The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-16

held at the kittSOn house at o'clock
Saturday, Immediately following the
meeting Of the monument association,
called for 2:30 o'clock
RI. NJ. Newport was chairman of the
meeting. Mr.. Wheelock was called upon
| by Mr.. Newport to present the aims
of the n1oveme Mt. Mr.. Wheelock said
! the work of street Improvement was
divided into two classes. the original
work. which included the laying out
OF the streets, and second, the work Of
maintenance and care. He believed
that women were peculiarly fitted to
i supervise and look after the care and
| preservation of the streets, for the rea-
son that by nature they were more
painstaking. Men. he said, were either
| too busy or too indolent to take much
heed OF the appearance of the streets,
beyond the confines of their own prop
erty. 1t was a rare thing, he said
when men band themselves together
for the purpose Of providing for the
care and maintenance Of streets. Mr..
Wheelock pointed to the present clean
ly condition of the streets of New York
to show the wonderful influence which
women can have. The women were
| expected in this work to overcome the
inertia of the men,
Mr.. Wheelock said If the women
started out right, they could stimulate
the owners of property along the
j: streets and secure the co-opera ton o.
citiDsns fer the adornment of the city.
Speaking of the small cost involved,
he said, the city hired men for $1.2j
per day to care for boulevards, and Il
was figured out that each man could
look after $4,000 lineal feet of boule-
ward during the season. The cost
would be about $40 for the 1890 feet
during the season. If this was done
all over the city, there would not be
an unsfghtly spot left in a year. IT
would transform the city. Mr.. Wheel
ock also spoke of the system of plant
| ing trees adong the houlevards, and
spoke of the cheapness with which,
TINS llne5 OF improvements could be
! carried on. Although trees can almost
| be had for the asking, the public was
| slow to appreciate the opportunity
Mr.. Whselock said there was already
| organized in st. Paul band of pa
tr1otic and enterprising women who
were committed to just such lines Of
work. At present the ladies Of the as
| ISOLATION were interested in move
nent for the erection Of a soldiers
and sailors monument. But Mr..
| Wheelock said the association had
other aims in view, among them being
the permanent Identification of the
city.
George H. Watson, one of the organ
lZers of the Paramount Avenue Improve
nent association, detailed the work
ings of that enterprising institution.
1t was not more than two or three
years ago that this street was an or
| binary and unattractiVe thoroughfare
The citizens determined to improve the
| street and an association was formed
| embracing the residents in the four
| blocks just off from Dale street. After
! having the boulevard widened to nine
! feet, each resident paid in "a sum of
money to the general Improvement
! fund. A competent man was engaged
who moved the boulevard strip every
| ten days, cleaned the cross walks. cut
the weeds in unoccupied lots, and gen
! orally maintained the street in an ex-
| cellent condition. AS a result, there
was 10 better kept street in the city.
/ The improvements were purely the re-
! suit Of private enterprise on the part
| OF the property owners.
Similar associations had transformed
| Osceola, Lincoln, Laurel, Goodrich and
| other avenues into beautiful thorough
! fares
Col Newport said, if the system was
earned all over the city, st. Paul could
| be made the most beautiful place in
! the country. There were he said.
many natural advantages in West st.
Paul which the people had not as vet
| taken advantage of.
Mrs. r. M. Newport, speaking of the
! work Of the womans club, said the
| work of paying for a monument was
| but portion OF the programme out
| lined by the ladies. The association at
| present numbered 1000 women, but she
! hoped in time to see the number in
creased to 1900 or 5000.
Speaking further of the improve
ments which could be made on the
streets, Mr.. Wheelock said there were
| many of the streets in the city which
| had been reduced in width from forty
| to thirty and twenty-eight feet, in or
! der to allow Of the widening of the
! boulevard strip. This, he said, had
! resulted in creating some very hand
some thoroughfares without iniuring
| the utility of the street as a driveway.
! He said that in many portions Of the
city wooden curb was used in place of
| stone.
The meeting of Saturday afternoon
| will be devoted to the same issue Mr..
| Wheelock will preside and it is ex-
| pected some definite plan of action will
| be suggested