The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-26

| While certain of the Republican
spellbinders have been bowling them
selves hoarse relative to proposed in
| creased allowances to different city de-
partments, they have apparently lost
sight of the fact that the charter COM
mission is Republican, and that practi-
cally all of the requests for additional
! allowances have come from Repub-
| lican sources.
The charter commission, without the
| consent of which additional apprOpria
lions cannot be made, is composed of
| ten Republicans and five Democrats.
| Republicans. 3. Doran, F. w. ZOll
man, James E. Markham, w. B. Web
ster, E. p. Sanborn, H. c. McNair, H.
e. w. Schuette, F. NJ. Catlin, Henry
| Won der Weyer and John Blomquist,
seven of whom have been in office as
Republicans. Democrats. G. Mi
| chael, E. j. Cannon, Charles Gordon,
E. c. Ives and J. D. Armstrong.
thorough illustration is given in
this of the fact that the Democrats
! money for the departments, as the Re
! publicans have two votes to their one,
| and could therefore at any time stop
| any movement in the direction indi-
| gated. But not only is this true, but
| the Republican officials have in nearly
| every instance led the fights for in
! creased salaries, and the Democratic
|
| majority when the arguments in favor
| of such course were overwhelming.
First Proposal From Corning
| One of the first of the proposals
came from ]. w. L. Corning, Republic
| an candidate for alderman from the
| Seventh ward, who held that the mem
! bers Of the city council should be paid
| at least $500 year, instead of the 800
| they now receive. He sent a long COM
ion
| IN which he pointed out that the SAL
| aries OF a Minneapolis councilman is
| $500 year, and asserting that the
| payment of the nominal salary allowed
In St. Paul imposes an unnecessary
| hardship. There was considerable dis
cussion at meeting of the commission
| on the subject, 1t being evident that
practically all of the members were in
| favor of the increase. Four of the Re
| publ1canS had themselves served in
| the council and they were unanimously
of the opinion that the work was worth
| at least $50 a month.
James E. Markham, until a short
time ago Republican corporation at
torney and a stanch party man, pro-
posed and advocated an increase in the
mayors salary from $4,000 to at least
$4,000. Mr.. Markham also urged that
| the powers of the mayor be increased
asserting that in a CITY of the size of
Der of the police commission, if there is
to be commission, and should be di-
rectly responsible for the conduct of
the police department.
Increase the Police Force.
A report was received from a recent
| grand jury, signed by ]. J. Cullen, w.
H. Elsinger and G. B. Bowlby, urging
that the commission make some pro-
vision whereby at least twenty men
could be added to the police force. This
opened up the question Of the needs of
| the police department, and by unani-
nous vote of the commission Chief
John ]. O'COnnor was invited to send
in communication setting forth what
| he considered the most vital necesSi-
| ties. In reply the chief said that he did
| need more men to cover the city thor
| oughly and pointed out the weak spots
| in the patrol system, due entirely to the
| fact that the funds were not sufficient
| to hire the proper number of men.
| The chief did not suggest a given al
| lOWance, but every member of the COM
mission, including Republicans, voted
| in favor of a tentative agreement that
| the increase for the police department
| should be $4,000 year. 1t was shown
| in the discussion, in which the Repub-
| licans upheld the police department,
| the same appropriation is now made
! for the police department, with a city
| of 18O, 1000, as in 1887, when there were
| 10000 people in the city.
$4,000 Increase for Fire Department.
AS to the fire department there came
| a demand from the insurance COM
| panies that received it's principal sup
| port from Republicans, with the result
| that the Republicans voted in favor of
| recommending an increase of 100000 a,
| year in the allowance for fire service.
A report was asked from the board of
fire commissioners, the reply being
| that $4,000 is needed at the present
| time to make needed improvements
| and that it would require an additional
| $4,000 a year to restore the salaries of
| the firemen to the point they were be-
| fore the reduction.
At the request of the Republican
chairman of the commission the city
engineer sent in a request that the
street and sewer fund be increased
| from $4,000 to $250,000, the same Off
cial suggesting that his allowance for
sprinkling be increased to 5000. No
action was taken on this request.
The proposed increase for the wa
ter department cannot be clasSed as
such. The board of water commits
sioners merely asked for the privilege
of issuing water bonds, the proceeds to
be used in extending the mains. The
argument was used that by extending
| the mains the income OF the Depart
ment would be increased. All water
department bonds must be paid by the
same department, and instead of being
an obligation against the city are a
lien against the water plant.
J. A. Wheeiock Raises Question.
]. A. Wheelock, Republican, raised
the question involving the most i'm
pOrtant of all increases. For the park
board, of which he is president, Mr..
; Wheelock urged that all uneXpended
balances at the end of the fiscal year
shall be carried over to the credit of
the department having the balance.
, The present charter requires that all
such balances shall be reserved for the
redemption of bonds. In some years
the balances amount to many times
the amount of the proposed increase
: in the allowances for the departments
) Comptroller Betz agreed with Mr.
: Wheelock, and argued that if the bal
: ances are kept to the credit of the de-
partment he could conceive, how the
: practice would encourage the depart
ments to save money from year. to
year for the purpose of making perma l.
nent improvements. He held that the
present practice inevitably leads to the
c entire amount Of the appropriations
c being used each year, there being nc
particular object in saving small