St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-07
Interested and Influential
Citizens Discuss the Mat
ter Earnestly.
Resolutions Adopted Calling
on Council to Get Action
Immediately,
By Selling Market Hall ana
Issuing Bonds to Erect a
Building.

/
last evening at the meeting of the Conc
mercial club which was called for tht
purpose of discussing the project OF
building public library ediEce and the
| construction of an auditorium. The
routine portion of the programme was
| the listening to the report of the com'
mittee which was appointed several
days ago for the purpose of Investigate
ing the plan and rendering an opinion
OIL the subject. As the result of the
meeting the following resolutions were
| passed with hardly dissenting vote:
FirSt-That the time has come for a
determined and systematic effort TO SCI
| cure for the city of st. Paul a building
suitable to the use of a public library.
Second-That the city council issue
| the bonds allowed by law for the puri
chase of site for the erection of pub
| lie library as soon as it can be legally
done.
Third-That as the first step towards
the acquisition OF such building. the
| present city market house and ground
should be sold at as early date as pos
! sible. and the net proceeds held as
nucleus for the building fund first for
public library, secondly for an audi
torium.
Fourth-That the library committee
be authorized to present the following
petition through the Ramsey county
delegation to the state legislatures:
OutIived Its Usefulness.
Whereas, The present market house
of the city of st. Paul, has not only
ceased to be useful for the purpose
originally intended, but has become
RI dot trjI tn huc ir,fa
and.
Whereas, There is doubt as to the
legal authority of the city council to dis
pose Of this property under ex-
isting conditions, therefore. We,
the members of the Commercial
Club of St. Paul. do hereby petition the
honorable senators and representatives
from Ramsey county to secure as soon
as possible such legislation az will ell
able the city of st. Paul to sell said mar
ket house and the ground appertalning
thereto and apply the net proceeds to-
ward the erection of a public library
and auditorium.
A resolution recomme nding the loca-
cation of the buildings on Rice park
was laid on the table for future ref
erence, as the arguments against such
All action were to the effect that it would
not be legal, and that it would be I'M
possible to obtain possession of the site.
After brief introduction, giving the
object of the meeting. the president
stated that there were present num-
Der of gentlemen who were familiar
with the library question, and who had
agreed to make Il few remarks in rela-
tiOn to the project of constructing new
building. The first thing OH the pro-
gramme was the hearing Of the report
of the committee which had been ap-
pointed for the purpose of Investigating
the plan. Mr.. McKeon, the chairman
of the committee, then read the report
of that body. 1t was in substance the
resolutions which are given above. The
speakers of the evening were then pre-
Sented.
The Lack of a Library.
Mr.. Pyle, of the library board was
the trst speaker At the outset he paid
a glowing tribute to the Commercial
club and the assistance which had been
rendered by that body in the forwarding
OF the interests Of the city Of st. Paul.
He then delved into the statistics as to
the comparative prosperity of the st.
Paul library and similar Institutions
in other cities. He deplOred the
present disadvantages of the location
of the st. Paul library, saying that the
rooms were poorly ventilated and with
out conyeniences. The present loca-
ton precluded any advancement in the
manner of conducting the institution,
as there was no room for new books,
and hardly any room for the people who
came to the library. The necessities of
the situation demanded additional ads
VantageS. he said.
The first thing to be taken under
consideration is the probable cost OF the
lhYif farn n
with capacity of 100000 volumes,
which cost S65, 1000. Hamilton, n. Y,
has building with the same capacity
costing Sl30,0OO. and Minneapolis has
building which cost about $S25.00O.
You see that we can erect building
with sufficient accommodations, to cost
from S75, 900 TO $250,000, according to the
plans. The total income Of the library
of st. Paul would not more than pay TOR
the heating and lighting of the Minne-
apoliS building"
Powers TOO Limited.
E. W. Peet explained that the library
board was limited i'll its privileges. 1t
could only follow out the existing laws
for the library, and had not the power
to buy property. The Minneapolis
board, he explained had numerous
powers, and could purchase property
and construct buildings. He stated that
the Bell charter limited the expense of
the st. Paul library to $4,000 per year,
while the Minneapolis library had over
four times that amount of money to
spend He advised a revision of the
law.
Senator Stevens then followed with
few remarks, after which it was moved
that the resolutions reported by the
committee should be taken up one by
one and passed upon. A lively discus
sion followed, the principal points being
the possibility and practicability of Sc
curing Rice park as a site. K. S. Warm
er, D. d. Merrill, E. S. Chittenden, II.
A. Castle. L. ID. Merwin, Charles Nc
Keon, G. w. Horr, Walter Ife, William
Pitt Murray, J. Q. Haas and many
others Joined in the discussion and pro-
posed notifications of the plans offered,
Council to BE Besieged. tt
The committee was then instructed to
go before the common council at its
next meeting and present the reSolu-
tions in the name of the Commercial
club. The separation of the project OF
building an auditorium and library
building was one of the points discussed
most hotly. and it was the sense of the
meeting that the two things would not
go we'll together.
Mr.. Merrill then stated that the artf,
cles of incorporation of the temporary
auditorium company had been filed and
they were ready 10 receive subscrip')
tiOnS.