The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-03

pOIllOH VI Tic pIOp6Tty OCCupicu ny
this warehouse is impossible, since the
improvements by the government en-
gineers have shifted the channel far
Their out toward the middle of the river.
1t is available at the present time for
railroad purposes and for little else.
1t is extremely important that we as
sert and maintain our title to this val
liable bit Of land, and equally impor-
tant that we make the best terms pos
sible for its present tenancy.
Now, the compromise which the rail-
road offers appears to grant all that
we could reasonably ask. In the first
place, which is all-important, our title
to the property is to be admitted. All
the disputed portion of the levee is to
be the acknowledged property of the
city of ST. Paul for all time to come.
No more than this could be decreed
by any court. In the second
place, another series of law suits is to
be ended by acknowledging the claim
Of the city to the lower end of Broad
way. A strip eighty feet in width, from
the foot Of Broadway to the river, is
to be declared, without further litiga-
ton, city property, and in case the
Broadway bridge is constructed in the
future it has a clear right of way, sub
ject only to the reasonable condition
that piers and abutments shall be so
placed as not to obstruct traffic. In the
third place, the controversy over the
construction Of the bridge on Summit
avenue is to be closed. The railroad
company will agree to spend the full
amount asked by the city in build
ing a bridge over it's tracks at
the Summit avenue crossing that shall
be not merely useful, but as substan-
tial and ornamental as our people have
requested, in order to grace properly
their finest thoroughfare. That the
railroad company might be compelled,
in course Of time, to build some kind
Of bridge is doubtless true. That it
could ever be forced, as a matter of
law, to comply fully with the public
wishes in this particular is more than
doubtful. In return for these conces-
siOns the company asks a lease Of the
levee property, at a nominal rental, for
a period Of fifty years, with the privi-
lege Of renewal for twenty-five years
thereafter.
AS we have said, there is no present
or DrOSnnctive 1ca m utioh +bic ,,ro,,
erty could be put except that to which
it is now devoted. The simple propo-
sition, then, is that the city lease to
the railroad this bit Of the river bank
for the period mentioned in exchange
for the withdrawal of all suits, the
end of complicated litigation, the con-
firmation of the citys title to the prop
erty, the acknowledgment Of the city's
unobstructed right on Broadway to the
river, and the immediate construction
of a beautiful bridge on Summit ave-
nue. We would not advocate for one
moment any surrender Of public rights
to any corporation. We do believe, from
study Of these details, that the bar
Sc"AAA PAOPOoSO 10 OJIS III WHICH the CITY
has decidedly the better of it, The at
titude Of the company has not been
generous in the past, but it has been
brought, by the determined and proper
resistance Of our people, to see that it's
own interest is tied up with a fair and
even generous disposition toward the
public There is no prospect that fur
Their suits, even if carried on without
cost to the public, which they cannot
be, would ever obtain for the city the
substantial benefits contained in this
compromise. We regard it, therefore,
much less a compromise than an un-
acceptance by the people.