolis,
those of them who take an interest in
the fair, have lost most of the conf
dence reposed in the commission early
IN the season. This lack of confidence
III the commission is due prlnci-
pally to the inaction of the COM
mission itself. The commission has
done absolutely nothing as yet toward
the contamination of the object for
which 1t was appointed. Nor does it,
so far as any one can discover, evince
disposition to do anything. The COM
mission has been in existence now sew
eral months. 1t has opened an office
and has appointed superintendent of
the state eXhibit-nothing else. When
the commission was still young q CIV
went up that the appropriation made by
the last Legislature was far too small to
work with. Everybody conceded that,
0ut Ii was all there was to work with.
The legislature had refused to make it
larger. Then there was much discus
sion over the advisabiity of calling all
extra session Of the legislature for the
purpose OF increasing the appropriation.
mat came TO naugnt. There seemed to
De no general demand for ali extra SeS-
sion. There was nothing to show that
the legislature would do anything more
than 1T had already done, and very few
men could see any sense in calling 1t
together to do nothing.
AT that point iii the history of the
commission the story went out, and re-
manned uncontradcted for some time,
that nearly all the members of the COM
mission would resign. They would re-
sign, it was said, because the appropra-
ton was too small for them to do any
good work with it. The fact remained
that the members OF the commission
know the size of the appropriation
when they accepted places on it. Their
complaint was not taken seriously.
When it was found that the public did
not arise as one man and beg them to
remain it was given out that there
would be no designations; that the
commission would do it's best with
what was appropriated and trust
in Providence for the remainder.
Then the scheme of having the cOun-
ties raise the money and get 1t back
from the state later was preached. That
has not met with general Endorsement.
1t is argued that the counties have no
guarantee that they will ever get the
money again. All this time the COM
mission has been sitting down, and,
Micawber-like, waiting for something
to turn up. There has been no DISPOSE
ton to go ahead and do something with
the $4,000 that is ready for expendi-
ture. There is not any too much time
left in which to get ready for the worlds
fair. The year 1872 is not far away, and
after that '93 will not be long in coming
around. The commission is accused of
plain dilatoriness,
All this may be unjust to the commits
sion. 1t is composed of worthy gentle
men and it would be wrong to accuse
them hastily. But the fact remains that
large number of able men, men who
take an interest in seeing Minnesota
we'll represented at Chicago, advance
the arguments outlined above. These
men referred to are, OF course, Mime
apoliS men. Whether their opinions
are shared by the people of the state at
the feeling here is practically unani-
nous.
Several gentlemen with whom rep
resentative of the GLOBE has talked on
this matter, take view that a
mistake was made in the first
place in the appointment of the
commission. 1t is eclaimed that it
is not sufficiently representative, and
that is urged as an excuse why the peo-
pie of the state have not been more
ready to come out and demand an in
crease of the appropriation for fair pur-
poses. 1t is claimed that the people are
not satisfied that the money would be
used to the best advantage. This is no
commission. 1t only shows that the
public is chary of trusting the men it
does not know very well. AS one Min
neapoliS man puts 1t:
This commission should resign. 1t should
have done so u few weeks ago when there
was SO much talk of that being the outcome
or 1t all. They have demonstrated that Min
nesota will not have much at the world's fair
if the business is all left in their hands They
don't seem to have any hustle about them at
ALL Not only that, but the people of the
state at large have no confidence in them. |
have been out through the state good deal
of late, and everywhere find that there is
absolutely no interest in the fair. l attribute
the lack of interest TO the fact that the com
mission has done nothing to work up inter-
est. 1t is not doing anything with
the money it has, and IL will
never get any more. The members
of the commission themselves are not
enthusiastic over any scheme for increasing
the amount of money for worlds fair pur-
poses. was up at Moorhead not long ago,
the home of Mr.. Lanphere, a member of the
commission. That was just after it had been
proposed that the counties appropriate the
necessary money. There it seemed to be the
prevailing impression that, while MIR. Ian
phere would indorse the scheme in his pa
per, he would do it mildly and that he was
not III favor of it personally. The trouble is
that the commission has no definite object
in view never has had, and does not seem to
be able to do anything. 1t would be better
for them to make showing with what they
have than do nothing.
The dissatisfaction with the commits
sion is widespread in Minneapolis, and
grows wider every day. The impress
sion has gone out that the commission
does not care whether it does anything
q not, and that it will make no effort to
do anything until the people come for
ward and give it unlimited cash, to do