St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-06

! engineer reports the life OF wooden
| sidewalks to be eight years, and that
| that there should be ali average of sixty
| miles OF new walks each year, 10 keep
them up to the standard. In 1892 eight
| ana forty-one one-hundredths miles of
new aud eight and eigbty-seven one
hundredths old repaired, as against
| thirty seven miles in 1880. Comment is
unnecessary. The engineer says: This
| state OF affairs has been growing rapidly
worse from year to year, and unless
| some vigorous action is taken by the
city council. with SO many miles OF de-
fectlVe walk The city must expect 10
pay annually Il large amount for ac-
| ctdents oecasi0ned by defective walks"
The suits for damages will cost to the
taxpayers at large more that the cost of
| reasonable repairs. In this connection l
would recommend that all streets here
after ordered paved should be construct
ed with concrete. instead of plank sub
struction, for The history of pavements
in this city will demonstrate that con-
crete will last. ii taken care of, for all
time, anu when it will be necessary TO
| replace the wood the only expense will
be the cost ut blocks and laying same.
| 1t would have been far better and
greater economy for the taxpayers OF
| this city if when the Bell charter was
enacted. it hal provided for the fund
| ing of the floating Indebtedness of The
city and schools, and given 10 the
common council, by a four tifths vote,
authority to provide for the emergen-
cleS that have arisen. and no means
/ provided to relieve them. If the money
! used for The reduction of the public
debt could have been made avaiiable at
| this time for the purpose Of maintaining
| nt,r r,,,i,lio l,;,l j;nns - III n and
| repairing bridges now i'll a state of
decay, improving streets and highways.
and furnishing work for our unem-
ployed, the percentage of taxation could
have been reduced to sum not to eX-
coed eighteen mills, and our city would
have been in these days Of financial de-
SpondencY on the highway to prosperity.
Under this infamous charter the city Is
placed in strait jacket, the common
council without power to meet any eX-
| lraOrdlnary expenditures. Ii an army
of tramps should invade this city. we
would have no means to protect our
F., citizens; for we are without means to
| employ Il special police force; and such
! a slate of affairs is likely to occur at any
moment. We have population, as in
| Dictated by the last registration, of 15O.-
| 000 to 100000 people; we must use all
| reasonable means 10 retain and increase
| this population by encouraging. as far
as practicable, necessary public im-
| provementS; and with this end in view,
| would recommend the committee OH
! legislation be directed to ask the legis-
| lature TO enlarge the power of the CON-
| mon council in that direction.
POLICE DEPARTMENT..
This arm of the city government is
the most important of any in the munic-
off nj, IL
ponds the protection OF the lives. prop
erty and well being of our citizens.
The force as at present constituted
we quote from the report OF the chief
of police
The numerical strength of the force
at this date IS 1872. aud they are as
signed to duty as follows: l chief,
captains, Z l.eutenauts Including !
mounted.) 10 sergeantS Gncluding
| mounted,) 100 Notwithstanding 10
jailers. drivers, S conductors OF pa
troll wagon, 3 poundmasters, bailitfS.
detail for the mayors Office, l detail
for the union depot. chiefof detectives,
detectives. l clerk, license inspector,
driver workhouse VAN, conductor
workhouse van, lineman, janitor,
/ matron and superintendent Of police pa
troll telegraph There are in addition
to the regular detective force SIX patrol
| men detailed for that service. This
| leaves total of about 107 men for pa
| troll service. included 8 mounted"
This report differs materially from the
| report of former chief in the number of
| detailed men for certain purposes, re-
| ducing the number of men for patrol
duty. The chief urges the fact that it
! is impossible 10 give to our people
proper protection with the present i'll
adequate force-l07 patroimen to cover
55 square miles of territory. This is
| true IN t,and if the financial situation
would justify the increase, it ought
would be out of the question. 1
| would recommend that fewer men
be detailed for special service
! and placed OH patrol duty, and l
can readily see how many of the Of
| ticerS could be dispensed with.
| The report of superintendent of DO
| lice telegraph contains much of interest
| worthy of your attention.
The clerical work OF the police de-
partment, as indicated by the full and
careful reports, is no doubt first-claSs;
and while we hesitate TO criticse the
management of this department., we
ieel that we have public duty to per.
form. The chief is gentleman OF rair
| 0OlilliSo, anu III GlC iliC VI HIS DfOlGS-
| SlOn-''priS0n management and diSci-
! pline'-lot excelled. He came to this
city unknown, and was placed in a
position i'll which he had no previous
experience, without knowledge of even
| the names Or location of the streets; not
single face OF our local thieves or con-
tidence men was known to him; and in
| the nature of things it could not be
expected that he could to any great
extent suppress vice. l unhesitatingly
| say that never in the history of this city
has there been SO little protection of life
and property as in the last two years
murders, highway rObberies, burglary.
petty thieving and confidence men-in
fact, this has been paradise for this
| class OF gentry. Ordinarily, this in
crease of crime referred to would be
| chargeable to the times and almost law
less condition of the country, if the tact
were not known to many of our business
men that these lawless characters are
| constantly seen on our street corners in
the broad light of day, enticing their
victims into the vile dens known to tue
| police and robbing them. This state of
| things must have radical Improvement:
| not that crime can be eradicated, but
| our citizens must be reasonably pro-
| tected, and it placing at the head of the
| ponce ana detective departments eXpe.
rlenced men will accomplish this needed
reform. l assure you it shall he done.
| HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
/ The health commissioner makes in
| his report many valuable suggestions
as to properly preserving the health of
the city. Your attention is called to the
report in relation to necessity of revis-
ing the manner of keeping the records
| of vital statistics He uSpS tho fnIIo,,,
ing language in relation to inaugural
ing meteorological department in this
city: ''From our somewhat extensive
observation during the past ten years
in this and many other cities, 1t is our
candid opinion that with competent
archaeological department to quickly
diagnose the disease, together with a
public disinfecting plant to assist in
thoroughly Graduating all traces of it,
i'll connection with our present facilities
and methods for combating these pre-.