St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-20
HAVE WE MONEY TO BURN:

We hope that the board of alder
men will put a prompt quietus upon
the resolution of the assembly au-
thoriZing the mayor to appoint six
dog catchers, and five other men
with horses and wagons to aid in
capturing the dogs. This is the
aftermath of the absurd mad dog
scare, which, after raging so violent
ly for a few days, has now COM
pletely subsidized. Under it's impulse,
the ordinance requiring dogs to be
muzzled passed in June without pro-
viding any means for it's enforce
ment, and, for that reason, it has
been a dead letter. 1t is altogether
impossible to have unmuzzled dogs
taken and destroyed unless there is
a force of men to do it. Lacking
this, the mayor was simply power
less to e:sforce the ordinance. Prob
ably neither branch of the council
cares anything whatever about the
ordinance today; but that body is
put in the uncomfortable position of
having enacted a statute without
furnishing machinery to put it in
operation. To relieve itself of this
inconsistency, the assembly adopted
the resolution referred to above.
The six dog catchers are to receive
$50 per month, or 5000 for the sixty
days Of their engagement. The five
men with teams are to receive So a
day for the same period, or 5000 for
the sixty days term. This is a total
expenditure of $1,000, which is to be
paid out of the general fund of the
city treasury. Do we have that
amount of money to waste at the
present time? AT a moment when
every citizen demands the utmost
economy in the conduct of every de-
partment, and when no saving is
too trifling to be considered, this
proposition to throw 81 800 away on
a proceeding which will effect moth
ing except to give employment to
eleven place-hunters for a couple of
months is an objectionable eXtraya-
gance. No citizen needs to be in
formed of the uselessness of it. Mad
dogs are not careering around in
our streets, nor can we any longer
claim the proud distinction of an
epidemic of rabies" The dogs of
st. Paul delight to bark and bite"
just as they always have. A GER
tain number of people. are scratched
or bitten every day, as they always
have been and always will be until
the canine tribe is exterminated
There will be no change in this con-
dition.
Let the resolution go into effect,
and a number of people will lose
valuable dogs, and a number more
will probably be levied on to paw
fines without good cause. A few
worthless ours will be drowned. and
a vast amount of suffering be i'm
posed upon brute creation bv COM
pelllng the general use of muzzles
IN not weather. Human life and hui
man comfort will not be affected. be-
cause neither is the least at stake
AS long as it was a matter of .senti-
ment, we could see no reason. ex-
cept for the suffering imposed on
the tlmid and credulous, why the
people that revel in the luxury of ex-
citing sensation about the preva-
ience of rabies should not have
their way. When it comes to taking
a large sum of money out of a treas
ury none too we'll filled, at the ex-
pense of other interests that are
really necessary, we, in common with
all the sober-minded citizens of ST
Paul, enter our protest against such
costly fOO1inp