The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-07-24
SANDELL,S XOTE-

The election of successor to Mr.. L. w.
Rundlett, as city engineer, has been ac-
complished as the result of a system Of
political pettifogging such as this commu-
nifty has grown used to under Republican
control. If the story of the way in which
Mr. RundIett's successor has been chosen,
as told in the Dispatch of Saturday, have
der left at the unwillingness of the av-
erage decent man to cake any part in
political life in this community Capacity
for mere miserable chicanery, according
as it is greater or less, is the endowment
Of the more or less successful ST. Paul
politician. The absence OF the quality in
a mans makeup constitutionaLy units
him for all participation in Republican
craftsmanship in this community.
The G b e does not feel called on to
vouch for anything that may be said by
Mayor Kiefer's enemies among his party
associates They are the men who ran
the machine under the sway Of
Mayor Kiefers two immediate Re-
publican predecessors; and their methods
have been of a character which precludes
a word of approval being spoken in their
behalf. They lie when the truth will ac-
rompiish their purpose. Generally they
may be said to be the scavengers- of poll
tics, and their opposition to Mayor Kiefer
is rather to his credit than otherwise.
But Will Mayor Kiefer enIighten an in
terested public how the man, Sanden,
whom he himself publicly charged with
the attempt to commit an Infamous Of
Tense, came to vote for his, Mayor
Kiefer's, man?
This did not happen by accident. If
Mayor Kiefer's own story regarding San
dell be true, then the yarn which is in
circulation among the Republican politi-
clans, explaining SandelTs vote for Claus
sen, is mere ghost story. sandell is
not that kind Of a credulous loon, unless
the mayor has sadly belied him. The
man who offers $500 to the mayor for the
assurance Of a reappointment two years
sides, to do the mayors bidding by vot-
ing for this same man, Claussen, is not
going to be whip-sawed by a foolish
story such as the one that Mabon had
decided to vote for Claussen, and that he,
being at a disadvantage if he did not cast
his vote in the same direction before
NIabon got a chance to do so, voted for
Claussen accordingly The thing is too
crystalline in its transparency to deceive
any one.
The question inevitably suggests itself,
What consideration did Mayor Kiefer
give for SandelTs vote for CIaussen? We
cannot believe that he accepted that $500.
Did he give SandeH the assurance of re-
appointment to the board of public
works? This latter is more likely. The
event. however, may be required to
furnish the proof. If Sanden should be
appointed when the time comes, it is in
no spirit of disrespect toward the mayor
that the G 0 b e suggests that his and
SandelTs transactions should be made the
object Of the investigation by the then
existing grand jury.
Time may make the true story of this
very questionable political transaction
known. But until it does we are sorry
to say that Mayor Kiefer will remain in
precisely the same political category as
the crowd of cheap marplots who now
hold the bulk of our city and county
offices and spend their spare time an
tagOnizing Mayor Kiefer.