The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-11-15


same dispicable class. But they are res
cuing her, I am glad to know. The beastly
element Of mankind, bribing and being
bribed, exists in all its enornlity This
country with it's rapid tendency to civic
growth must have some means for an hon
est form Of administration. We have to
stop corruption, and the first place is to
grasp the throat of the corruption.
Il earnestly hope that the example Min
nesotahas set In studying and doing her
best to solve the municipal problem may
be followed by New York city on the heels
OF what may be called a reform admins
tration, and that there may be inaugurated
other reform administrations and that we
may never stoop to make a step back
ward"
The address of DR.. Albert Shaw was of
great interest. It was on the subject
Views and Reviews Journalistic" and
told of the pleasures and vicissitudes and
the peculiarities of ideas in the newspaper
world In Minneapolis when he was there,
ments. DR.. Shaw said in part:
Dr.. Albert Shaw on Minneapolis.
lit would be hard to find in the annals
or economic history anything to parallel
the opening up Of the wheat and corn belts
of the Mississippi and Missouri valleys
Railroads We're building by the thousands
OF miles. The white pine forests Of Min
nesota. Wisconsin and Michigan were dis
appearing to reappear in the form of a
million prairie homes. Lumber, farm i'm
PIGMENTS and all sorts of supplies fur
nfshed freight in one direction, and wheat,
corn, oats, hogs and cattle made a re-
turn business. Chicago, Milwaukee, Min
neapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, St. 10, Du-
luth, and scores of smaller cities and towns
were growing up as no series of towns
were ever growing before, never were so
much intelligence, so much enthusiasm.
SO much optimism in any region in all the
history Of the world.
AS look back upon it all, it seems to
me that the most optimistic the most en-
thusiast1c, the most aspiring community
OF all that series Of high strung and high
spirited towns, was the one located on
both banks of the Mississippi at the falls
or st. Anthony. Wherever Minneapolis
man went he pronounced that long
strange, half-Indian half Greek name,
minneapolis" so boldly and so many
times over as to convey an impression
somewhat analogous to that produced by
a sklllful placing of mirrors which multi
plies objects MANIFOLD and produces fairy
land vistas. In those days a single Min
neapois man in the smoking room of a
railroad car managed to give to strangers
the impression that two-thrds of the
people on the cars were from Minneapolis.
The name Minneapolis doomed up more
bravely than any other on hotel registers
In those days, even as now. the Minnea-
politans were great travelers-especially
IN the winter t1me-and they had a fixed
habit of praising their own bracing cli-
mate wherever they went to escape it.
Il remember being in Paris one winter
in the late eighties, and when I told Ger
tain witty Frenchman that I was from
Minneapolis he asked And how large a
city, pray, is this Minneapolis?' I gave
him in round fgures-in anticipation of
the loyal and whole hearted work that I
knew Charley Johnson and the local CEN
sus committee Of respected citizens was
going to perform in 1890; and he ex-
| claimed, Impossible! Impossible! Only
100000! Why, monsieur, I assure you I
have met more than 100000 Minneapolis
people here in Paris this winter -
Il was in the strangers gallery of the
house of commons late one night when the
debates were extremely tedious, and there
was only one other visitor in parliament.
He was evidently an Englishman, and we
edged little nearer together because it
was lonesome, and we fell into a whispered
| conversation. had just run over from
the United States, and he had never been
| In America. Moreover, he said, There
is only one human being in the whole
| western hemisphere that am acquainted
| with and he IS a cousin of mine that went
| to a town that they call Minneap oils.
! What is his name?' I asked. and he told
| me. Well said, dined with the only
| man you know in the western hemisphere
only last week. 49,:
| II was once in Egypt and climbed the
| Great Pyramid in the night in order tc
| see the sun rise over the Nile Valley from
the summit An Arab from the neighbor-
! ing Bedouin village brought me up cof-
| fee, and when he found I was from Amer
lea he declared that he had good friends
in the great country across the sea. :
| asked him venture who his friends
might be, and he named Tom Lowry an6
! Colonel John r. West of Minneapolis. y
could spend half an hour in multiplying
illustrations of the righteousness. of the
sons by adoption Of the place the st. Pau
| newspapers used to call Slab Town.
These optimists managed to spread
throughout the earth the name and fame
of their wonderful city, which they fondlJ
believed was destined to become the me
tropolis of North America. "
Rivalry Of the Twins.
II entered newspaper work in Mime
apOlis a few weeks before the completion
of the Northern Pacific railroad. Will
forty or fifty representatives Of as many
Associated Press newspapers, made TIL.
preliminary trip over the line in order t
help advertise 1t, and especially to boon
the Yellowstone park as a great attrac
ton. Those who remember the rival eel
ebrations in St. Paul and Minneapolis OF
the opening Of this transcontinental rail
road line, a little more than nineteen year
ago, must forever retain such an impress
sion Of intense local patriotism and O
municipal rivalry as no other event in: thi
county has ever called forth.
l. doubtless the rivalry between St. Pau
and Minneapolis had its elements of dis
advantage. A failure to pull harmoniousl
together may at some times have bee1
detrimental to BOTH. But there is such
thing as a rivalry that leads to larger an
more generous effort, that prevents stag
nation, that furnishes an ever-ready basi
of comparison, that helps. in short, to ge
things done. And, it would be easier
I think, to show that both st. Paul an
Minneapolis have been, and must perma
, nently be, finer and better cities in man
, respects for the sharp emulation betwee
them. Very few communities anywher
< are one-half or one-tenth as lic-spir
, tied as they ought to be. The rivalry Q
, the twin cities kept the lamp of publ
spirit ever trimmed and burning: Per
haps however, to change the smile, sue
rivalry at times made local public spiri
burn. it's candle at both ends.
II am not SO intimately informed nov
as was a few years ago. But remem