The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-02
DEMAND FOR QUICK WORK
DELAY IN REPAVING STREETS is
CAUSING SEVERE INJURY TO
LOCAL DEALERS
VIGOROUS PROTESTS ENTERED
Street Car Company Is Shutting Off
Trade From Merchants by Not
Completing Their Work
Several Views.

Desirable as the public at large may
consider it to be that certain CT the c1ty's
streets should be newly paved, the work
in that line which is at present being
carried on is attended by it's disadvan-
tages, which are severely felt by a GER
tain number of sufferers. The fact that
portions of several of the most centrally
located and most used thoroughfares of
the city have been at the same time en-
tirely given over to the street railway
company's track-laying crews AMI other
laborers to the entire exclusion Of wagon
traffic, the hindrance of foot travel ami
the serious impairment of the street car
service caused some complaint even
when it was recognized as possibly nee
essary. AS time passed slowly by, how
ever, and the work appeared to ice drag
ging unnecessarily, complaint gave way
to vigorous protest, which has of late De
come general Nearly all of the street
railway lines of the city are more or
less affected by the temporary track ia
cilities adopted during the work of paw
ing Wabasha, West Seventh and Rice
streets, and the delay in the running of
cars has provoked considerable grum-
bling. There has also been considerable
dissatisfaction among those who lave
been unable to drive upon these streets
for number of weeks past
But there is still another class Of suf-
ferers and, although they are compare
lively few in number, their deprivation Is
more serious and their protest mo-e yea
sonable, as it is based not alone on PER
sCnal inconvenience, but the vital uues-
ton of dollars and cents as wei. They
are the business men whose stores are
located along the streets now torn up
and closed to travel, and who are to a
great extent shut off from their trade.
These men for time bore in patience
the noticeable decrease in their volume
of business in the hope that it wou'd not
last long, but as the spring season has
passed and the summer has begun with
out signs of relief in the near future,
they have become vigorous in their pro-
test against the existing conditions, ana
have begun to agitate the question of
taking steps to- forcibly expedite the
work.
RETAIL DEALERS SUFFER.
Those who have probably suffered the
most are the retail dealers along west
Seventh street, from Seven Corners TO
Ramsey street, which section has been
closed to wagon traffic for about two
months. Gross hotel and the st. Paul
house, which, are located on West Sew
enth street, above Seven corners. and
depend for their patronage almost entire
ly upon the farmer class, ehaUes also lost
heavily by the closing of the street. SJme
Of the merchants of that district were
seen yesterday, and their remarks are
here published.uas an indication of the
state of feeling prevailing among them:
Jacob Westheimer, of the firm of
Aberle, Westheinaer g. Coz wholesale
liquors: Our trade has been affected TO
a marked degree. 1 would not attempt
to say even approximately to~What ex-
tent, but it has peally beep a se-ioUs
matter to US, and if the G o can
bring any influence to bear to hurry this
work along all of the merchants of this
part of the city will be grateful
S. H. Reeves. druggist: my business
has simply been paralyzed, you may say.
1t has affected my sales at least 90 / 8
per cent. I think the closing of the
Smith avenue bridge just at this time
has had something to do with that. too.
A great deal Of my trade came from the
Dodd road and from Rosemount, and nat
urally came by that route. -r-
P. a. Wagner. Grocer-My sales have
fallen off $40 to SO per day as a
consequence of the torn-up condition Of
this street. The cash sales have been
particularly affected.
N. Rosenfeld, of the Firm of Rosentield
& Sternberg, Clethiers-Our business has
been very seriously affected, and think
those who have had the work in charge
have been greatly to blame for the delay
l think there is no excuse for the length
Of time that has been spent ON this work
Louis Arbogast, Butcher-I have suf-
fered greatly, although not so much per-
haps as some of my netghbors, for a
great many of my orders come by tele-
phone. Still, many Of my customers, who
formerly called here in their carriages,
are now forced to go somewhere else. i
James Kenaley, Grocer-Last night I
compared my sales for May of this year
with those for the corresponding month
Of last year, and found them to be lust
20 per cent less. There can be no other
reason for that than the condition of this
street, for times are certainly as good
now as last year, and comparison of
other months does not show a falling
Off for this year. We would not be so
bad off if they would give us a crossing
between Seven corners and Ramsey
street They have been at work here now
more than eight weeks, and I cannot see
that more than half that time would
have been necessary. Neither can I see
that 1t was necessary to close up the en-
tire street 1t has not been done else
where when paving was done
II. Coplovitch, OF the Firm of Coplo-
witch " Pockrant, Hardware-Our store
has been practically closed up. We have
had no trade at all since this paving has
been going on. The farmer and con-
tractors are unable to drive up to our
place with their teams and and simply