St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-17

the same amount that ii gives the building
inspector, who should be a builder and an
architect, understand all that relates to
structural material to plumbing, etc. How
ridiculous. 1T creates commissioner Of pub
lie works in the place of the board and gives
MIN the magnificent salary of 1900, only 5000
more than the clerk of the police court, and
sl,o 600 less than the judges of this court. Think
or what such office requires to character
and ability; then say IL the judge gets s., 900,
should not the commissioner get $4,000; or,
| reversing it, IL the commissioner of public
works gets as prescribed, $1,000 would not
81, 600 be ample for the Judge?
have been been very much interested lately
in Prof Roentgens wonderful discovery in
photography, and felt quite sure there were
yet many hidden things in this Howard char
ter. and have been taking some pictures Of it
with the cathode rays. On examining the
plate found the greatly enlarged gall of a
Minneapolis man by the name of Howard.
Here 1t is Before any street is paved, gas,
water and sewer connection must be made
with each lot. In the business part of the
city the word lot shall be construed to mean
subdivision of twenty-five feet" This may
suit Minneapolis, with her lots of forty -four
feet front, but how does 1t suit you with your
4O, o0 and 10 feet front lots? We want that
law to read 20 feet front when lots are so feet,
and 20, or 80 feet, as the engineer may deem
necessary when lots are 60 feet front. It Illus
trates the folly OF having people elsewhere
frame charters for ST. Paul
Here's another discovery made by the ca
thode rays: when the lowest bid on any
contract is higher than the engineers esti-
mate the council may reject all bids and do
the work by days labor
more dangerous provision was never put
in city charter. These contracts cover all
public buildings, bridges, sewers street grad
all of this may be done by days labor.
1t means that a hundred times your street
force may be employed under the same regula-
items, and that an alderman may control the
votes OF l00 times as many men as now.
1t opens the widest possible door to corrup-
ton, and is of itself sufficient to defeat the
Howard charter. The aldermen appoint the
engineer IL they want to do the work by
days labor they have only to suggest a very
low estimate and the thing is done. And just
before election what acts Of folly and wicked
extravaganza would be done under this pro-
v1sion Those five lines will cost the city one
or two hundred thousand dollars per year if
the Howard charter is adopted.
But mere Is the crowning or killing error Of
the Howard charter.
1t defines the duty of comptroller. 1t pro-
Vides for assistants and their payment. 1t
says ne shall designate deputy, who, in
case of absence or disability, shall have the
same power"
But who appoints the comptroller?
IL, II does not say. Many other errors are not
important, but show the utter carelessness
with which the bill was drafted.
But what city will dare to organize under a
law which, in the judgment of good attorneys,
makes 1t. to say the least, doubtful whether or
not the all-important Office of the city treas
urer could be administered at all?
Now add to this the legal doubt of maintain
ing our schools under this charter, on which
express no opinion; and the really very serious
doubts of the constitutionality of the charter,
and what sane man dare vote for it?
few days ago l met a Minneapolis man
mister" said he, (which is the other side Of
the street?"
THAT side over there" said I. "Well, %
said he, Il was over there just now and fell
low told me this was the other side-blamed
II l amt all mixed up"
The next day I met three more men, all
looking tired. saw the Howard charter
They all seemed fuddled and were trying to
find 1.-The other side of the street"
One Of them said his name was Schoonmak-
er; that he was told to take the "school
board" road to get to Minneapolis but a
fellow by the name of Stacy told him he could
never get there by that road, and he believed
he was lost.
Another by the name of sanborn said he
had tried the Legislative amendment
road; had been walking that road for forty
years, and his feet were very sore, and his
limbs swollen, and he still hoped to get there
in another year; but at the chamber Of COM
merce, Col. Clough, Senator Dean, Bill Muir
ray and Lightner had discouraged him, tellz
ing him the real name Of that road was "Jor-
dan" and 1t was hard road to travel'
The other man said his name was Horr; that
he had been told to take the water-frontage
tax road, but he had found it too wet and
wanted me to tell him some dryer road.
WELL" I said, hadn't you fellows all bet
ter stay at home?"
We are getting along better than they are
up there. We are reducing our indebtedness;
they are increasing theirs. We are lowering
our tax rate; they are raising theirs. We are
laying good asphalt pavements at low price
and with long guaranty; they laying
poor at high price with short guaranty.
In all times, the great cities have con-
trolled the countries. In all times they have
polluted the national life, and been fruitful
sources OF crime and danger to public secur-
ity, and how to govern cities is today the
great problem with all students Of sociology
and political economy. 1t is the lesson of
experience. City charters and city govern
ment are more important to you than the ad-
minstration of the federal government. 1t
touches you at ten points to one. The city
property and your life, your health your
pleasure. Through its board Of education it
provides for the free education of your chill
dren rich and poor alike. Through the IL
brary board she furnishes free reading of
choice literature for all. Through the water
board an abundant supply of water for your
various wants.
Let us not adopt a charter that confers such
dangerous powers on the board Of aldermen.
Let us not rashly adopt a charter of doubtful
constitutionality. We are doing we'll we
are, making no new debts, reducing the old,
lowering our tax rate. Let us go on for a
time under system safe and so well un-
derstood, and then frame a charter embrac-
| ing all of good We can find in the Howard OF
Bell or any other charter, and rejecting all
the discovered evils in ALL discuss it careful
ly ourselves. revise and correct and then adopt
it, knowing that wherein 1t proves wrong or
weak we can correct or strengthen.
Judge Schoonmaker, in the course OF
his reply. said he had hoped Mr. Fair
child would answer some of the ques-
tions he had asked Therefore he
would answer some of them himself.
| Mr.. Fairchild could have found that
the Howard charter mentioned the
city comptroller over and over again;
that the water frontage tax is repealed,
the city treasurers bond fixed and gov
ernment of the schools not changed by
the Howard charter Judge Schoon-
maker referred to the fact that it had
been found necessary to appeal to the
supreme court for an Interpretation Of
portions of the Bell charter.
"Mr. Fairchild held up his hands in holy
horror at the mention of council rule" pur-
sued Judge Schoonmaker. "As for a dual
council, you couldn't find one throughout all
Europe, and not one-half the cities of the
United States have a dual council. AS for
the city debt, the council Is not responsible
for a cent of the debt. Board rule is the
cause Of the debt. 1t is true that the Howard
charter provides that any city can own q
lighting plant"
Judge Schoonmaker insisted that
board rule had proven a failure in
every city where it had been tried.
In st. Louis, however, 1t had been a
success because the only board there
is the board of education, and the
members of it were elected by the peO-
pie.
In conclusion, Judge Schoonmaker
said that the citizens of ST Paul want