St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-01
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Hon. HENRY A. CASTLE, Postmaster.

The question as to what the city of
st. Paul should do for it's best inter
ests in 1896 is a very broad one The
time and space at my disposal being
limited 1 shall be obliged to narrow it
to very few suggestions.
My recent services on the committee
to devise plans for the retrenchment
of municipal expenses naturally places
that feature uppermost in my mind
| am satisfied that no better thing can
be done to promote the interests of
the city Of ST. Paul in the immediate
future than to cut down the expenses
of our city administration The wall
of the taxpayer is heard in the land
1t is not the growl of the chronic kick
er. 1t is not the complaint of the
cloudy pessimist. 1t is the universal
demand of a people burdened with
unproductive property upon which the
item of taxation, so little regarded
in flush times, now rests with almost
crushing weight. SaIaried officials and
aspirants for positions under the city
government may scott and sheer, but
the taxpayer is aroused and is terribly
in earnest. We were made to see this
forcibly during the period of our in
vestigation, and we have been made
to see it still more forcibly by the loud
| chorus of individual approval which
our report has received from substan-
TALLY the entire Notwithstanding class.
| 1t is to the credit of the city officials.
| past and present, that the investigat-
ors of the retrenchment committee did
| not disclose any stealing or attempts
to steal, and only a very few attempts
to exceed in expenditures the amount
authorized by law. The fault lies sim
ply and solely in the extravagant sys-
tenn under which our municipal gov
eminent is organized. We have the
machinery for doing much more work
than now ought to be done That ma
chinery is very expensive. 1t should
be cut down at every possible point
and the expenses reduced.
| Personal friendships and the inter-
ests Of individuals were not at all con-
sidered in formulating that report.
The only thing considered was the ac-
tual value Of the services rendered,
without reference to the personnel Of
the office. We thought we were max
Ing liberal allowance, and we are
perfectly willing to trust the mature
financial Judgment of the people as to
| whether we did so or not For exam
/ pie, 1t is hard to give any good reason,
outside of friendship and high regard
for the present umhents, why the
city clerk, city treasurer and city at
| torney of ST. Paul should receive sala-
ries Of $1,000 each per annum, while
| the secretary of state, the state treas
urer and the attorney general of Min
nesota each receive only $500 per an
mum. -
| We have, and always have had a. sin
cere respect for the professional at
! tainments of our present capable and
| efficient city engineer and superintend-
| ent Of schools. The more exalted our
| opinion of their respective professional
| attachments the greater is our surprise
| that some people seem to resent any
| interference with their prerogatives as
| personal. affront. These two distin-
| guished professional gentlemen are
| practically solely responsible for the
| annual disbursement of more than a
million and a quarter dollars of the
| taxpayers money. 1t is true that each
| is to some extent controlled by board
| of officials. But, necessarily and as
matter of fact. the ultimate decision as
| to expenditures in those departments
] largely rests with these two men.