The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-30
MAYORS MAY DISAGREE UPON
THE VITAL MATTER OF MU-
NICIPAL OWNERSHIP.
BUT A SINGLE SESSION HELD.
GREATER PART OF THE DAY AT
COLUMBUS DEVOTED TO EN-
TERTAINMENT.
MILK SUPPLY FOR GREAT CITIES.
Radical Paper on the Subject the
Feature of the Morning BUSH
ness Meeting.

COLUMBUS, Sept. 29.-But one ses-
sion was held today by the convention
OF mayors and councilmen and that
was devoted to the reading of papers.
A split is possible over the question of
municipal ownership of gas, water,
electric and traction franchises, as the
delegates are not all of one mind. Many
are opposed to the convention taking
any decided stand one way or the 9TH
er, and this difference may develop
sharply, in the event of permanent or
ganization, when the election of off,
GERS is reached
1t was II o'clock when the confer
ence was called to order this morning
The first speaker was Mayor Silas D.
Drake, of Lincoln, N. j., the BOOM
town that has three women delegates
from its council here. He introduced
to the convention Mayor J. A. John
son, of Fargo, who argued for uniform
ity of state laws pertaining to munich
pal organizations, and urged upon the
conference the forming of a permanent
committee on Legislation, one from
each state to formulate plan whereby
the legislatures may make their mu-
nicipal legislation uniform, as to po-
lice powers, the control of the social
criminals
The appearance upon the platform of
Hon. Josiah Quincy, mayor of Boston,
was greeted with welcoming applause
accorded no other speaker, so far. His
address was scheduled as Municipal
Affairs as Administered in Boston,
but its scope was much wider. 1t pre-
septed clear analysis of the differ
ences between federal, state, urban and
r1tr I'D ;e-t,o Al
Possibilities of municipal public ser
vice, as almost limitless.
With reference to Boston, the strong
point in it's municipal scheme, said the
mayor, is it's vesting in it's chief execu-
tive powers almost coordinate with
those of the president of the United
States, especially the power of removal
from office of any of his appointees.
In Boston there are thirty-three heads
of departments thus under the direct
control of the mayor The power of
removal is rarely exercised, but it's
tendency is to make the government
strong and honest.
feature of the morning session that
aroused great interest among the
delegates was the reading of paper
contributed by Nathan Strauss, of New
York, on The influence of Pure Milk
Supply on the Death Rate of Cnitdren''
Most of the municipal officials here
were conversant only to limited ex-
tent with the work being done by Mr..
Strauss in New York. Naturally they
were eager to learn all it's details, and
listened to the recital of them with
close attention. The paper was read
by Mr.. Ford, of New York, and it's
opening statement that There is prac-
tically no milk delivered for general
consumption in cities that is fit to be
fed, in it's natural stale TO young chill
dren," was sufficiently startlir g to chal-
1enge attention. if not contradiction.
The paper closed with the following
appeal; II think I have fairly demon
strated the proposition that many
thousands of infant lives are annually
sacrificed by the neglect to supply, for
the nutrinlent of children, milk which
has been subjected to the process of
Pasteurization. 1 hold that neglect to
be criminal and 1 leave it to you to
fix the responsibility for it. We pun
ish murder with the penalty of death,
and yet we allow murder to be COM
mitted by the wholesale in every popu-
lous community of this land with no
thought of its punishment, and little
thought of its prevention"
After the noon adjournment there
was no further session OF the conven-
ton today The afternoon and even
ing were given over to sight seeing
and the entertainment of the delegates
When the convention meets tomorrow
the report of the committee on per-
manent organization is likely to cause
a sharp discussion Friends of B. F.
Gilkinson. publisher of the City Gov
eminent, are making a persistent can
vass for his election as salared secre-
tary of the permanent organization
but as both he and his publication are
pronounced advocates of municipal
ownership Of public service plants
much oIosition to his election is de-
velGping. The conservative element in
the conference believes that any per-
manent organization, that may be eff
fected should not be operated in the
interest Of either side of the question.
PEE NIcNE ORC 4 arrIoN