The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-03-31
POPULAR oPiSIoN.
II Decides in Favor al the combined itS
Hall and tuaitor;uu,

Hail and Auditorium,
Pursuant to the call male in yestcr.
days issue Of the JorRn<L. Il ist.,e mum
Der Of citizens. all Of whom we thln}.
were taxpayers, assembled at the Miles
t City Club rooms yesterday afternoon ~
3 o'clock to consider the public building
| question and to Indicate t" the city
council by their action. what Kind Of Il
city building ehe people desired and to
what amount it was thought advisable
| to bond the city for the purpose of erect
| ing the building. The meeting was
called to order by Mr.. Gordon and with
out further ceremony Judge Streyell
was nominated and elected chairman
and Ii. w. Mclntire secretary. At the
request of the chair Mr.. Gordon stated
the purpose of the meeting to be as
recited above. and to promote discus
sion. Mr.. Loud moved that it be the
sense of the meeting that the city coun-
Gil submit to vote OF the people the
question of issuing bonds in an amount
to be hereafter determined upon. for the
purpose OF erecting a city building. Mr..
Haston enquired whether it was in the
power Of the city council to order the
erection of such building. Mr..
Middleton explained that it was
not. but that the powers of the
council extended to deciding upon an
amount of bonds to be issued by the
city and then submitting to the vote of
the people the question OF whether or
not such issue should be made. Mr..
Haston then stated that he would OPP
pose such action on the part of the
council for the reason that questions
like this were matters that the taxpay-
ers should be heard upon. and that it
was wrong to adopt any measure of the
kind before the taxpayers had had
chance to have their say. Mr. Middle
ton responded at some length. and talk
ing Mr.. Haston's last remark as a cue.
said that If the meeting there assembled
was not a fair representation of the tax
payers of the city. it was the taxpayers
own fault. for the YELLOWSTONE Jorr-
NAL had day after day for several days
past. kept the people well informed as
to the progress of the city building
question in all the various stages that it
had passed through, and of the several
then to his own connection with the
matter. he spoke OF the meeting called
by the chamber of commerce some two
weeks ago. which was the beginning of
the movement now under consideration.
There was present at that meeting. he
said. nearly as many as were here pres
ent, and all representative men and tax
payers. and he was surprised to find at
that meeting the sentiment prac-
tically unanimous for the erection
of a city building to cost slO,OO0.OO
to include public hall. Later investi-
CATION of the subject had developed the
fact that the sum named was insufficient
to meet the needs of the community.
An architect had at the solicitation of a
joint committee of the chamber Of COM
merce and the city council prepared a
rough sketch of two buildings. one
without public hall estimated to cost
tritie over s. 600. and another and far
handsomer building with commodious
auditorium which would cost little
more than $4,000. He favored the lat
ter plan as he believed it was what a
majority Of the people wanted. Calling
attention to absolute inability Of the
city. to at present accommodate a public
meeting Of any size, he compared oul
condition with that Of other small cities
that had the enterprise to equip them
selves in this respect and claimed that
such building as he advocated would
be a benefit to the community in every
way. For himself he felt disposed tt
vote against the erection OF building
that did not provide for public hall.
Prof. Bach was opposed to the cit.
building public hall. II such a plac'
was needed. he was in favor Of settinI
the figure at from s25.OOO to $4,000. ant
making it a matter Of public subscrip
tion. For building costing $4,000 h
would subscribe $3.50 and he would g
further and subscribe 500 to any per
son who would erect any building even
private residence, that would cost e15
600. He was in favor OF those VIII
wanted to dance, paying the fiddler.
!, Mr.. Jepp Ryan moved that the cit
{ council be requested to submit to th
vote Of the people the proposition I
issuing bonds in the sum Of $4,000 Il
the purpose Of erecting city buildin
: including an auditorium.
d Mr. Gordon presented statemel
showing the relative cost to the taxpa
: ers OF the two kinds OF buildings und