St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-04-04
Combination Of the Small
Hills Under One Manage
ment Rumored.
4 henderson VS.. De Hapven--.
General News Of
Friday.

Minneapolis Democrats were mad
Thursday night, just plain mad; yester-
day they felt a mixture of chagrin and
disgust. They wanted the charter
passed and signed, of course, and they
wanted more. They wanted courteous
treatment, the same treatment that has
been accorded other municipalities un-
der precisely similar conditions. They
had hoped that Gov Merriam was
large-Souled enough TO be consistent On
matters of such moment They should
have known better, of course. When
Merriam did his great double bareback
riding act by saddling the Farmers AL
lance last spring and later accepting
the straight Republican platform. they
should have learned that it would not
DO to listen to protesIatiOns of good
faith from such man. But Minneapo-
lis Democrats are credul0uS. They keep
their own promises and foOliShly be-
lleye that others will do the same.
Sadly enough they now acknowledge
their mistake.
But. as besore stated. their chagrin
is mingled largely with disgust for a
man so petty in spirit, so blind to prn-
clple, SO lost to regard for his own word.
SO Subservient to mere party dictatiOn.
as GOV. Merriam has shown himself to
be by thus placing the prerOgatiyes of
his great Office at the disposal of gang
OF place hunters. And all this the Dem
Ocrats of Minneapolis say Merriam has
done. He had, so it is said. given posi-
live assurance that he would interfere
with no purely local legislation. He
had, so it is said, personally assured
members of the Hennepin delegation
that the charter would be signed.
Yet, at the command of a hand
full of Minneapolis Republicans. many
OF them men whom their own party alb
Solutelv refuses to honor. most of them
men whom the people have emphat-
lcally refused to allow to remain in
office, all of them politicians for rev.
enue only. Gov. Merriam cast to The
winds every pretensiOn to honesty of
purpose, every shred of personal recti-
tude by diSregarding all promises and
assurances made by him. Moreover, it
IS insisted that nothing new in the way
of argument was presented to Merriam
His double SomerSault could not have
been due to an honest change of Opin-
ion. Not at all. Minneapolis Repub-
licans went to him and said:
:" on know how you are regarded in
Minneapolis now. You remember how
your vote was there last fall. Well.
you sign this charter and we'll put
new force of men at work on your DO
litical grave"
That did the business. Merriam is
ambitious. He scruples at nothing to
cOnSummate that ambition. AS the Sc
Quel shows, the threat of increased OBJ
position to his political schemes weighed
more with him than all the attributes of
an honest, honorable man. Merriam'S
ambition 10 reach the national museum
of precious minerals. alias the United
States senate, was frequently mentioned
yesterday in connection with comment
on his action on the charter.
Mice man he'd be for a United
States senator, wouldn't he? A man
who bends his own knowledge of what
IS right to the demands of lot of petty
politicians" was a sentiment uniyer-
sally expressed.
with all It's seriousness this charter
veto matter bears good many elements
OF the ridiculous to Democrats who
never get really fighting mad. On one
side is the Hennepin delegation. body
of men elected TO represent the most
populouS county and the most populouS
city in the state. Behind them are the
people who elected them. a large ma
jority of the population. On the other
side is William II. Merriam. his amb-
lion to become United States senator.
and small band of Republican politi-
clans who see the avenues from which
they have drawn rich rewards
closing IN front of them. This body of
politicians was backed by 10 public
sentiment. Some of its members were
merely working 10 save their own Off
clal positions and the others were work
ing to preserve the pastures Oh which
they have fed in the past and upon
which they hope to Craze in the future.
And the politicians OutWeighed the peO-
pie. 1t really looks like joke to MANY.
1t reminds them of that spectacle often
seen in the tbeaters, A featherweight
man toys with a, to all appearances.
heavyweight cannon ball. He drops it
and it is but a bag of gas. Merriam
is to them the featherweght who is.
in reality, only manipulating his own
inflated ambition while pretending to
carry the responsibilities of a great
state. And it is as much of Joke to
the Republicans as to the Democrats.
They didn't expect that Merriam would
veto. They didn't even hope for il.
Many of the heaviest of them offered TO
bet that lie would sign when ap-
preached on Thursday morning. But
they wanted to be in at the death. They
went down to st. Paul Thursday after
noon as bluff only. They wanted to
lie able to say to Merriam, should the
charter by any possibility injure the
Republican party, I'VE told you so and
you needed us not" They are CORE