The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-04-28

been conferred by the constitutional amerd-
ment and enabling act. Whatever of au
thority these have failed to confer, the COM
mission has been without. For the commits
sion to have attempted something beyond it's
competence would have been futile. Not ONLY
that. 1t would have been Injurious. 4
charter framed by commission, and adopt d
by the electors, totally supersedes an ex-
listing charter. Every part of the latter goes.
Not a trace of it remains. Should any fea-
ture OF the new charter fail to be operative,
from invaidity. the corresponding featu e
OF the old charter is not thereby kept in
d force This would be true, even if the DIS
the basis for the levy of a tax The re-
suit would simply be that the tax would
that extent be diminished. With the
lost revenue would have to go that branch of
the public service it was intended to support
Inc necessity Of caution on the part of the
commission. with regard to the lin Is of
It's authority, is therefore manifest great
dG ; of 1t was used, but none too much
commissions work, it has framed an inst u
ment, believed to be at least legally workable
and In this regard entitled to the pubic
confidence.
In approaching its task, the commission fas
recognized the great merits of the present
charter, and has made it the basis of its
own work Every coed thing in it has been
carried forward into the new instrument. In
TACT very little in the present charter Las
TIE changes have nearly an been in form of
additions, although some, of them have been
mere notifications. The ., latter class rsof
cial Salaries and othsr ianieipai exp 5e 9e
Present Charters Best Textures.
The most valuable features of the pres!
ent charter are; the dual council; administra-
'tion of the chief city departments through
boards composed OF members appeinted NV the
mayor and serving with no. or with merely
nominal pay; division of the public money,
INTO separate and distinct funds; the pre-
nlolti ION OF the use, of moneys belonging to
one tund for payments that should be made
from another; and limitations upon the ar.
nual expenditures for. some of the larger and
more expensive departments These feaf,Ires
nave all been kept in the draft of the
new charter. VI inc
TT That enc relating to limitations upon ex-
| developed and perfected; so that. in the
new charter, a limit upon the expenditures
or every department. under exclusive control
| OF the city authorities, is set; and even tbe
common council cannot permit such lint to
be exceeded. Cases can be imagined where
close charter limitation upon city ex-
penoltur"s might be temporary inconven-
fence but experience has shown that there
IS 30 sure way of preventing waste by cit,
governments except through the making of
excessive expenditures impossible.
These limitations upon the outays for the
! schools, the fire department, the police de.
partment, and the department of street re-
in
dispensable aids in securing the reductions
in city expenses that cur people have been
favored with since 1891.
The commission has fully realized this. ana
mas thought so valuable a principle should
be extended to every department. In other
respects. the financial features of the cd
added to in the new. Among these change,
may be noted the following: The city coun-
Gil is required to make, in the latter part
of the year, an exact appropriation for tho
expenses of each department during the fol-
lowing year, and after such appropriation has
been made no power to exceed it exists
Public Accounts Concentrated
| The keeping of the public accounts. now
| scattered through several different depart-
ments and offices. practically independent
OF each other is concentrated in a single
| office, that of the comptroller who is made
! the administrative head of the CITY finances
| From this may be expected to result, moi
| only much better and more efficient keep
considerable expense. Costly but wholly need.
| less applications of accounts will be obviat-
| ed. The double system of handling disburse-
ments of the public moneys is provided for
1hat IS, every payment must be through the
| city treasurer's office, and must be made by
check upon depository of the city's moneys,
| and such check must be countersigned by
| the city comptroller, before it is valid Ali
| collections of moneys by officers other than
the city treasurer must be paid to the latter
! daily. The comptroller must settle the ac-
counts of the city treasurer daily, and the
latter must daily deposit all the public
moneys IN his hands in duly designated
I bank. These methods will render embezzIe-
ments of the public moneys or mistakes in
handling them practically impossible as the
ell, of both the comptroller and
| doing in the latter's office.
Deposit of City Money.
new method for regulating the deposit
of the city moneys in banks is provided The
| designation of repositories is taken from
the council, which now has it, but has not
shown itself adapted to its successful man.
agement, anG placed in the hands of a COM
ml mt composed of the mayor, comptroller
! anu treasurer Rules are declared for the
action of this committee, ample to secure
the safe keeping and prompt repayment of
the pubic moneys. The creation and man.
agement of sinking fund to paw off the n CIV
debt. is provided for. 1t is to be managea
by committee composed as is that on bank
| deposits. The present charter has comnIeta-
| ly overlooked this subject, although thrifty
city comptroller has found a way of getting
together very substantial fund of this char.
without authority of line in any way saw
ing how such thing shall be done, or
even that it shall be done at all. method
| for consolidating the purchases of fuel and
| other materials for use in the various de-
partments has been devised. This shouId
give, the advantages in prices, usually at
| tending purchases in large quantities
In each of almost all other branches of th,,
municipal government important and vaIua-
Bile additions to and notifications of the ex-
listing charter have been formulated Some
of the more important of these are the fol-
lowing: Limitations have been put upon
the powers of the common council In the
matter of granting franchises. No exclu-
sive franchise can hereafter be granted
without having been first submitted to the
| people, and with such submission only for a
limited number of years. No ordinance grant
ing any franchise be passed, except with
the concurrence Of three fourths of all the
members of each body of the council, and
| the approval Of the mayor. All holders of
franchises from the city who perform nubIic