The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-26
SOME HOT SHOT FOR DORIAN
ST. PAUL MUNICIPAL LEAGUE
% ri
HAS A SESSION

pal Government as Against Ring
Rule'--Snys the Latter Is Best
Exempiisied by the Present AID
ministratiOn-Rev. David ID. Nor
gan Makes Serious Charges.
A meeting was held last night at
Woolsey's hail. Cass and Burr streets
under the auspices of the ST Paul Mu-
nicipal league. There were about fifty
present and a number of names were
enrolled as members.
ReV. M. q. Shuman presided and first
introduced H. b. Schriber, who ex-
planned the purpose of the organization
and its constitution. Mr.. Schriber stat
ed that the league was formed ire
spective of party for the purpose of at
tempting to get honest municipal gov
eminent. Those becoming members OF
the league did not pledge themselves
to support any candidate nominated by
the league, if one should be nominated,
but promised to vote for the man he
thought was the most fit to fill the
position of mayor of this city, no mat
ter what his politics were.
Il. A. Kirk followed with an inter-
esting speech in which he said the III
terests OF the city can only be protected
through good government
offices" continued the speaker, but
we want to see good men in public
offices. If the good men of ST Paul
We're determined they could have an
excellent government. L am a Repub-
lican and generally vote the Republi-
can ticket. but 1 frequently break over
the traces. and in a city election
don't care straw about my being q
Republican. To my mind it does not
make bit of difference whether a man
is Republican or Democrat in local
elections.
Nov let me tell you one thing, gen.
tlemen; just as long as the party lead
ers understand that we will stand by
the respective parties so long will they
take advantage of us and continue the
rings and degrading combinations
We have a perfect eXemplification at
present of a ring in our city govern
ment. - r.-
Il have nothing against Mayor Dor
an. | think he is perfectly honest, but
he imagineS he lis bound to stand by
his party because he was elected on I,
Republican platform and caters to the
ward heelers and party office seekers.
This fact has been illustrated by the
appointments made on the school
board. the board of public works, the
fire board and the library board
I'm all of them, you can see the party
color predominating. In many cases
positions are handed to men to keep
their mouths closed. Now this plainly
cannot suit the citizens of St. Paul.
and it is within their power to have
government in the interests of the city.
to have men appointed on grounds Of
merit, not the method now used, which
is degrading to our manhood as citi
Zens. We had better live under a more
arbitrary form of government.
81 see no man who is prominently
mentioned as a candidate for the Re-
publican party who 1 would cast my
vote for, and there is not a surprising
number of men on the Democratic side
who I would be willing to help elect.
Suppose the Democrats put up candi-
date who would give us fair admins
tration: l would vote for that man.
but L don't believe that either party
will do so.
1T is not probable that the Municipal
league will control the coming election
or exercise a considerable effect on the
result. but something ought to, and
will be done TO suppress these certain
clicks of men who are controlling the
different parties. That the league
movement is a popular one has been
demonstrated by the great number of
citizens who have ascribed their names
to the roll.
the citizens of not only this city but
of every city will take action similar
to this one. The question is, are we
willing to drift along and let the thing
&C on as it is until the whole city rises
up in revolt, as it certainly will, or
should we stand up like men and re-
fuse to be led like a pack of sheep.
1.-The city of st. Paul is a big in
stitution, a business concern with it's
f1ltn mr.
rloyes should be like any other ser
vants-selected for their character.
their ability and honesty, and not on
account of some pull.
The last speaker was the Rev.
David d. Morgan, who spoke at length
on the subject of municipal reform and
made some startling statements. He
said
Il cannot appear before you as either
a Democrat or a Republican. as 1 have
never voted either way. In national
politics I don't vote, for l don't care
about sound money or free silver, or
such questions. But in the municipal
elections I have great interest and 1
firmly believe that the city should be
run on non-partisan lines.
This city is corrupt. I have been
watching the license department and
! know that st. Paul loses $4,000 a year
in licenses on account of saloons not
taking out proper licenses. During the
G. A. r. encampment a saloon was
opened near the encampment grounds
and remained there for two weeks and
was then transferred back to it's original
location. This entire deal cost the
saloon people only 81, and that went
into the pockets of the Dispatch for
advertising the transfer.
"a saloon was conducted under
Labor hall for three months and six
days without paying a cent, and to-
night there are fifteen saloons running
in this city not paying a cent for
licenses
Mr.. Schriber-Name them, please.
Mr.. Morgan took out a note book,