The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-19

council? 1t is said that Chicago has
a lot of such councilmen.''
Il don't believe she has more than
some other cities. l see Philadelphia,
which poses as the city of brotherly
love and perpetual piety, has lately
had a scandal about the sale of it's gas
franchise by the city council. l believe
all of our cities are none too good in
this respect, but I know that Chicago
Is improving. Only a few years ago
there were not more than five men in
the council who were not owned in
some way or other by corporations.
Now there are twenty-three, or more
than one-third Of the body, who cannot
be bribed. These men stand out for
reform. 1t is almost impossible now
for any Doodle bill to go through, as
it requires a two-thirds vote to pass
bills over my veto.'
81 understand one such bill was pass
ed during your term said I.
Eyes, it was; but 1 vetoed it and they
could not pass it over my Veto" said
the mayor as a determined look came
into his eyes, as much as to say, land
1 will do it again if they try
do you think such bribing of legis-
lators and councilmen should be pun
ished?'
Yes, I do" was the reply. "Not only
the men who take the brides, but thase
who give them should be put in the
penitentiary, and those who do the
bribing should have the longest SEN
fences. The men who are bribed have
often the excuse that they are poor, but
the bribers are generally rich men, who
corrupt others to add to their wealth"
STREET CAR FRANCHISES.
"How about the giving valuable fran
chises to corporations for nothing?"
81 don't believe in It," said Mayor
Harrison. "They should be made to
give up a percentage of their earnings
to the city which gives the franchise.
Take the street cars for instance. Chi
cago pays every year more than $1S,-
1000 in street car fares. The fare is
8 cents and the profit is enormous.
would not reduce the fare, for 1 think
5 cents a ride Is little enough, and if
you cut 1t down to or 8 cents the
strangers profit as much by it as the
citizens. I would make out the fran
chises so that cent Of each fare should
go into the city treasury to form a spe-
cial fund for keeping up the streets.
This would give the city 20 per cent of
the receipts, and this year we should
have a fund of $3,600,000 from this
source for keeping up our streets. 1t
would save taxation and all charges
for street improvements. I don't think
it is at all right for a man who has
been assessed once for putting down
pavement In front of his property to
be assessed again to change it. If
the pavement is changed the city
should pay the bills"
CHICAGO WANTS $25, OOo,O 900.
'Will Chicago ever be seaport by
way of the Great Lakes? What do you
think of the scheme of a great ship
canal, which is now proposed, connect
ing all of the lake cities with the scar
81 doubt whether it is practical, but
I do think that our drainage canal
should be taken up and paid for by the
government. This is one Of the great
engineering works of the age. 1t has
cost us in the neighborhood of $25, 000,-
900, and when completed vessels draw
ing nine or ten feet will sail through
1t into the Mississippi. When this
canal is finished all the sewerage of
Chicago will flow the other way. 1t
will go down into the river instead of
polluting our drinking water in the