The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-26
CURE FOR CIVIC PERLS|
REV. H. G. AsHCRAFT DISCUSSES
VICE IN MUNICIPAL
POLITICS
SMASH THE WARD MACHINE
The Reverend SGentIeman Thinks
saloon Element Controls 1000
Votes In This City - This
Must Be Changed.


The Rev. Henry c. Ashcraft, pastor
OF the Grace Methodist Episcopal church
! Burr and Minnehaha streets yesterday
morning delivered a valuable sermon
upon matters of civic character. The
subject of his discourse was. stOur Cyitv,s
Perils, With the Remedy His scriptura1
text was the following, derived from
Ezra viii, 81: ITO seek of Him q right
way for us and for our little ones
Rev. Mr.. Ashcrafts remarks were in
| part as follows:
The cities write the history of their
respective nations; Nineveh, Babylon.
Tyre, Athens, Sparta, Carthage, Thebes
and Rome. And what shall the history
OF the United States of America be at the
close OF the new century upon which we
are about to enter?
In the experimental century through
which our nation has passed mighty
changes have been wrought.
FROM no nation we have come to be
something of a commonwealth From q
disrupted Union we have come to be a
Onlon one and 1nseparable. From a peo=
PIE OF no particular national policy we
nave come to have a very definite policy
We have no crown heads to regaIe. b1t
we nave sovereign people to teach the
noole pursuits Of peace. AS a nation we
nave spent century laying foundations
and getting acquainted with ouseIyes and
/ the world We are on speaking terms
| with all nations, not overy familiar with
any, and our disposition is to love all
| alike, but we cannot, as human as we
are, and as appreciatlve as we are. we
cannot help looking straight into Mother
Englands face and catching her eve,
winch expresses so much solicitation for
| her great son, say Mother o Mother, I
! love you!
our cities are the center of trade, of
| education, of social life and what orr
nation is to be must be determined nv
our cities. You will notice that our cities
are largely made up Of foreign popuIa-
ton. Americans are not slow to acknowI-
| edge that some of our best citizens are
| of foreign birth In 1890 one third of our
| national population was of foreign birth.
| we knew that in our large cities the
worst elements in the world come to-
| gether Here is where the saloon is in
trenched 1t is the seat of our mrnicipa1
| machine. If you want a view Of machine
politics in all its hideousneSs. go to New
| York city, and inspect the reign of Tam
| many. Never before has vice been taxed
with such business like exactness and
| every available source of vicious income
| drawn upon by the vicious classes.
Il am not in this pulpit to charge
wholesale corruption of our city's poll
| ucal machine, but 1 am here to say that
| our committees ought to be men of the
| highest honor and integrity, who viii
not give their influence to vice and the
vicious as against honorable citizenship.
| This preference is shown said the
minister, ''by our committee ON licenses
! when an attempt is made to have a
! saloon removed from residence districts
| The most fragrant violations of the
! liquor law occur and the efforts of the
| good people to stop them avail nothing
| Mr.. Ashcraft said that the saloon
4 Of Id 4
! against which the Christian people were
| compelled to fight at disadvantage.
| Upon the financial side Of the question
he said:
| What do you think you pay for what
you think is police protection? Our city
pays its share of over $2OOO0,cOO which
| the police force of this nation costs"
| This, he said, added to the other ex-
| penses Of maintaining courts and pris-
| ons, poor houses and other such insti-
tutions, increased by the existence of
7 the corrupt sources Of power, gives the
! people some idea of what they pay for
/ the saloon.
AS TO THE SALOONS.
| Rev. Mr.. Ashcraft declared that the
! laws compelling Sunday closing of sa-
! looms, prohibiting the sale of liquor to
| minors and similar laws are never en-
forced. II violate no confidence when
I tell you that the policemen of this
city have been giving saloon men priv
ileges for money, and when the saloon
/ men have gotten under way in their
| schemes of Generalization, Mike and
Ole and Fitz have made him, under
| threat s,- open up his purse again"
Reviewing some of the fragrant evils
of large municipalities, the minister said:
est. Paul has its perils and to the care
full, thoughtful student they are clearly
apparent. I charge no one with fraud
even though I have heard men say,
whose word I can hardly doubt, that
there is a lobby maintained at our city
council and that eX-aldermen are mem
bers of that lobby, I can hardly be-
lieve it. 1t would be no misdemeanor
for you to investigate and report to
each other.
Politics are expected to be clean, but
some very nasty, nasty people have got
ten into it. and are not polite enough
to get out. All dishonorable incumbents
of public Office must go and all tncom-
petent aspirants for the future must be
| kept out With that accomplished, our
cfty's peril will be at an end. To write
fms to the last page Of our city's cor
ruption we must have the primary cleo
ton law, given two years ago, by our
state legislature, to Minneapolis.
eve must bestir ourselves. l suggest
that we have a vigilance committee to
rid the city Of the vice. We must not
allow 1000 men to demoraliZe our city.
We must arise and crush all anarcy.
We must show ourselves to be city
of civilized people. and true ctvillAa ton
serves one another with that Which is
best"