St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-11-27
POTTER IS OBEOIENT.
He Signed the Transfer Ordi-
nance Before Any One
Could Protest.
Now the Whole City Is
Aroused Over That Rail-
poaded Measure.
Albert Cobb Sued for Breach
OF Promise and Other
Court News.
Obstinate Coronep's Inquest
Witnes3es--Crusaders
Called OF.

When January comes Aid. E. &. Pot
| ter will be an alderman no longer. But
he can lay the flattering JUNCTION to his
soul that he will 90 out of office with
| record as servant of the street railway
company which succeeding generations
will find it hard to match. Yesterday
morning Potter put the finishing touches
to his career AS errand boy to Thomas
! Lowry and factotum to Cal Goodrich by
signing the new transfer ordinance, as
acting mayor, before the echoes OF the
vote on the ordinance had fairly died
away.
The street railway company knew
that all of its work had not been done
when the council was wheedled or CO.
creed or worse, the Lord only knows
which, into passing that transfer ordl-
nance without giving the people a
chance to know what the ordinance
meant. No; the mayor stood in the
way. The mayor might veto the ordi-
nance. But the mayor is out of the
city, and the acting mayor is Ed Potter
the president of the council, and the
tried and true man of-all-work OF
Thomas Lowry. Of course, the OrdI-
nance might have been put one SIDE
until the mayor could return to Mime
apolis.. But he might veto. There lay
the danger.
Potter Was Directed
to take advantage of the technlcality
furnished by the mayors absence and
sign the ordinance. He did it early
Yesterday morning. Why did he do it
in the morning, instead OF waiting
until afternoon, as his custom has al
WAYS been when called upon to fulfill
the duties of the mayor? Simply be-
cause the people were bound to learn
of the provisions of the ordinance, and
might bring pressure to bear on the
acting MAYOR in case of delay. Potter
signed the new ordinance before there
was chance for a protest from the
people. After signing, he naiyely re-
marked that he had not heard OF any
objection to the ordinance, and that he
would gladly have held the mat
ter open had he known OF opposi-
sition. But the ordinance was signed
already when Potter said that. 1t is
more than likely that Potter knew there
that he was expeditions because of that
opposition. AS matter OF fact,
An Injunction
would have been served upon MIR. Pot
ter 10 restrain him from signing that
ordinance if he had held Off an hour or
so longer. But he was not running the
risk of exposing himself to an lnJunc-
Ilon. The street railway company had
told him to sign that ordinance and he
signed it. The ordinance is now law,
and the people are mad about 1t;
but they can draw one consolation from
all the circumstances connected with
its enactment-E. G. Potter is POLITICAL
ly dead in Minneapolis, now and forever
more. Not since the famous Anderson
d Douglas fight for franchise has any
action of the city council caused SO
much talk on the streets and III the
places where men cOngregate as the
adoption of this transfer ordinance. the
manner of its adoption and the signing
of it by Acting Mayor Potter. Potter is
made the subject of the most
Unsparing DenunciatiOn.
Potter never did what he believed to be
real sly yet that the people could not
see through his motives at a glance. SO,
in this case, all the explanations he may
choose TO make will not alter the fact
that the people believe he signed that
transfer ordinance yesterday morning
for the sole purpose OF getting 1T out OF
the way before it could be endangered
by public sentiment, action in the
courts or veto by Mayor Winston.
1t is patent that Minneapolis peo-
pie do not want this transfer
Ordin9nce 1t does not serve the pur-
pose it purportS to serve. The ordl-
nance, as pointed out yesterday morn.
ing, provides for the establishment of
three transfer stations in Minneapolis:
one at the coner of Twentieth avenue
north and Washington; one at Wash
inton avenue south and Cedar; one at
the corner of Second street northeast
and Central avenue: central transfer
station on Bridge square, One OF these
stations, Washington avenue south and
Cedar, is
Absolutely Worthless.
An excuse for its existence does not
exist. The other two, the one on the
East side and the one OH the North side,
will be of some benefit to small num-
Der of people. The one on the East side
will accommodate the comparatively
few people who come from Southeast
Minneapolis and want TO go to North
east Minneapolis, and vice versa. The
| one on Twentieth avenue north will ac-
| commodate few school children. The
! central transfer station will be moved
| from Washington and Hennepin ave-
nues, the natural transfer point, to
| Bridge square, outside the business cen
| ter.
In exchange for the benefits to q few
score of people on the East side and a
few dozen children on the North side,
and the inconvenience of thousands OF
people all over the city consequent upon
the shifting of the transfer point to
Bridge square. the city gives-what?
The Privilege of Transfer
to and from the interurban line, the one
line of the city to and from which vastly
more transfers are given than to Oh
from any other line in the city.
The abolition of the transfer system
as applied to the interurban line will
not bear entirely upon the people who
go to and come from st. Paul. The in
terurban line is largely local line. L
serves large part of the Second ward
besides carrying a good many passen
gers to South Minneapolis. The Second
Warders are up in arms over the adop
ton of the ordinance. A big delegation
OF them, headed by Senator F. G. Nc
MILAN, visited the city hall yesterday
but Potter had been before and SigneC
the ordinance.
The business men see the injurioA
effects of this ordinance. 1t will deprlA
the stores on upper Nicollet avenue Z
much of the trade from the interurbal
district, of which so much has been sai(
before. The ordinance
4
Is Far-Reaching
in this particular. inasmuch as it an
plies not only to the present interurbal
lines, but to all interurban lines
| that may hereafter be constructed