The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-31
IT'S A CRYING NEED
NEW AUDITORIUM PROJECT is Be
ING ACTIVELY DISCUSSED
BY CITIZENS
CITY MIGHT ISSUE BONDS
Some Talk of Applying to LegisIa-
ture for PermissiOn-PropOs
to Anticipate the Mayors
Emergency Fund.

Discussion anent a new auditorium for
st. Paul since the burning down of the
Peoples church has taken on an ener-
gettc phase, and now promise is given
of an appeal to the coming session of
the legislature to secure permission for
the issuance of bonds by the city suffi-
cient to give st. Paul building it has
long needed.
Since the new charter went into effect
the indiscriminate issue Of bonds for any
purpose has been prohibited and now all
that can be done is to either have the
charter amended or follow it's instruc-
ton to the extent of putting the proposed
bond issue to a vote of the people. 1t
is not likely that either would result in
success, and now the proposition is ad-
vanced to secure permission from the
state legislature.
AS an auditorium is not in the strict
sense of the word, municipal institu-
ton, the city legal department has ex-
pressed doubt as to the right of the city
to either build or provide for the main
tenance of such a building, and if this
holds, the legislature will have to be
appealed to in any event to make cor
rection.
The present barn-like structure on
Eighth street is just now being main
tanned through the generosity of the may
or'S emergency fund, but owing to the
many demands on this particular fund,
such a drain cannot continue long.
The emergency fund amounts to $4,000
a year.
Last year the council anticipated the
fund for 1902 to the extent of nearly
$4,000 for the purposes of taking care of
a number of conventions. This was found
to be feasible, and now one official pro-
poses that it be done again in order to
give the proposed auditorium a start.
He proposes that the council pledge the
fund for the next ten years, the CONNER
cial club or some other organization to
use this pledge in borrowing the S100, 600
that the ten years would represent
Must BE Fireproof.
Mayor Smith says st. Paul certainly
needs an auditorium of fireproof CON
struction. The charter he says, forbids
bond issue unless the taxpayers vote for
it, but he would advise an appeal to
the charter commission for the prepara-
ton Of an amendment allowing a sale of
bonds for a new library which could al
so include an auditorium. Both could be
combined and would get around the city's
right to build and maintain building
of the latter kind. He thinks the two
would go together very WELL and be-
yond the possibility of the passage of a
law by the legislature permitting an is
sue of bonds, will be about the only way
that st. Paul will ever get a new audit
orium. He says the merchants and citi-
zens generally will be willing to aid with
money but the city must furnish at
least a portion of it.
The members of the library board as a
rule do not take kindly to the PROPOSE
ton of a combination library building
and auditorium and would in all proba-
bility veto such proposition. They now
have in view a new library building, and
don't care to carry any side issues that
might result in severely handicapping it.
The Commercial club appeared before
the conference committee last December
and asked that $4,000 be placed in the
budget for a new auditorium. 1t had to
be refused as the charter prohibited it,
but the committee went on record as
favoring the scheme and went so far as
to instruct the legal department to pre-
pare an amendment for submission to the
charter commission asking for authority
and also a request to the legislature that
a law be passed allowing such.
Project to Be Agitated.
The Commercial club is now deep in
the matter and has arranged for a series
of meetings at which the question will
be discussed and committees named TO
take up the work in detail The consensus
of opinion is that if 100000 can be Sc
cured from the city, the remainder will
be forthcoming from the merchants in
general, without any delay.
While the Peoples church was adequate
as rule for all demands upon it, opinion
seems to be in favor of a building Of
greater capacity, and one that could be
divided off into smaller spaces as oc-
casion demands. 1t should be thorough
ly freproof. Architects say such a build
ing would cost between $4,000 and $780,
600.
The directors of the burned Peoples
church have taken up the matter of
new building, but it is hardly likely in
the event that it Is rebuilt that it will
be as large or as commodious as the old.
The building on Eighth street is still
available but Building Inspector Wheeler
says it is unsafe and must come down
soon if steps are not taken to remedy
the defects he has pointed out.