The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-30
TO THE CHARTER COMMISSION.

1t is at best a, hard and thankless
task which is placed before the gentle
men who make up our city charter COM
mission. They have no hope of COM
pensation whatever, and but little of
thanks for the time and labor which
they must necessarily eXpend on the I'M
dertaking of supplying this people with
a new charter.
1t is in no spirit of a wish to wound
or criticize thai the G Ito feels called
on to point out to these gentlemen that
the demand that calls them into being
as a charter commission had found very
visible and emphatic expression long be-
fore Comptroller McCardy thought proper
of the city teachers, or the supreme court
had decreed the special tax levy law un,
constitutional If it is to be determined
beforehand that we are to have nothing
more than a re-enactment of the exist
ing charter, coupled with a provision to
cover the present deplorable situation re-
garding our schools, it must seem, at
least to some of these gentlemen, that
the machinery chosen to bring about
that result is quite suggestive of jour
ney around Robin Hoods barn.
We have for some years past been
much given to travelling in ruts in st.
Paul. 1t certainly partakes of that con-
dition of locomotion if we are destined,
with the concurrence of the new charter
commission, TO continue governed by
charter adopted many years ago and
which was even then little more than a
re-enactment of the substantive pro-
visions of our earliest local code. 1t
might be suggested to those of the men,
| bers of the commission who agree in
their party attachments with the st. Paul
! G o b that the Democracy of the coun-
| try has very decisively made plain its
| purpose to force American municipal in
stitutions out of least few of the ruts
in which individuals and corporations
have found excessive wealth for many
years past at the expense of society and
the individual taxpayer.
It is quite true that the members of the
commission have all the responsibility for
the results of the work they may do, and
that they are anxious to serve the people
of st. Paul according to their best lights,
which may be said to be exceedingly
| good lights. And its truth must cause
| good people to hesitate in appearing to ask
them to indulge in new and untried ex-
| periments in the domain of municipal
governmt MT. But at least we can all
unite in the conviction that it takes many
different kinds of people to, make a city,
and that it will help to show what the
commission may and may not do with ad-
vantage, if it's members will take coun-
ell very generally with their fellow-citi-
zens.
There is ample time in which to formu-
late a new charter under which the city
will have room to grow and thrive, and
which will save the taxpayers money.
That is the kind of charter we want. And
how badly we want it, and how best it
can be secured, the people themselves
should have the amplest chance to con-
vey publicly to the commission. If, how
ever, it is to be decided for us beforehand,
that we ought to continue to live for an
indefinite period under the Bell charter,
the commission would do its work best
by adjourning at once, and leaving the
legislature to wrestle with the school
difficulty. 1t does not need a charter
commission to give us what we already
have.