The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-05
THE SAFE SIDE.


The bill which has been introduced
authorizing cities of over $4,000 inhap-
1tants to make contracts for the re-
moval Of garbage covering a period Of
five years ought to be beaten. The
provision Of the Bell charter, which
forbids binding a city by contract for
more than one year at a time imposes
certain hardships, but it also furnishes
lHe city with great safeguards against
Jobbery. Between the two sets of evils
every community like St Paul must
choose. When the time comes that nOl-
ltlcs shall have been banished from
municipal contests, and city councils and
city officials generally are chosen for
htness only, and consist of our best
business men, who consent to devote a
poruOn Of their time for a few years
70 the public affairs as their contribu-
tlon to the state, it will be safe ia au
thorlze contracts of any class and for
any length Of time. At present. hav
ing before our eyes the motives at
work and the influences that control.
TOO frequently the peoples representa-
tlves, it is far better to make what
sacrifices we must on short contracts
rather than te invite the evils which
every city has suffered that has ner-
mtted its council to tie it up with OBJ
legations that cannot be escaped for
many years in the future.
1t IS necessary only to point to the ex-
perience Of Minneapolis to show inst
what we might expect under similar cir
cumstances. They had a garbage con
tract up there good for a term Of years,
and the benefciaries under it had a fall
ing out. The city paid the bills. and now
one Of the parties to the contract Is
suing another for his share of the
profits alleging that this amounted to
$4,000 for term Of five years. Do
we want anything. of that sort in ST
Paul, and is there any reason to sun-
pose that if such a contract were al
lowed we would fare better than other
cities have done under similar circ11m
stances? No doubt, if business princi-
pies were strictly observed, the long
term contract system would save
money to the city Capital will
go into enterprises and estab-
lish plants and purchase machin-
cry that will do the work more eco
nomically when the investment is Sc
cured. 1t is evident enough that con
tracts not only for garbage removal.
but for city lighting and for other mr.
poses could be made on more advan-
tageous terms if they were not linn
tied to one year by the charter. What
we sacrifice on that account. neverthe-
less, IS more than made up by what we
save in shuttirgi out that form Of lob
berry that finds it's chief inducement
and its richest rewards in tanning
through" a cotract with big profits at
tached that the city cannot get rid Of
for years to come
If there is one reason more
than another why the treas
ury OF our city has suffered less from
such inrOads than that Of almost anv
other city Of its size in the country. il
is because Of this one-year limitation.
It is very dangerous to make a break
in the rule, and it is also significant
that the first infraction Of it is pro-
posed for a branch of city work that
has never yet been done on business
principles, and for which contractors
have been able to obtain, year after
year, their regular allowance by vote
of the city council for work which the
health officer declared had not been
performed, and on bills which he de-
clined tc approve Let the one-year
clause stand. by all means, as long as
municipal officers are elected and mu-
nicipaI affairs conducted on the pres
ent plan.