St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-16
The MAYOR STANDS PAT.
HIS k0AiNiSTR6TI0N PLACED ON
TRiAL YESTERDAY AFTERNOON
BEFORE a jury OF CLERGY.

Mucn as Mind Your Own
Business.
The administration of Mayor Eustis,
froma clerical standpoint, was on trial
at the First Baptist church yesterday
afternoon before jury made up of
large number of the prominent minis
tiers of Minneapolis. I he object of the
meeting was to place the mayor on rec
ord concerning his policy regarding the
Sunday saloon, and the conference was
the result of call Oh his honor of the
special committee appointed last Mon
day, and at which it was agreed that the
mayor should appear and exploit his
views. The audience room of the church
was hlled with the clergy and inter-
ested laymen, among whom were num-
Der of the SO-called crusaders who have
been making life burden 10 the better
class OF saloon men, the meeting being
IN fact result of their efforts to purge
the city of vice and bring about the
millennium, especially on the Sabbath.
he mayor Was Oh land promptly al
the hour specified for the IuquIsition to
begin, and he was accorded a seat OF
chairman, Rev. +. l.. Hayes. After
prayer had been offered by Dr. Kincaid,
his honor proceeded TO exploit his poi-
Icy, which has been fully described i'll
these columns, and before he got
through he was subjected to a
running fire of remarks and
criticism from all along the line.
A good many of the questions pro-
pounded to his honor were dlfficdlt to
answer, but on each occasion he bobbeu
up serenely, and Tor every home thrust
ne gave an adrolt parry, thus maintain
ing his Well-earned reputation as dip
lOnat OF no mean CALDER. At times it
seemed as though he was about to get
the worst OF it, but If there was any
hesItancy 1t was only for moment, and
then he repealed The attack with an
adrOitness and sang froId that would
nave done credit 10 the most
expert tactician. incidentally, there
were several surprises, Notably when
ne called Kew. u. l.. Morrill, and Rev.
Hoyt down Tor circulating the report
that the injuries recently received in ali
ccldent were the result of a spree
during the VlSltDf the Lord Mayor of
London. His honor rebuked the gen
tltmen III question, saying that during
his Residence of twelve years III the
city, lie had never went Summing on
First street. "a side thrust at Rev. Nor
rllD and in his mind he thought the
man who would wiltully circulate a re-
port of this kind :acted i'll a very un-
christian spirit. Mir. Morrill, ad-
mItted that he had heard of
such report. but he afer-
wards regretted that it had gained
currency, as he TOOK no stock in it. As
for Mr.. HOyt. he declared that he had
never once referred to the injuries of
the mayor. Matters began TO wax warm
on this point, when Rev. Wilkinson took
the floor and spoke i'll behalf of the
mayor, saying that it was not the desire
OF any one to humiliate his honor. and
he entered protest against any such
procedure, saying that III his judgment
the mayor intended to do right.
The mayor went on to explain his po-
sitiOn as follows:
Il am in novel position this after
noon, butt came to this meeting freely
and gladly, for l recognize that the
ministers are leaders in morality in this
community. l know my own motives
so well that l think it would be almost
a public calamity should the ministers
and the mayor of the city misunder-
stand one another and get at logger
heads over the great work OF the pres
l should perform them. Officially | can
have no Interest in the religious beliefs,
but am charged with Seeiug that the
cIty's normal relations are maintained.
Il was nominated for mayor of this
city without any desire for the nOmlna-
ton or effort to secure it. | accepted
from a sense of duty, and went into
Office Jan. l untrammeled, without a
pledge OF any sort.
Il now want to tell you some of the
things this administration has done dur
ing the ten months of its life. Fake
auction shows ran in this city for years.
and the plea was made that they could
not be closed. Efforts were made to
close them, but they failed. Now these
shops are closed, and | intend that they
shall be closed during the remainder of
this administration. The same way
with gambling. which was running
riot in this city when | came into Office.
The gambling houses are closed, and SO
far as | know, they shall remain closed.
found the police force badly democrat
lied. There was drinking among the
men, 5000 days were lost wear OH
account of sickness. Now drunkenness
Is not known OH the force aud the days
of sickness for this year Will be cut to
$780,
II now come down to a question in
which you gentlemen are doubtless
more interested than in what | have |
been saying, the question of the saloon. |
I'm discussing the saloon as an evil |
we should not lose sight of other evils !
and push the saloon into too great !
prominence. When | came into office |
the question naturally came to my J
mind, what shall be done with the sa- |
loon? recognized that there had been
failures in the past, and that the city |
had made little progress. Heretofore |
we have had only two kinds of admins |
tratiOns-a wide-open one and a closed |
one. In the former the tough element !
was Ia full control, and in the latter the !
ministers and moral men of the city ar |
rayed themselves against the saloons, |
and much strife and bitterness resulted. |
You couldn't convert saloon men in this |
way, even If you could get them within |
sound of your voices.
We are frequently inclined to lose
sight OF the fact that there are men in |
the saloon business who are men of |
heart and brain and who are entitled to /
consideration. Take such men as j. c. |
Oswald, Titus Mareck, Jonas Brown !
and Others L might name, who stand |
high in this community and are entitled !
to consideration, and you can see that |
the liquor traffic is not entirely in the |
hands of bad men,"
incidentally he remarked that the |
officers had been tempted to drink while |
on duty, but 10 every instance they had |
declined, one officer having been in
yited six times. He further explained |
that his object was to strike the golden |
mean and thereby secure the co-opera-
tlon or the better class OF men in the |