The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-03
ARE DECLARED LEAKY.
IS DEEPLY INTER-
ESTED
STILL THEY ARE APPROVED

ditiOnnI Levy for school Pur-
poses, and the Other for a Trans
fer of the Money In the BROAD
way Bridge Fund--Consideredb by
the Ramsey Delegation.
All the members of the Ramsey coun-
ty delegation, with the exception of
Mr.. Holm, representative from the
Third ward, attended a delegation
meeting at the capital last evening
The outsiders present were w. P Muir
ray, Comptroller McCardy and Aid
Eel. Senator Horton presided, and
Representative Hennessy acted as sec
rotary.
The delegation agreed to support the
bill providing for an increase in the
levy of a mill and a half for school pur-
poses. and the transfer of the Broad
way bridge fund to the bridge repair
fund
Bills reducing the salaries of the cor
oner and abstract clerk, after Jan. l.,
1901, were presented, and laid over for
further consideration.
Mr.. McGili said the bill recommended
by the chamber Of commerce was for
levy of one mill, half Of which should
be for repairs and school buildings
ard the other half for current ex-
penses. The bill under considerat ton
fixed one mill for current expenses and
ene-half mill for buildings and re-
pairs. 1t was necessary that the school
revenue should be increased The bill
did not make the revenue, but simply
provided a way it could be raised. The
revenue now provided was not suffi-
Client. After the bill was passed 1t left
the levy and the money in the hands
OF the council. The additional tax
would not he needed for all time In a
year or so the new buildings would be
up and it would not be necessary to
levy the additional half mill for this
purpose.
After the bill was recommended by
this delegation, the bill would have
to meet the views Of the ST. Louis
delegation. From a legal standpoint
the bill would have to be considered
after it had been recommended by the
delegation, and he suggested that 1t
be then sent to the judiciary commit
tee.
Senator McNamee said new buildings
were not needed, but additions to
many of the school buildings were
absolutely necessary. The whole mill
and half need not be levied, but only
so much as the council considered nee
essary. If the people did not want it,
they could go to the council and pre-
Mr.. finland thought. while it seemed
hard to levy an additional mill and a
half, it was necessary In order to Sc
the city.
Comptroller McCardy questioned
how the bill would fit in with the char
ter provision that not more than 2A
mills should be levied in any one year
for school purposes.
fnYs
question, in his mind, that the bill
was unconstitutional The proviso that
the measure was an independent one
did not in his mind overcome the
unconstitutional phase Of the question
He did not think it possible to build
a general law on the foundation of
special law under the decisions of the
vote for the bill, because he knew it
was necessary.
Mr.. Dunn declared that the bill was
unconstitutional. The only way, in his
opinion, to overcome the difficulty was
to draft general law which would
fix the maximum rate to be levied in
the three cities of St. Paul, Minneapolis
and Duluth. This would make the levy
in st. Paul for school purposes nine
mills. the same as it now was in Du-
1uth. W. P. Murray objected to such
a measure. as it would throw the door
wide open, and while there was no
doubt but what the council would re-
fuse to take advantage of the power
to levy, the people objected to such
a measure. The bill as presented by
Mr.. McGill was recommended for pas
sage.
The bill providing for the transfer
Of $4,000 from the Broadway bridge
fund to the bridge repair fund was.
Of sci rao q m.
passage. Aid. Bell questioned. after the
bill was passed, if no repeating clause
was inserted would Comptroller Nc
Cardy transfer the fund.
Senator Horton suggested that the
comptroller would be guided after the
bill passed by the opinion of the cor
poration attorney.
Aid. Bell doubted this and said the
comptroller generally paid little atten-
ton to opinions Mr.. McCardy said he
had doubts as to whether the transfer
of the funds could be made without
repeating clause. The delegation, how
ever, decided to recommend the bill
for passage.
Senator McNamee had a bill which
provided that after Jan. 1, 1901, the
act fixing the salary of the coroner OF
Ramsey county be repealed. Mr.. Nc
Nance said the bill was not partisan
til after the term of the present in
cunbent expired. The coroner Of
Ramsey county was the only one in
the state that drew a salary of $3,5o0
per year. and he favored putting that
official ON the same basis as other CT
ficials in the same office throughout
the state. By rising vote of eight to
four the delegation decided to recon-
mend the measure to pass Those vot-
ing against this action were Messrs.
Sheehan, Jackson, Martin and O'Con-
nor.
1t was then decided the vote should
not count and the bill will be consider
ed again at the next meeting of the
delegation. Mr.. Dunn presented two
bills which repealed the laws under
which the abstract clerk is now being
paid $4,000 salary and $500 for clerk
hire. The measures are not to take
effect until Jan. l, 1901. Mr.. Dunn
argued that as the delegation had by
recommending the increased school
levy bill increased the burden OF
the taxpayers about s100, 900, something
ought to be done to tighten the load.
The delegation laid the two bills over
until the next meeting in. orde: that
the abstract clerk could be heard.