The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-21

the construction of new lines. On this
the Pioneer Press says: THE further
provision. relieving the company from
the obligation to build any more rail-
road lines for -four years, would be
very unfortunate one if by 1t it IS
meant that there is to be no extension
of the street railway to Phalen park,
as now required, when its acquisition
is completed. This needs looking af-
ter" Admirable as is the work of beau
tifying our city and fully as we APP
preciate the public service of the presi-
dent of the park commission to 1t
and its people, we are very sorry
to find that the concession of a posi-
BILE line to reach a possible park should
be thought to balance the surrender of
the sole restraint that the people of
st. Paul have upon the actions of the
street railway company.
In some respects this section is the
most dangerous in the whole ordinance.
Its Importance does not lie in the fact
at all that we may not need to order
any extensions for actual use in the
next four years 1t does lie in the fact
that, by this power and by it alone,
are the people enabled to secure a rea-
Sonable service. Let us suppose, for
example, and it is not an improper
supposition, for it is exactly parallel
with what has happened in the past,
that the street railway company, in
the interest of economy, should find it
convenient. after the passage of such
an ordinance, to decrease and impair
the efficiency of it's service on an eX-
listing line. Suppose it ran cars to
West St Paul only once in half an hour,
on the Lafayette & Rondo line every
twenty-five minutes, and so down
through the schedule. Suppose that the
people had to be packed into these
cars like sardines, and that the cars
themselves were allowed to degenerate
into the condition of those now used
on the Selby avenue line What would
be the remedy? When the patrons of
line have found themselves thus
treated in the past their representative
NONAAiNAA
edy to lie in ordering the company to
build and operate a line somewhere
else. Rather than go to that expense,
it has yielded to the demand for bet
ter service, and there is no other
form of pressure that could be
put upon it, and no other argument 10
which it would yield. To excise this
section of the existing ordinance would
BE- therefore, to place the ST. Paul
public absolutely at the mercy of the
street railway company for four years
to come; and, not merely as to the con-
struction Of new lines, but as to the
operation, the time schedule and the
accommodations of every other line in
st. Paul
The iniquity of the Broadway loop
business and Of the failure to make
proper connection with the union de-
pot is perceived by our contemporary
Again the question of park approaches
comes in to blind its eyes to the pro-
test of the people of Hamline and the
objection of our own business interests
to throwing that territory into the
waiting arms Of Minneapolis. The con-
Guiding paragraph of the article in the
Pioneer Press justifies our statement
that it has been whipped into line. 1t
says: 'The ordinance could easily be
amended so as to make 1t satisfactory
to the public at large by striking out
all this Broadway nonsense and pro-
viding for union depot loop dipping
down, at least, to the junction Of Third
and Sibley.' These two points, while
proper to make, do not touch those
features OF the ordinance that make
it an actual transfer of all rights to
their public highways from the people
of st. Paul to the street railway COM
pany
The only way to amend this ordi-
nance is to kill it. It is utterly hostile
to every section and every interest of
this city. 1t is the most outrageous
proposition ever set before any city
council of st. Paul. It is obnoxious to
SO per cent Of our people, and it is be-
ing pushed at this time to prevent a
proper future regulation under new
charter, and with the possible idea Of
adding value to.the street railway COM
pany's franchises as a basis for fur
Their loans and new additions to It's
already watered securities. If the peo-
pie of st. Paul were to permit this
sale of their interests to be consum-
mated, they would deserve the misfor-
tunes to follow. We have no fear of
that They are aroused as they rarely
of this sort are to be carried on be-
tween the council and the street rail-
way company, they will have to be
done in the light Of day, with a COM
plete public comprehension Of motives
and under the glare of such scorchins
popular condemnation as will make
every man party to it wish that he
had never been born.
RIGHT MAN IN THE WRONG PLACE.
Hon. Charles M. Hart, of Council
Bluffs, was the right man In the wrong
place as temporary chairman of the
state convention of the Republican
party in Iowa. This is evident from
taking the chair, which the press dis
patches favored us with. 1t is also ev,
dent, in the same kind Of testimony,
that Mr.. Hart considered himself the