St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-24
Taken From the Pages OF a
Magazine Way Down in
the East.
A Well-Written Tribute to
the Beauty and Enter
prise ofthe City,.
No Other Western City So Far
Advanced in It's Public
Features.
A Humorous Break in a Ma
tionality Comparison With
Our Sister.

Julian Ralph is the author Of an arti-
Gle in the March number of Harper's
upon 1.-THE Capitals of the Northwest"
which is especially interesting to the
cities of st. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth
and Superior, for these are the cities he
writes about. The references to st.
Paul are especially f1attering, Mr.. Ralph
conceding thatit more closely resembles
the metropolitan cities of the East. One
| glaring error in the article is found in
the statement that Minneapolis is very
American and st. Paul very much mixed
in population. This. of course, is not
the case at all. The percentage of for
eign-bOrn inhabitants IN Minneapolis is
at least 10 per cent greater than in St.
Paul. The more interesting parts of
| this article follow:
Story of st. Paul.
To the mind that is accustomed to
judge of Eastern towns, st. Paul is
| more city-like than Minneapolis. Its
business portion, originally laid out by
French Canadians with narrow ideas, is
such a compact mass of solid blocks and
little streets that it might almost have
been a ward of Boston tranSplanted in
the West. One sees the same condi-
tions in Portland, Or, but they are
rare in the West, where the fashion is
to plan for plenty of elbow-room.
If we were to imagine the Twin
Cities personified, we. would liken
Minneapolis to vigorous rustic
beauty in short skirts; while st. Paul
we would describe as a fashionable
marriageable urban miss, trifle stunt
ed and lacking color and plumpneSs,
but with more style and worldly grace
than her sister. As to which should
have the preference, there will be views
as different as the two towns. There
are those who prefer hard paved bustl-
ling streets, faced by ranks of city stores,
pressed shoulder against shoulder, with
here and there huge, massive office
towers breathing crowds in and out to
there are others who like better
the big, roomy avenues of Min
neapolis, even though they hang like
too loose clothes against uneven, shrink
ing lines of fashiOnless houses. They
said to me in Minneapolis that they re-
allied the fact lhat their city was only
growing. If L would call around in a
few years, they said, would find all
the walls up and plastered, and the
furniture in and the place cosy. In st.
Paul it is just the other way; it looks
finished. Its motto is ''While we
journey through life, let us live
spirit is that of man who, to
celebrate his marriage, built four
story house, and lived in the front and
back basement, saying to his wife: 1--WE
will lath and plaster the rest, one room
at a time. as the family increases"
For my part, I find it so hard to decide
between them that 1 am not going to
try. Every man to his taste, say |.
Minneapolis has done wondrous work
for the future; st. Paul has done more
for present. Improvement than any
other city Ill the West that have seen.
This Is Amusing.
The twins are very like or very I'M
like in other respects, according as you
look at them. Minneapolis is very
American and st. Paul is very mixed in
population. She has 65 per cent of for
eigners in her makeup. and the Teutons
predominate-in the form of Nor
wegians, Swedes, Danes and Germans.
There are Irish and Poles, French-Cana-
dams. there too, and the Irish and Irish
Americans are conspicuous in the gov
eminent. st. Paul is usually Demo,
cratic; Minneapolis is generally Repub-
lican.
In eight years st. Paul has made ire
mendous strides away from the habits
and methods of civic childhood. Its Of
| ficials say that more has been done to
establish its character as finished city
than will ever need to be done in the
future. Its expenditures of energy and
money have been remarkable. 1t has
leveled its hills. filled its marshes, and
moderniZed all its convenienceS. The
water works, which were the property of
individuals, now belong to the people,
and serve 200 miles of mains with
pure wholesome water brought from a
group of lakes ten miles north of the
city. A noted firm of water works build
ers has declared that it would willingly
assume the city debt in return for the
profits of this branch OF the public serv-
ice. No city in the country is better
drained that it is by its new sewer sys-
tenn. 1t had mile and half of i'm
| proved streets and three stone sidewalks
eight years ago, and today it possesses
forty-five miles of finished streets and
fifty miles of stone sidewalks. Two
costly bridges have been put across the
Mississippi, and an important bridge
has been rebuilt. In no city in the West
is the railroad
Grade-CrOssfngB ugaboo
more nearly exercised. Only one nota-
BILE crossing of that sort endangers the
peoples lives and limbs. The public
buildings Of the city are admirable. and
| were built at moderate cost,and without
| SiXpence worth of scandal. The re-
stricted saloon system is enforced there,
and the residence districts are kept
| sacred to home influences and surround
ingS. The streets are thoroughly
| policed, and the fire department is prac-
| tically new, and appointed with the
most modern appliances. The street
car service consists of nearly one hun
dred miles of electric railway and fif-
teen miles of cable road. There are no
| horse cars in use in the city: they would
be too slow for such town. st. Paul
| is rich in costly and great Office build
| ings. There are dozen such, any and
all of which would ornament any city IN
| the country.
The population in 1890 was 133, 900. to
! which sum 1900 should in fairness
| have been added. By actual count the
city contains 26,942 houses. For its
districts of dwellings it deserves the
| same praise that has been bestowed
| upon Minneapolis, and only in that
| slightly modified degree that comes from
| its having stronger admiXture of for
| eigners among its citizens and larger
| number of houses squeezed close togeth-
| er ia its older business districts. Once
| away from that region, trees. grass and
flowers greet the visitors eyes wher-
| ever he rides and walks. On both sides
of the river the phalanxes of pretty
| little homes rise among the trees. There
| are villas for the well-to-do and tiny
frame dwellings for the poor, but the
latter are not mere boxes; they are dis
! tingulShed by prettineSS of designing
| and individuality of taste, and they
| stand apart from one another SO that
| the people who live in them get the
| light and air that are as needful to men
| and women as to plants and trees. The
well-to-do cottagers have gathered in
| two OF three
| Very Pretty Clusters
| that were once suburban villages. 4
| notable popularity of their houses is
| their possession OF extra large double
| plate windows. Sometimes house will
| have ONLY one Suctl extra iarre sheet of