The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-09
SAYS CITY HAS NOT
been HTRAVAGANT
DR.. S. G. Smith Discusses Vital
Questions in Municipal AT.
fairs at Peoples Church.

At the Peoples church last evening DR..
S. G. Smith delivered a sermon on the
subject of "Vital Questions in City At
fairs" and took the stand that the city
has not been eXtraVagant in the past;
that a large issue of bonds should be pro-
vided for that if it is impossible to en-
force the laws against the social evil
they should be repealed; that if the
past is to be taken as a criterion of the
future it is possible that it would be
better to repeal the prohibition law af-
fecting the Midway district and that if
open saloons on. Sunday cannot be sup
pressed the law should be repealed.
DR., Smith also treated other matters
from the standpoint of a man who has
come in close contact with city admins
trations.
The sermon created a very favorable
impression on a large audience, being
particularly Endorsed in its reference to
public improvements, which DR.. Smith
believes should be provided for by a
large bond issue, the construction to ex-
tend over a series of years. A number of
the city officials and Mayor Mayor Smith
attended.
DR.. Smith did not advocate any par
ticular Improvement, but took the general
ground that the cities which have be-
come most prosperous have an immense
bonded Indebtedness, and held that
Kitchen finance" cannot be applied to a
municipality.
DR.. Smith said in part:
City Is Still Here.
The election is over and we still have
our city in which our people justly have
pride. The general prosperity that pre-
walls. the wisely administered charities to
the comparatively few in need, the gem
eral intelligence and virtue of our citi-
zens, the prevalence of beauty and thrift
are all sources of congratulation The
wen administered. All departments of
the public service while not in every re-
spect ideal, are efficient
Lecky says that civilization has been
more successful in suppressing crime tina n
IN suppreSSing vice. That is certainly
true of this city. We have comparatively
little crime Probably in. no city in the
world of its size can better record be
shown. But that is not true in the matter
of vice. 1t is cOnfessedly more difficult
70 punish vice than to punish crime
When crime is committed, not only the
person injured but the entire community
demands that the tranSgreSsor shall nav
the penalty of the law. Men do not feel
about drunkenness or RIGHTEOUSNESS as
they do about theft. Men will not place
sunday observance on the same basis
as burglary or assault. Here then is the
the justice of this view. / am simnlv
stating that it is the practical difficuItv
with which administrators of the law
have to deal Meantime the laws against
vice, which are not enforced have a
definite function of corruption
Better to Repeal Law.
1t is not so certain that the prohibition
law for the Midway district is better and
more conservative of public morals judg-
ing from the past. than would be open and
regularly licensed saloons contributing To
the government. 1t is not in the omen
Sunday saloons that the offenSe is created
nut the real offenSe lies in teaching the
people 10 violate the law. Would II NOT
De better TO have such laws repealed IL
they cannot be enforced?
In the course of a very few years this
CITY increased in population fourfold
IL was necessary to provide the essential
of commercial life for this sudden access
OF population To do it by direct tax
alton was impossible. and had it been
possible, II would not have been right.
The city debt arose out OF the efforf RI
create FACILITIES for a people who had
expanded into territory capable of being
the home of million souls For such q
task there was no prior experience 1t
was inevitable that mistakes should he
made. Some mistakes doubtless were
made.
But on the whole the debt of the CITY
represents value, and secured essentials tn
public comfort. AS a political war crv
the question of debt has been very Suc-
ceSSful. But the wisdom OF reducing the
debt In period of financial depression.
and when there were still great public
needs Is by no means clear.
The doctrine pay as you go is to make