The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-11
BORDERS ON ANARCHY
REV. $. G. SMITHS DESIGNATION OF
A PRESENT TANGLE IN MUNIC-
IPAL AFFAIRS
RANDOLPH STREET CAR LINE
1t In the Subject Of Some Pointed
Hefsrences In the Address of Rev.
8. G. Smith to the WOman's Civic
League Last Night-He Advocates
Municipal Ownership of Fran
chises.


chtaes.
franchises are not for the benefit Of
the companies but for the benefit of the
people," declared Rev. Samuel g. Smith
last evening, In his lecture on 1.-THE Amer
lean City In Business, at the Y M G. A.
hall Dr. Smith was strong in his adVo-
cacy of the municipal ownership of fran
chises, In previous lecture he had spo-
Ken OF the manner in which continental
municipalities are run, and last night he
drew striking contrast between the Off
ference in the systems.
Our present charter is Inadequate to
meet present conditions" he said. ri
have been accused of being hard on the
Bell charter and somewhat unjustly. The
question Is, is it a good thing to go on
with?
neither the leg stature nor council can
possibly foresee the needs of the city for
years to come. There must be one Of two
Things; either general power granted to
the city by the legislature or else we
must undergo the agony of having a new
charter every few years. 1t seems to me
that strong and simple system of gov.
eminent can be reached only by giving
the city direct power Of elf-gov2rnment.
1here must be municipal constitutional
amendment defining the relation Of the
legislature to the cities. This Is urged
by leading workers for municipal I'M
provement
AT present the cities are free to null
lily laws passed by the legislature that
they do not like, thus creating two class
es, strict constructtcnists AMI wide
open cities. This latter course Is i1a5
as productive of evil The admtnistra-
ton of, the city assumes to be superior
to he~city Itself. Cities do illegal things
and one of the functions Of the legislatures
is to legalize things already done
The system that am urgng-genera1
poWers-is essentially the French and
German system. The municipal council
by its deliberations, regulates the COM
munlty. The legislature might we'll Ak
maximum on the taxation to check any
wild administration, and the debt-na king
power should be direct in two things one
the non-productiVe Investments such az
streets, sewers and the like but the peo-
PIE should. certainly have a right TO saw
what they Will expand for income-bear
Ing investments, such as gas, street. rail-
way and light plants, where the people
can also Determine the income
Inc power and method of granting
franchises should BE- definitely prescribed
and defined ard especially the time FOR
which they shall run Our street rail-
way system Is one Of the finest In the
swofles Its growth has been marvellous
There. Is no question but that 1t cost a.
great deal Of energy when the franchise
was first granted Now the council
orders the railway company to rim cars
on the Randolph street line and the COM
pany responds by tearing up its tracks
1t cannot he compelled 10 lay tracks
where there are NC sewers and having
no tracks no cars can be run. This is a
tangled condition that smaclcs of an
archye / am not discussing the merits
OF this particular case, but It is certain
that there should not be those relations
between the. administration and street
railway company. I am told the street
railway company is a paying institution
The men. who laid the first tracks are
dead They died bankrup.s. If the pop
ulatien of the city should double in the
next twenty years. as there Is every
reason to believe will be the ease will
not its productive power be doubled with
but small outlay for repairs and rolling
stock? The unearned increment for that
twenty years Is valuable. The people will
have put the value into the railways and
the people should get the profits
DR.. Smith cited decision Of the su-
preme court wherein it was held that a
council has not the right to cede away
anything that VIII control or embarrass
the people IN the future. He declared
that the army Of employees that would ba
brought into office by municipal owner
ship would not be 50 dangerous factor
as the army of employees who are voted
like cattle by the private corporations, be-
cause the municipal employees will balong
to q party and be responsible while the
private corporations are of no party OK
cept their own interest and a dangerous
factor in politics.
In closing, the speaker advocated the
building of crematory for the con-
sumption Of garbage and waste and their
collection by the health department in
stead Of under the contract system. Con-
tractors, he said are in the habit of unit
Ing Upon their bids and making the cost
high. Dr. Ohage should be given the
| 5000 that he asks for the purpose.
Dr. Smith read a number of statistics
showing the progress that has been made
| by American cities In the ownership OF
franchises and relating to the compari-
SONS in cost. The lecture closed with a
! general discussion Of sociology.