The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-30
A CASE OF POLITICAL PIRACY.

A CASE OF POLITICAL PIRACY.
Til e Gle b e has observed with some
curiosity the outcome of AssembIyman
WheeIer's attack on the official honesty
of Mayor Smith, including the former
PERSONS endeavor to cover his tracks
through his wordy communication in the
Dispatch.
Had Mr.. Wheeler confined himself in his
speech before the Roosevelt club to en-
Tightening the world as to his peculiar
view of the kind of mayor which the
LEGAL Republican politicians are trying to
secure, there would have been nothing to
consider; but when he accompanied that
definition by his statement that if the
city of st. Paul had had an honest and
fearless mayor within the past year GER
tain measures which the mayor approved
would be vetoed, he shows, as his later
| communication establishes, that he can
asperse another mans honor without
knowing it, or that. having done so, he
can prove himself both unwilling and I'M
able to sustain such aspersicn.
Having gracelessly withdrawn his often
sive reference to Mayor Smith, Mr.
| Wheeler thought the occasion warranted
him in playing little politics for the
| gain Of his fellow Republican politicians.
Mayor Smith has effectually disposed of
Mr.. Wheeler's political by-play. But the
! Pioneer Press comes to the rescue of its
| party friend and adds the force of its
| Endorsement to what Mayor Smith fitting
iy designates as Mr.. Wheeler's bun
combe.
The game Of Wheeler and his party or
gan is politics. Their attempt is to fasten
on the head of the Democratic city ad-
| ministration the charge of having in
spirit of personal complaisance done or
omitted that which has cost the CITY
! large sums of money. The charge is both
false and foolish. The Pioneer Press
knows that it is both Whether Mr.
| Wheeler had such knowledge may or
may not be open to question; but he has
been forced by Mayor Smith into a posi-
ton where his sense of manliness was
| tested. and he met the test in a manner
which shows him to be but very bitter
and narrow political partisan, with all
that that implies.
The mayor appears to have been called
on to execute a contract for gasoline
lighting which had been awarded to the
Development company. The form of that
contract was submitted by the corporation
attorney, and the duty devolved on the
mayor to execute it on behalf of the city.
| 1t was purely ministerial duty. The
mayor had no option save to execute it.
The city charter is clear that he had no
other option If he failed to execute it
he would have refused to discharge a
| duty which is imposed on him by law,
and which is expressly set forth in the
resolution itself. The pretense that he
is to be blamed for refusing to execute
a contract thus submitted to him offers
merely another instance Of the lengths
of untruth to which partisan political
ends may lead
Inc case sought to be made out by
Mr.. Wheeler against the mayor with ref
erence to paving contracts reveals that
gentleman and his political organ as
equally unjust and Irresponsible What
ever influence may have operated with
the council in establishing the require
ment that a ten years guarantee should
be exacted from the paving contractors,
the effect of the mayors approval Of the
resolution making the guarantee neces-
sary has been, as he points out to cause
the board of public works to embody in
each contract which it has since
made for brick or stone pavement pro-
vision for five years guarantee.
Nothing Of the kind was ever thought
of by that body before; but the valuable
requirement is now realized in every such
contract Notwithstanding the declared
opinion of the city attorney that the ten
year guarantee insisted on in the resolu-
ton could not be enforced. Has this been
an injury to the people of the city? How
much has it cost the taxpayers? How