The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-13
PAID FOR IHE WHISTLE
MINNEAPOLIS MEN WHO wERF To
HAVE THE TOWN '"TOOTED"
DOWN EAST
GREAT EAST41.N SYNDICATE
1t Had Special Car, and 1t Had
Plenty of Smooth Young Men
to Gull the Mime
aDOIitans.


aDOIitans.
A number Of the prominent business
men of Minneapolis are bemoaning the
fact that they once departed from the
old time conservative methods Of money
making. and tried to get something for
nothing They may not be saying much
about 1t. but they feel somewhat foolish
nevertheless.
About month ago the private car
Ralph King arrived at the union depot
In the car were some half dozen news
paper men from the Great Eastern syn
dictate. They had come to Minneapolis
to exploit the city. They wanted neither
money or price for this exploiting II
was to be a delicate little attention to
the city. They represented so they said
the Baltimore Herald.the Boston Journal
the New York Sun and the Philadelphia
Times. These four large cities were
yearntng for news Of the conditions, So
cial and financial. existing in the North.
west, and the occupants of the private
car were the ones to furnish such In
formation.
The party was under the leadership OF
G. F. King and P. B. Woodlief The
former Is a large, heshy man, and looked
like ready money" The latter has the
appearance of William Jennings Bryan,
except that he is much thinner than that
gentleman.
The West, said Messrs. Woodlief and
King, rs comparatively unknown to the
East Many persons are laboring under
the deluSion that copper colored aborig-
ines are at large on the main thorough
fares of the cities of Minnesota We are
here for the purpose of disabuslng the
East Of this fallacy. We are about to
write this town up as it is; describing all
its beautiful parks, driveways, public
buildings, business enterprises and pretty
girls in vivid manner. This will cost
you nothing. All we ask IS the moral
support Of the best citizens of the town
in fact we ask nothing more than to
be directed about the city, so we will not
get lost during our wandeHngs. The ar
tieles we write will appear slmuItane-
ously in the four journals which we rep
resent. After we have described the
beauties of your city, we will endeavor to
interest your merchants and manufac-
turers in some advertising matter, which
will, of course, be paid for by them. This
latter is, however, of minor Importance,
and is something to be discussed with
the interested parties only"
All this sounded most grateful to the
ears of the Minneapolis business men.
They said: Here is a good thing, and
We will push it along, fine and dandy"
Perhaps they couched their thoughts in
different language than the above, but
that was what they meant.
A meeting was held in the rooms of
he rd Of n
largely attended, and Messrs. Woodu9f
and King shook the hands of most of
the business and professional men of the
city. Secretary F. II. Forbes was de-
tailed to show the strangers around the
town; to take them driving, and 10 give
them little guide books, lest they should
get lost before the city had derived the
benefits which their visit was about TO
call down.
Days and weeks passed and the news
paper men from the East were shown the
city and entertained lavishiy. An eX-
senator had them in tow one day, the
president of the board of trade lunched
them the next. Mr.. Forbes showed them
Lake Harriet by moonlight and so on.
Life was one endless bunch of peach
colored joys for them; and they took
voluminous notes the while.
Then it was announced that the material
for the ''write-up" Of Minneapolis had all
=
see about the advertising matter, which
was to be published separately from the
story of the city itself. Several large
firms were interviewed, and several large
firms were persuaded to invest gOodly
sums in the scheme. They probably
thought that the newspaper men Fl ON the
East had already done so much for the
city that it was only fair to give them
a little assistance in the advertising line
one firm is reported to have invested
$500 in the advertising.
One day one Of the business men, while
strolling from his lunch at the Grub, was
stricken with an idea. He remembered
that no person had yet seen the creden-
tails of these pencil pushers. When he
returned to his office he telephOned Sec
rotary Forbes and asked him if he had
seen them. Mr. Forbes had not, but he
would do so that afternoon. He met Mr..
Woodlief and told him of the suspicious
of the gentleman. Mr.. Woodlief was In
dignant He had not his credentials In
his pocket, but they were in the car in
the possession Of Mr.. King. He was much
obliged to Mr.. Forbes for mentioning the
matter to him, and he would see Mr..
King immediatefy-and so on. Mr.. King
dentials and the party left town a few
days later They said they had enjoyed
their stay very much.
Then the men who had entertained the
visitors became anxious to see the write
up Minneapolis had received. 1t came
few days ago, in the Baltimore Herald
for Aug. l. The story Is dated 81. Paul
July %, and it contains fully half col
umn Of descriptive matter The beautiful
parks. driveways. public buildings, business
enterprises and pretty girls Of Minneap-
oils are not exploited-nOt a little bit
And now it transpires that Messrs. King,
Woodlief ct al have simply contracted
for the privilege of filing a certain
amount Of space in the journals they
represent" and that they never had any
intention of exploiting Minneapolis unless
they were well paid for so doing.