The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-12
CITY DADS WARY
WANT TO KNOW THE CITY's
RIGHTS IN THE EXPOSITION
NATTER.
COMPROMISE WAS DISCUSSED.
NEW OWNERS MAKE OFFER OF
$4,000 FOR A QUIT CLAIM
DEED.
FHEATER LICENSE INCREASED.
Bids for City Advertising Asked for
COMPROMISE WAS DISCUSSED.
THEATER LICENSE INCREASED.
Bids for City Advertising Asked for
General Mill City
News.

the men who for months and years
nave carried the load of debt which has
accumulated, to pay the city So, 600 for
| qult-cla1m deed in order that they
might turn the property over in some
way and their estates from the obliga-
tons which they assumed as indi-
viduals, while members Of the board Of
| directors of the exposition
The matter came before the city
council in the form of a report from
the committees on ways and means
and public grounds and buildings. In
| a general way its provisions were COW
cred In the G several days ago
1t provides that the city shall give
| quit-claim deed for its interest in
the land which forms a part of the ex-
| position site In return the gentlemen
now practically if not legally in pos
session, t. B. Janney, B. F. Nelson and
! others, are to guarantee the city the
use of the auditorium in the building
| free for all conventions of a state or
national character; are to transfer to
the city the property entire and free
| OF encumbrance any time within a
year, should the city decide to buy It,
ana are to allow three months time in
winch the old stockholders may form
a new corporation, buy the property.
by simply paying the Indebtedness.
railing in either of these propositions
or purchase, the property is to belong
in fee to Mr.. Janney, Mr.. Nelson and
their associates.
Aid. Jennings was the first to take
the floor upon the presentation of the
report: He said he regarded it as the
most important matter that has come
before the city council since the
famous transfer ordinance. He want
ed the city to go slow and know fully
what 1t was doing. In his opinion the
exposition building and grounds were
worth several hundred thosand dol
lars, and in the opinion of some of the
pest lawyers in the city, the land still
belonged to the city. He had no strong
I objection to the proposition but he
insisted that the people should first be
heard upon the matter and he moved
that the report be published in the
official proceedings of the council and
the people be asked to give expression
to their wishes in the matter. Aid.
Long seconded the motion,
Aid. McAllister took the onnosite
ground He thought Mr. Nelson and
Mr. Janney should be treated fairly
and that they should be given a chance
to get out from under the load they
were carrying. Aid. Fort asked the
city attorney to state to the council
what rights the city had to make over.
/ MI. Simpson stated that he could not
tell, because he had never had occasion
10 look into the title of the lands He
would require week to do so, but in
a general way he said that he supposed
the cltys interests were due to the fact
that there had been no adequate con-
slderatlon in the attempted transfer to
EtXnOSifi0n
ago.
Aid. Rand moved to amend Aid Jen-
ning's motion providing that the city
| attorney be instructed to look up the
matter of the city's title and that the
city engineer be directed to report to
the council the value Of the building
and the area of the lands involved in
the transaction. He intimated that the
beard of education had some hundreds
of thousands Of dollars which might be
available, and he was 10th to have this
valuable property go out of the hands
of the public and into the hands of
private individuals. Aid. Rand's mo-
ton was accepted by Aid. Jennings,
| and in this form the motion to delay
| was adopted.
The question whether the Minneapol-
| is theater license should be reduced,
which has been pending for months
| and was brought up by Aid. McAlliSter
| by the committee on ordinances. The
| report of the committee recommended
| that instead Of a uniform fee Of $3.50
| for each theater there should be a
| graded system, in which theaters
| charging 25 cents and less for general
admission should be required to pay
| $75 a year, and those charging more
than Is cents for general admission
should pay $3.50. Aid. McAllister moved
to amend so that theaters charging so
cents or more for general admission
| should pay 5000; those charging 25 cents
or more should pay $3.50, and those be-
low % cents, SIS.
Aid. Phillips was opposed to any IL
cense fee at all. He said the theaters
were local institutions; they employed
from thirty to forty people and they
were legitimate business enterprises,
| and, as such, should not be taxed more
! than any other business. Some doubt
general admission" and without hay
| ing the matter cleared up the
amendment prevailed and the ordi-
nance, as amended, was passed. The
| vote stood sixteen to nine in favor Of
the amendment, and twenty to fiyeepn
the passage of the ordinance. y
The failure Of the Penny Press
Printing company to comply with it's
agreement to furnish the city with
extra copies of the council proceed
| 1nSS IN pampnleI form since OCT. 3,
| has driven the committee on printing
to the necessity of seeking a new Of
fetal newspaper. In pursuance to this
| determination, Aid. Dickinson intro
duced a resolution authorizing the city
clerk to advertise for bids for pub
fishing the city council proceedings
until April, 1897 when the charter pro
vides the official paper shall be Sc
| lected.
The claim of County Treasurer Hast
ings for $500 expended in his office in
connection with special assessment GER
tifcates, which had been issued by the
city engineers office, and which cut
considerable figure in the good citi-
Zenship' campaign recently ended, was
ordered paid, by vote of sixteen to
seven. This was rejected last Febru-
airy by the same council.
A large number of aldermen-elect
were present during the session, gen.
orally taking seats near where they
will sit after the new council meets
Among these were Kiichli, Shepley,
/ Peterson and Crosby.
The fire hose question which made
| the feature Of the last meeting came
up in a very quiet way, in the shape
of new bids which were referred to the
committee on fire departments.
TIuInr, HoI6s