St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-15
WORDS, MERE WORDS
One Central and Two Over
flow Meetings on the Liq-
uor Ordinance.
All Of the Speeches Made
Were on One Side Of
the Question.
Aid. Haynes Denied an Op-
portunity to Defend the
Aldermen.
Eight-Hour League Meeting
General News Of Sum
day.

and vast quantity of elOquence was
thrown on the town. All of it went for
q song, and much of it for nothing. The
day before the announcement of a mass
| meeting at the Lyceum theater for the
public discussion of the action of the
! council in amending the liquor ordi-
nance caused demand for oratory !;
but the supply IN store was so much
greater than any one supposed that it
produced the aforementioned slump
when 1t was unlOaded.
The meeting was, without question,
one of the greatest gatherings seen in
Minneapolis for years. The Lyceum
theater was crowded from pit to dome.
mere was not even standing room in
the gallery. After that house had been
nlled strengthened young man
stood at the door and announced
that an overflow meeting would be
held at the Hennepin Avenue
Methodist church. That building was
soon hlled, and all that remained out in
the cold sought the Plymouth church
and there held another overflow meet
ing. The meetings in the two churches
were substantially smaller editions of
the meeting at the l yceum. Gen. W.
j. hahn presided at the Hennepin
Avenue church, and W. NJ. Lawrence
held down the chair at the Plymouth.
Nearly all the speakers who appeared
at the Lyceum afterward went around
10 the churches and redelivered the
same speeches. At the HenEepin Ave
nue. church there were three speakers
VINO did not appear at the Lyceum-Ell
torrance, Gen. George P. Wilson and
d. NJ. Gilmore. They said little that
the others did not say. However Capt.
gilmore volunteered the opinion that
Mayor Winston would not sign the
amended ordinance.
Tue meeting at the Lyeeum was re-
markable for many things. a noticea-
bic feature was the
Lack of Enthusiasm.
Inc house was packed, but most of
those present seemed to have been
drawn there by curiosity. They did not
wildly applaud every shot that was
made at the enemies of society and of
the home, !. as the saloonkeepers were
lovingly referred to from time to time.
Only when some one made particu-
larly good remark Of a humorous nat
ure did theg wake up at all. At other
times the applause seemed to all come
from perhaps 100 persons in the house.
Inc remainder of the 1900 were con-
tent to listen and say nothing. 1t is
probable that the opening address had
a good deal to do with the lack of EN-
thuslasm. DR.. Suddeth began the
Speechmaking with a stereotyped adj
dress on the liquor question, and was
followed by Judge Young. Judge
1oung'S address was of a legal nature.
and not of kind to stir up enthusiasm.
When he lad finished the audience was
SO completely hypnotized that fnrther
enthusiasm was out Of the question.
Another feature of the meeting was
the absence of those caustic roasts on
the aldermen who dared to amend the
liquor ordinance. There is no doubt
that many people went to the meeting
for the express purpose of hearing the
aldermen scored numerically, for it is
commonly supposed that aldermen are
legitimate prey for gentlemen with
sharp tongues. The aldermen came off
easily.
Unfairness of a Premium.
Another feature of the meeting that
stuck out like the bowsprit of sailing
vessel was the unfairness Of the people
who were running the meeting. 1t was
presumably public mass meeting.
Inc erm''public mass meeting''is COM
monty supposed to mean a meeting
where any citizen who has something
TO say that is germane to the subject
can get few minutes in which to saw
1t. BY that definition the meeting at
Lyceum theater yesterday was not
public mass meeting. The programme
had been cooked and dried before anv
one got to the house. There was a man
present who desired to say word in be-
half OF the aldermen who have been so
roundly denounced, and on behalf of
the much criticised amendment
to the liquor ordinance. That
man was Aid. J. c. Haynes. a
puollc-sprlted citizen, an efficient, con-
SciehtlouS pubic servant, man of a
nigh order OF Intelligence ana of ire
prOachable character, the peer of anv
man who stood on the Lyceum stage
yesterday afternoon, and the superior.
IN every way, of some of them. Aid.
Haynes attended the meeting because
he understood that it was to be a public
mass meeting, as had been announced.
As member of the city council who
had voted for the amendment to the
liquor ordinance, he requested that he
DE allowed ten minutes in which to re-
ply, alone. to the half-dOzen or more
speakers who We're taking the opposite
SIDE OF the question. Then the request
was amended. He asked for ouly five
minutes. His modest and most inst
fequeSt-a request made in the interest
oil simple Justice-was refused. And
why? He was told, forsooth. that the
time for the meeting was so short, and
Lnere were so many speakers that all
OF them. except the first two. would
have to be limited to five minutes each.
Even then the list would be so long
that Mr.. Haynes could not be given an
opportunity TO speak without cutting
out some OF the other speakers.
In Defiance ofThis Excuse.
there was not speaker on the list who
DID not run over his time, and nearly ali
OF them spoke fully half an hour. Had
the matter been put before the meeting
1t is more than probable that some
speaker would voluntarily have sur
rendered his time to Mr.. HAYNES. for
there were men among the speakers
VINO admIre fearleSSness and are lovers
OF Justice. But no such announcement
was made. More than that. there were one
or TWO speakers who had been counted
upon Wao failed to appear. Mr.. HAYNES
might have been allowed to use their
time, but lie was not.
L he men who held the reins over that
meeting did not want Mr.. HAYNES to de-
TEND the position of himself and his col
leagues. mat was all there was TO il.
The meeting was called to denOunce
the aldermen who had the courage of
their convictions, ard to allow the howl
ers to rehearse the temperance speeches
they learned out of the school Sneaker
when they were boys. Fair dealing
was never thought of for one moment.
One other feature Of the meeting. and
one that was not down on the bills.
should be included in the list. Along
toward the close of the meeting three
neat little mayoralty booms could be
seen floating around in the theater
| auditorium. They were labeled "POt-
| ter" ''Lovell'' and Love- Loves
was the largest because it had the in
dorsement of the chairman of the meet
| ing. John L. Wyman. But the Potter
and Lowell OOoms were there. Even