The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-18
WILL BEAR WATCHING.

We suggest to the people of this city,
and particularly to the unemployed
and those interested in them, that it
will be worth while to watch careful
ly the proposed distribution of the
fund of $4,000, an ordinance for whose
appropriation is now before the city
council. There is always a temp
tation, under such circumstances
to use the money to further political
ends, and there are grounds for strong
suspicion that this will be done in the
present case, unless proper vigilance
this is the peculiar political and
personal color put upon the proceeding
by the method of taking the first
steps in aid of the unemployed At a
meeting of the assembly committee to
consider the needs of the unemployed,
letter was read from Comptroller Nc
Cardy saying that 1.-The mayors con-
tingent fund.-" amounting to $4,000,
was in the city treasury, and could
be, used in whole or in part. Follow
ing this pleasant little assumption,
Mr.. Doran expanded his generous
bosom and said that, considering the
exigencies Of the occasion, he was
willing to sacrifice the entire amount
to the purpose" This little bit Of
puppet show is printed in one of the
Republican organs under the sugges-
tive heading, The Mayors Fundw
Now. when Mr.. McCardy and Mr..
Doran put their heads together to in
vent some private theatricals Of this
nature, we can be very sure that the
interests of the Republican party and
of 1.-The second term" are in the fore
ground. This $4,000 is no more "the
mayors fund" than it is the comp
trollers fund, or the fund Of the CITY
clerk or the city engineer or the pound
master. The mayor has nothing on
earth to do with it, except to approve
or disapprove of the resolution appro-
prlating it to some specific purpose. 1t
is not his contingent fund" and his
Willingness to sacrifice" that which
does not belong to him reminds us Of
Artemus Ward and his wife's rela-
tions.
The amendments to the city charter
enacted by the legislature of 1891 con-
tain section authorizing the city
council to appropriate not exceeding
$4,000 in any one year from the civ
treasury for such purposes as it NAV
deem proper to advance the interests
of the city" 1t is provided that the
appropriating order must be passed by
at least four-fifths of each branch of
the council; that the council shall have
no authority to appropriate more than
S10,OOO in any fiscal year, or for anv
charitable purpose, Or for the use of
nonresident, or to to anticipate in
any one year the authority Of anv fill
ture year. The fund, by these restric-
lions, is made plainly ''the councils
Iund, and is not the mayors fund in
any sense Whatever The attempt to
put the matter in a false light bv tha
TWO DromiOs Of the local Republican
gang, and the interest displayed in the
matter by a council. all Of whose
members, with one exception, are Re-
publicans, are sufficient warrant for
the belief that the distribution of this
money unless carefully scrutinized
Will be governed more by the assumed
necessities of the Republican machine
IMAM by the needs of the unemployed.
1t VIII be very easy, under such cir
cumstances, to find destitute Repub-
llcans who will agree to remember q
TREND little later on. 1t should not
become possible. by any negligence.
for this fund, expressly set aside bv
the charter for public purposes, to be
diverted from the really needy and
turned to partisan ends.