The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-21

/ The report of Deputy State Examiner
West ON the administration of county af-
fairs by our local oficeholding combine,
which was suppressed by Gov Clough
and which has just been resurrected after
q years burial, contains so much that is
Instructive that 1t requires considerable
time to properly attract public attention
even to it's main statements.
All thoughtful persons among the tax
paying community know in a general way
that since Robert A. Smith ceased to be
ex-ofIicio chairman of the board of
county commissioners, the county treas
airy has been raided virtually without let
or hindrance That this Republican Of
31ciaI. Mr. West. saw the baneful effects
Upon the county's welfare of this dispo
sition is made very plain by his report.
That that report should have been sup
pressed by a Republican governor shows
how dangerous to the officeholders were its
statements and how determined the pres
ent combine is on keeping the public ig-
norant of its own operations.
Mr. West shows very clearly the indis
crimnate character of the raids which
have been made through the county COM
.pntssioners on the county treasury. The
statements and conclusions of his report
regarding work supposed to be done on
the county roads are especially luminous
and interesting. 1t is all sort of endless
chain First, work is contracted to be
done in a given commissioners district.
Teams and foremen are hired and paid
as an Independent undertaking. Then
comes another department Of the county
government and it's representatives, and
they start out on the same treasury
Eaiding trail, and there are other teams
and foremen to be paid for in connection
with the same work. Just what the team
or foreman does nobody seems to know
or care The team may be private pos
session and may be used chiefly if not
exclusively in carrying one or more of
Ats owners around. The foreman may be
an official relative and may be hired by
the Great Northern, or some other railroad
concern while earning his per diem from
The Ramsey county public. Nobody
seems to know Cat least on the outside)
or to care. Foremen and teams may
work Sundays and state holidays. Indeed
the days of their reputed labor may over
lap each other, or they may not labor at
all except on the paper of the county
pay rolls. Nobody seems to know or
care Indeed the Indifference of every
body in office and out to these reputed
conditions, and their unwillingness to say
word in defense or denial of them, is
one of the most touching phases of the
entire matter
What a diligent and valuable official we
have in the county surveyor is made plain
by the following from Mr. Vests report:
The work is so urgent that he works on
Sunday and Thanksgiving, and his
morse draws pay for several days each
master. amounting to as high as $66 per
month. He is (the horse) allowed to
work for the moderate sum of SO per day,
and he (the horse) is able at this small
pittance to get pay for two days work
performed in one day.
OF course horses, like men, have to be
Sustained. If they happen to be owned
by Il Republican politician with a pull or
by d member of the family of a Republic
an politician with pull, they come high.
and as there is nothing in moral or stat
ute laws to prevent a horse from working
Dn Sundays or holidays or working one day
or no day at all for two days pay, the OPP
erations pointed out by Mr.. West in this
direction are not to be regarded as at al
exceptional.
The chamber of commerce has avowed
repeatedly that this is no time for re-
form movements. It has also declared
that changes are not now desirable and
that the officeholders will not permit the
enactment of a new charter But while
The chamber of commerce hesitates, and
The taxpayer continues apparently to re-
main blindfolded, the raid on our local
treasury goes on. The progress OF