St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-10
CITY HALL CHAT.

Aid. Gehan has quite local reputation as
wag. When in Washington lately. he, to-
gether with several other st. Paul pilgrims,
went up the elevator to the top of the Wash
1ngton monument. The car was literally
packed with joyous throng chatting and
joking. When about half way up some one
incidentally exclaimed:
What if something should break; what
fall would there be.'
oh! l don't think there is any danger"
observed Aid. Gehan coolly This thing has
been running long time, and it has never
broken but once"
That once, however, suggested horrible
possibility. and everybody was deathly still
the balance of the ascent
Great CRsar!" whispered Gehan, as the
party stood at the top drinking in the beau
ties Of the aspect. Great Cesar l believe l
frightened em, and FL bet quarter every
mothers son of 'em would give good deal to
be standing down there on the street with the
men you can see."
This afternoon the joint council committee
on auditorium will meet to consider plan
Tor proceeding straightway with the project.
ihe committee has now gone on record as
fayoripg immediate action. Prior to the
Monday conference of this committee there
was an element of doubt because of the
known opposition of a very few citizens TO
the proposition. The committee however
voted to award the contracts as soon as pos
sible to remodel and enlarge the market
house for the purpose. That this is the
wisest course for the city to pursue seems to
be the consensus of official opinion under
the circumstance
IF we do moi go to work at once" said
hccn
is great danger that the city will never build
large assembly hall. Public sentiment is
ripe, and there is no question about the
urgent needs of such an institution. Without
1t St Paul can never hope to have any con-
yention of any considerable magnitude here
after. Minneapolis is provided with ade-
Quate facilities for all sorts of state and ma
tonal gatherings, and st. Paul cannot be-
come rival candidate until we can offer a
large comfortable and modern auditorium;
and that is precisely what the city council is
determined to provide
1T is folly for Us to talk about selecting
some other location for the auditorium than
the market house site,'' snid Aid. Conley
yesterday. "That means delay of at least
year. and perhaps two years. and it will
open anew all the controversies that attend
such municipal enterprises. The charter
doesn't give us the right to buy any land for
the purpose, nor does it authorize us to ex-
pend a dollar in its erection on a new site
We would be obliged to get special act of
the legislature, and the city would suffer for
the want of a convention hall all this time.
Now, we can remodel the market house and
have trstclas auditorium that will seat
10000 people in time for the state political
conventions in August or September
+t+
The city officials are almost daily i'm
portuned by laboring men to hurry up.
There are many hundreds of men out of en-
pioyment. and they realize that the con-
tractor who gets the job will give employ
ment to at least 1000 men as soon as the con-
tract is awarded, and what relief that viii
be to the hundreds of poor families now
battling with cold and EungerI
TT
Edward E. Davidson, owner of the old
grand opera site. now comes forward with q
proposition to build an auditorium that will
seat 4.000. He explains that he has had the
project in contemplation for long time,
but has RETAINED from making a public an
nouncement because of the agitation in
favor of remodeling the city market. If the
city builds ne says he will not and. vice
versa, if the city does not build he will take
steps at once. In order to comply with the
provisions of the building ordinance Mr..
Davidson will be obliged to provide an alley
on all sides of the building, and it is claimed
that this will necessarily reduce the size of
the building so that it could not accommo-
date 4.000 people However, Mr.. Davidson
will probably meet the committee this after
noon and unfold his plans.