The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-19
nANGERous TRIrI1NG.

DANGEROUS THRILLING.
The report of the joint committee OF the
commercial bodies of ST. Paul TIC the conf
mittee On streets OF the assembly on th,,
subject of the depot levy represents the
intelligent judgment Of the best equip
ped body of gentlemen that have been or
are likely to be called together to consid-
er any important question of The kind
The members of the committee. as well
as the bodies which they represent, stand
for the commercial and business welfare
of the community if any body of men
can be sad SO to do. If we are to reject
their judgment in response to the inter
ested and denagogic utte2ances of SEN
sation mongers such as oppose any ra
tional adjustment of this question, SD
much the worse for the interests of the
community.
When the committee says tirat if. in
the first instance, the discovery has been
made by the citizens of st. Paul that the
carrying interests were cramped for room.
the city would have been justified in vol
UNFAIRLY offering to make the grant in
question. they do not half state the case.
Had they said, rather, that had
the discovery of the real condition come
to the public through the initiative Of
city authority, the people would have in
sisted at once on giving to the railroads
the facilities they are asking, the com
mittee would be far nearer stating the ac-
tual situation.
The truth is that ST. Paul has been
"pocketed" through the situation which
prevails at the union depot, ewing to
typographical conditions. It is a public
and private duty to overcome that situa-
ton so far as the existing conditions will
enable them to be overcome. There is
no need to show the temerity which sticks
out at every point of the committee 3
report The situation is one which con-
Germs the railroads infinitely less than it
concerns the city and the travelling pub
lie. This is a case where the mincing of
words is little less than a crime. We
want tc enlarge the existing depot faclll-
IT,. rl-vfe IS only one way 10 do it in
the immediate present. That way is sug-
gested through the report. Let no stu
dert of the situation delude himself
that that expedient will suffice for the
future. It will not. The future will ne
cessftate much more extended facilities
for commercial business at the depot than
exists today. Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof. We are called on to
consider the needs of the hour, not Of
the future. If we thought it necessary
to look into the future, a far greater con-
cession would suggest itself than that
which the report recommends.
There is a city not thousand miles
from here which stands ready to meet
the needs of the railroad corporations
concerned. That city is on the agrees
sive. Tt has met the situate in the
spirit Of modern progress, not in that Of
petty peddling with a great question. It
needs business. It's growth depends on
the growth of its facilities for transact
ing the business that the railroads bring
to it's doors. It has outstripped us. It
will do SO to a greater extent than 1t
has unless we are awake to the needs Of
the hour. There is not freight car that
seeks trackage facilities in cur depot that,
carried ten miles further west, cannot
find all the facilities needed.
This is no time for tri1ing with seri-
GUS situation. Either give the railroads
what they want or deny it to them. The
most that can be given to them is COM
| mercially Of comparatively little value to
them. The Withholding of it Will not do
them permanent injury. The injury will
not be to them but to the community
, which stands by a cheese-paring PROPOSE
ton. such as is urged on this community
at this time. The loss to the city of the
| increased facilities sought will not be
felt by the railroad corporations. It will
be felt. and felt grievously. by the city.
The city council will do well to serious
Iy consider the question involved. A
wrong decision will be followed by re-
suits which will prove Of grievous conse-
uuence to the future of this community.