St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-21
ARE IN A HURRY.
Second Ward Reformefs De-
mand That All Salaries Be
Reduced and
ALL BOARDS ABOLISHED.
And They Are Anxious to
Have It Done Now, at
That.
SHEEHAN BILL TOO SLOW
And the schurmeier Bill VIII
Not Do--A Tale OF
Woe.
sHEEHAN BILL TOO SLOW

Some three dozen taxpayers OF the
eecond ward assembled at ~ East
seventh street last evening and lift
ed up their voices for municipal re-
form.
"Give us relief, and give it to US
quick was the cry. Abolish ali
boards, do away with the water
frontage tax and reduce all sal
aries of city and county officials.
The taXpayers settled down to bus1-
ness at once. L. f. Reed was mace
chairman. and w. w. Dunn secre-
tarv. Thereupon w. L. Ames offered
the following comprehensive resoIu-
ton:
Resolved, That we, the taxpayers
of the Second ward Of st. Paul ask
of our representative and senator
in the legislature that they advocate
and earnestly work for the passage
of such laws and general city
charter that will give immediate re-
lief and abolish ali boards; also for
the bill now in the Legislature to abol-
bill is unnecessarily detained in the
Ramsey county delegation.
James Middleton spoke in favor of
the resolution, and declared that in
his opinion the Sheehan bill, while
in many respects a good measure,
could not be put into effect soon
enough to meet the present ener-
gency. 1t was too slow in a case
where immediate relief was wanted.
After some further discussion the
resolution was adopted unanimously,
and a committee Of five was appoint
ed to wait upon the Ramsey county
delegation and
URGE THE MEMBERS
to immediate action in the desired
direction. Messrs. w. L. Ames, c.
w Horn, James Middleton, ]. [.
Gillette and E. o. Zimmerman were
appointed as the committee.
MI Ames then brought up the
subject of salaries Of city and coun-
ty officials. It was tie opinion of
all the speakers that the salaries
were too high, and. as a result of the
discussion, the following resolution
was adopted:
Resolved, That our representatives
shall reduce all salaries of city and
county officials to a reasonable
amount based upon business principles
in accordance with the present times,
and that no salary be over $1,000 per
annum, and that we are opposed to
any raise in the salary of county
commissioners.
The debate over this resolution dem
onstrated in the most convincing man
ner that the taxpayers of the Second
ward think that the officials are draw
ing altogether too much money from
the city and county treasures. This
resolution was also adopted unani-
mously and with some approving taps
on the floor.
Once more did Mr.. Ames supply food
for discussion by uttering a protest
against the Schurmeier bill allowing
. cities to issue certificates of indebted
ness to supply an immediate deficiency
in any department fund. Mr.. Ames
objected to the bill because it would,
so he maintained,
DESTROY THE SAFEGUARDS
of the Bell charter and open the food
gates which that instrument has fast
ened so securely. A general discus
sion followed in the course Of which
the police and fire departments were
accused of extravaganza, and the
boards scored to a turn.
EVERY board" exclaimed Mr.. Horn,
tries to get every cent it can out OF
the city, (Cries of That's what's the
matter; that's right.D
Mr.. Horn then expressed the opinion
that it looked as though the police
and fire departments were run for a
steal all along the line.
P. D. Scannell resented this accusa-
ton, and quoting from the charter, eX-
planned how it happened that the funds
of these two departments ran short,
and dwelt upon the fact that they had
neither of them exceeded their appro-
priations allowed by the charter
Chairman Reed then addressed the
meeting and bestowed the highest
praise upon the police and fire depart
ments Of St. Paul. Mr.. Reed, how
ever, did not think that there was any
use Of the board of public works at
present.
Mr.. Middleton said that he was not
so bitterly opposed to the board OF
public works, as the work must be
done by somebody.
A Voice-Yes, that's all right, but
some of 'em are not fit to run peanut
stand.
The discussion then returned to the
Schurmeier BILL and a resolution op-
posing it was adopted, though it was
plainly the feeling of all that the city
should pay it's policemen and firemer
for work performed by them.