The Saint Paul globe., 1898-07-24
they be to US over there on Rice street
with these SHOES gone?
GETTING THEIR OWN HOMES.


GETTING THEIR OWN HOMES.
IT believe" he continued, that there
are in the block in which we live TWEEN
ty-nine men who have built houses
and have been paying for them in in
stallments. With every one of them it
has been a case of scratching along
for years to pay ON their property, and
there may be four or five of the men in
the lot who are clear. Let the shops
be moved or abandoned and the whole
of those men practically lose all they
have saved in a life time l believe
that there are at least two hundred
men in the shops who have built
houses or have had them built for
them. You see the place was so steady,
there was so little time lost, that a man
who was thrifty at all felt that he
ought to have a home. Now l venture
to say that not quarter of them are
clear of debt, and would lose their
property if they got out of work. Be-
sides, suppose we should keep our jobs
but have to go to some other place to
work, what use would a house over
there north of the track be to us or to
anybody? They would not rent in the
next twenty years. 1t wouldn't make
any difference where we were moved
to we would be the losers, and this
inhabited"
On Rice street north Of the tracks
amongst the eight or nine blocks front
age on that street occupied by the
houses of the employees Of the Great
Northern, there are probably dozen
stores, all maintained entirely by the
trade of the shop people. The Rice
school is practically filled by the chill
dren of the men from the shops. The
homes of the men happen to be grouped
there, but there are dozens of them
scattered all over the city. In that sec
ticn of the Eighth ward the removal
of the shops to another city would leave
hundreds of unoccupied houses.
The Eighth warders are naturally
very much aroused over the suggestion
that the shops may be lost to their
people. Fortunately they are not lot
to sit supine and see themselves de-
prived of an institution of this kind
and they will call a mass meeting next
week, the object of which shall be to
carry notification that will be heard.
1t is safe to assume that when the
Eighth ward gets through meeting
whatever reasonable concessions that
are required to anchor fast the present
shops and permit of the building of
the new ones will not be opposed by
the city council.
The meeting will be called early in
the week. D. F. PEBBLES has the mat
ter in hand and will have confer
ence with those most interested on
Monday. 1t is planned to make it an
open air affair and get the people to-
gether in the Lexington ball park. BY
the time the meeting is called every
man, woman and child in the ward viii
be interested for yesterday there was
a feeling that the shops would probably
be removed.
The location here of the shops is not
the only important matter involved.
With the shops goes the storekeeper
for the system. A very large propor-
ton of material of all kinds for run
Paul, as we'll as the material used in
manufa curing. There are several
shops on the system, and the products
of the shops are turned into the store
keeper and then charged out to the
departments in need. The general
storekeeper here makes prices for ev-
erything that Is charged out for the
entire system, the local price, cost Of
material, manufacture and handling,
being the standard. There are many
things with which the system is sup
piled directly from St. Paul, and The
amount of trade the removal of the
store would cut off would be enormous.
1t cannot, of course, be computed. The
storekeeper at the shops employs a
clerical force Of fifteen men and al
mcst twice as many laborers
DROVE THE MILWAUKEE, AWAY
The policy that has made it possible
for people to talk about losing the
Great Northern shops cost this town
great deal of money and some thou
sands of inhabitants some years ago
In the early eighties the Milwaukee
system wanted to establish its shops
in St. Paul. The officers of the road
never contemplated the possibility that
anybody would ask a bonus to permit
the building Of the shops. They set
tied it among themselves that st. Paul
was the place for the shops and that
the best available location for them
would be on the upper flats. The in
stant they made the decision known
the price of property In the neighbor-
hood went up 300 or 400 per cent, and
the prices made them were prohibitory
The attitude Of the city was not right
either The Milwaukee made no diff
fculty about the matter. The officers
went over to Minneapolis, were receiv-
ed with open arms, presented with all
the land they wanted and got all the
concessions they asked for It was a
short sighted policy that lost those
shops to St. Paul, and the question is
plainly before the people,:
"Will SIT. Paul stand by and con-
template even the possibility of the
removal of such an institution as the
Great Northern ShopS?'