St. Paul daily globe., 1895-09-04
1T FAILS TO PROVE SUFFICIENT
TO ENFORCE HIS a.
AS TO TELEPHONE POLE
FOR THE NEW EXCHANGE O.
ING IN ON ST. ANTHONTs
HILL.
EAST FIFTH STREET PAVING.
Property Owners Called ON to
Make Another Protest DO
Convince MIR. Lewis. y

Without much provocation the as
Sembly committee on streets trou-
bled the owners of property on East
Fifth street from WabaSha street to
Broadway to attend meeting of
that body yesterday afternoon tore
fterate their opinions regarding the
paving of East Fifth street When
the preliminary order for the paving
of lower Fifth street first reached
the board of public works that body
notified the interested property own
ers, and the hearing was largely at
tended. At that hearing the property
owners were unanimous in favor of
deferring the paving until next
spring. The hearing was public, and
all the newspapers published the
proceedings. 1t became matter of
common knowledge that the East
Fifth street property owners did not
want the pavement this year, but
certain obstinate assemblymen de-
cl1ned to believe this, and according
ly bothered the property owners with
an invitation to attend their meet
ing.
The property owners responded
only to repeat their convictions that
! the pavement ought to be deferred
until next year. The committee could
not oppose them in this matter, al
though Assemblyman Lewis tried
| hard to make them think they want
ed the pavement this fall. But they
knew what they wanted full as well
as Mr.. Lewis did. Maj. Epsy, who
has no more sympathy with the
street railway company than Mr.
Lewis has, said that he wanted to
see lower Fifth street paved, but he
| didn't want any pavement like that
on Fourth street or Seventh street.
| But it was too late now to order
asphalt pavement and get a good job,
therefore
HE FAVORED DEFERRING
the improvement until next spring.
| Mr.. Noyes, of Noyes Brothers &
| Cutler, wanted the paving deferred
until next spring, as it was too late
to get a satisfactory job this fall
| NIL. Lew Is lIl1OIDleQ ln0 property
owners that they were working
against their own interests in per-
lnitting the street to remain unpaved,
and he said he would be willing to
vote to pave the street this fall
Nobody indorsed Mr.. Lewis in his
effort to secure the recommendation
Of final order.
f7i1,1ocoI Of tI,a
ter by recommending that the board
| of public works be requested to re-
port at once on the preliminary or
der for the paving of lower Fifth
street, with the understanding that
the contract be awarded this fall,
but that the work should not be be-
gun until next spring.
Mr.. Lewis distinguished himself
by registering what he termed "a
great big no" against resolution
permitting the Northwestern Tele-
phone company to erect new poles
| on Dale street, from University to
Selby avenue. The ultimate object
of the telephone company is, as al
ready published, to establish a
branch exchange on st. Anthony
hill. The result of this would be
to give the telephone subscribers To-
Gated within the radius of a mile
from the branch exchange a cheaper
rate than they are now paying,
while no other subscribers in the en-
tire city would be affected in any
! particular.
This proposition provoked Mr..
Lewis. With some show of indigna-
ton be made a few demagogic re-
marks, which fairly astonished those
who heard him.
''This telephone company" declared
Mr.. Lewis, sis robbng the people.
This scheme they propose is just a
shift to put in cheaper service on
st. Anthony hill, and that is all. Now,
L live in the Sixth ward, and we people
are just as good as the people who
wear silk stockings. AS far as l am
concerned, I shall vote to give any ap-
plying telephone company a chance"
General Manager Freely, of the
| Northwestern company, defied Mr..
| Lewis or anybody else to show that
the company was charging even as
| high rates as those prevailing in Chi
cago New York, Milwaukee and st.
Louis. Mr.. Freely also explained to
| the satisfaction of the rest of the COM
nittee, that the telephone company
| had some 300 subscribers on ST. An
thony hill, as against not more than
25 on Dayton's bluff and that was the
reason why the branch exchange had
been determined upon.
The committee then recommended
the resolution to pass, by three ordi-
nary votes to the "great big mo-" of
| Mr.. Lewis. -
| . sb