The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-04

The bill proposing to put into erect
the system of civil service reform in
the three great cities Of the state has
brought about the necessity Of throw
ing off pretense, and finds, as might
be expected, a majority Of the Ramsey
county delegation arrayed against it..
1t is a now we'll understood custom in
legislatures for members to introduce
and even advocate bills in the line of
reform up to the point where they can
claim public credit for such action,
while to their cronies they thrust wag-
gish tongues into their cheeks and
quietly wink the other eye When such
a bill, by reason Of its inherent merit,
goes where there is actually some dan
ger Of its passage, singular dissen-
sions and differences Of opinion begin
to arise. Nobody contests the merit
Of the principle involved. Perish the
thought that any man who represents
an enlightened constituency should
stand in the way Of reform. But he
finds something in the details Of the
bill that does not just suit him. Some
little provision has been put in or left
out, or the phraseology is inaccurate,
or for some other reason, great or
small, the act needs reconsideration
and possibly amendment. Therefore, all
these trivialities are discussed with the
solemnest of faces, as if everybody
present did not know what the little
game was intended to be. At the end
Of 1t there are conflicting reports, or
the bill is referred back for amend
ment, Or is turned over to the legisIa-
tive delegation of the community sup
posed to be particularly interested, or
it is recOmmitted to it's author with
the assurance that, being friendly, he
will make only the proper changes,
and in one or the other of these bastiles
it eventually dies the DEATH The pub
lie never knows exactly how the thing
happened. When you attempt to chide
a legislator for his share Of it he as
sumes the air of injured innocence and
points to his clean record. He was in
favor Of it all the time, but the thing
never, unhappily, got into the proper
and necessary shape for passage until
It was too late for 1t to go through
If the citizens of Ramsey county will
take the trouble to look over the list
Of bills introduced in this legislature in
their interest tending to simplify and
Improve the public service, to reduce
its cost and so to lessen the burden
of taxation, they will find that every
one of them is under this deadly blight
They have altogether too many friends.
Something has happened to all Of them.
Somebody has picked it up and swath-
ed it so carefully in cotton wool and
good stout Irvine that it can never move
again, and laid it away in its appro-
PIRATE alcove to be brought out ONLY at
some future time, when 1t can testify
to the virtues Of its caretaker It will
then be used to show the great things
that he would have done for his con-
stituency had 1t not been for a. stiff
will be the history of the civil service
act as applied to cities, unless the peo-
pie bestir themselves. The politicians
in the Legislature are mostly dead
against it. They are not men who want
the spoils of office taken out Of DO
Htical contests. The very last thing
that they desire is a Iessening Of the
number of places within the gift of
elected officers or political conventions
Their stock in trade would be sadly
cut down If such bill were to pass
and they can find flaws in every line
of it that would escape the eye Of a.
man bent only upon advancing the
public veal
We want the people Of ST. Pau1 n
know just how this thing stands. There
is before the legislature a bill which
as far as a careful reading Of 1t goes.
seems to US not to be open to anv
serious objection. Its purpose is to put
the municipal service Of the principal
cities Of the state under the protec-
ton Of the reform system. 1t can be
passed. Little as many of the members
and many Of our own delegation desire
this. they would not dare to stand up
against a strong expression of public
opinion. with no argument behind them