The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-27
HPE ID SAVE KGARDY :::::;;: g: !: =: G.: ''''
:: ;::: :: :: FROM THE AWFUL WRECK
Wizard Of the Figures Hopes to Ply His.
Black Art for Two Years More.
But Charlatanry Has Served Its Time, and the
People Are Going to have Comptrol-
Ter Who Is Bookkeeper and Not
Compiler of Deceptions

Not all the blackguardism of an an
cient. dishonorable and corporation-rid-
den contemporary, nor all the belated In
both OF which stand Tor shoddy reform
In this town, will avail. They are Skin
ned" and they know it.
They arc kicking against the pricks,
but in vain. They are disclosed for what
they are-cowardly, dishonest and cheap.
They do not suit the town. II seeks TO
advance. They have been its ball and
chain. But it will advance-and it will
advance over their political remains
For many years prior to 1891 or 1892 this
town fairly wallowed in prosperity. It's
real estate sold at fancy prices. Its
houses brought any rent their owners
thought proper to ask for them. Busi-
ness hummed; property doomed. We
were all rich. contented, prosperous. We
set no limit to the possibilities of our
future growth. st. Paul was top of the
heap, and every man who walked along
the streets had a wad of money in his
pocket. and no woman looked in vain
into the windows Of our dry goods stores.
1t was In 1892 that the inlictlon Of a
Republican mayor was first imposed on
the community Wright was then elected.
Men were then pouring In and pouring
out of St. Paul They had been doing SO
for years before. Money was being made
and money was being spent. East Third
street was a street which drew the ladies
and the strangers within our doors to 1t
as the magnet draws steel. All kinds of
business fourished. Contracts Of every
kind, from the construction of a bridge
TO the laying Of a sidewalk, the building
of a sewer, or the grading or paving
of a street, were being let and performed,
Even in those days the Pharisee reform
er was abroad. The slogan, 1.-The old
gang" was heard! The demand was for
most virtue. And the demand was heark-
ened to-, and there were no more cakes
and ale thereafter.
What has been the situation of the
city since? What has been the condition
of our peoples business? What Of their
fortuncs-their property? What cf our
population? Have we kept pace with
those around us? How do we compare
with Minneapolis? What new industries
have we added to those already existing
What has the Republican city policy for
the past eight years done to bring people
to us, to spread the name of the city
abroad, to help us out of the Slough of
Despond into which we have fallen?
-
We were extravagant in the old days,
so we were! No fear Of extravagance
today. No; but don't let us interfei with
the men who are preparing to lit the city
to its old place. You will interfere with
them if you make a change!
1t was two years before the blight fell
upon us in 1888, under Republican may
or that this bogus reform movement was
set on foot. 1t brought Andrew r. Ktcf-
er to the front as the reform candidate
for mayor. The same cry that We hear
today resounded up and down our streets
then. What did the ancient corpcrau IN
ridden contemporary do then? Please try
and remember!
1t supported Bob Smith ard the gang"
1t abused and reviled Kiefer Just as the
other reform organ has been abusing
and reviling him for two years past. 1t
denounced the cry of "the gang" as in
irnical to the city's progress. Yet all the
crimes it lays at the door of the mythical
gang today it says were committed eithe
before It's advocacy or as the result CT
that advocacy.
Did the little lying Dispatch" in those
days support Fiefer against Rob TT A.
Smith? Not a bit of 1t. Did it support
the policy of the first Republican mayor,
Wright, whom 1t helped to elect against
Robert A Smith? No; it reviled ard rid
iculcd him, as it has been ing to lsiefer,
until it drove him out of office
Did it support the policy Of the second
Republican mayor, Doran, whom, with
the permission of an inscrutable Provi
dence, it helped to elect? Not bit OF
it. It reviled and ridiculed and finally
drove him out Of office.
Did it support the policy of the third
Republican mayor, Andrew r. Kiefer.
whom it helped to elect? Did it,? If
there ever existed record Of vile and
hideous abuse of a public official, intend
ed to consign It's victim to perdition, aud
necessarily operating to that sarue end
against the party which he represented,
that record is furnished by the Dispatch