Evening star., 1905-11-11
A Chat With the Mayor.

| ed with the apartment house craze, al
though I am told some large fats are IN
contemplation.
A Chat With the Mayor.
In order to give you the latest informa-
ton as to the new Montreal, called upon
the mayor. 1 found him in his Office In the
city hall, four-story light gray stone
building opposite the French market and
not far from the river. 1 heard nothing but
French spoken as passed through the mar
ket on my way TO the mayors office. There
We're notices printed in French pasted side
by side with the English notices In the hall
ways and every door had a French and
English sign over it. The mayor was speak
ing in French to a delegation when I en-
tered, and l was not surprised to find that
he himself is of French Canadian descent.
His name is Mr.. II. La Porte. and in ad-
dressing him one calls him Your Worship"
Mayor La Porte speaks English as well as
French. About two-thirdS of the city over
which he rules is French, but the other
third is English, and the business must
therefore be conducted in both languages.
l opened the conversation by asking him
to tell me something about the Montreal of
1905. His worship replied:
Montreal is thriving as never before. 1t
has increased in population 10000 in the
nast five years. It has more than 100000
citizens now. and 1t will soon have half
million. We are taking in the suburbs
just as your great cities have done, and
are creating a Greater Montreal We shall
dUQ SeNeTdi SUBURBS 10 the CITY To-Day. we
have a large outside population, which is
now governed by its own little municipali
ties. Within short time these will all be
a part OF Montreal"
A Cosmopolitan City.
Give me some idea Of the character of
your people, your worship" said l.
II believe We are the most cosmopolitan
municipality on the continent. About 70
per cent of us are French and a large part
of the balance English Canadians. We
have also many Americans. Germans, Bel
gians, Italians, Chinese and a great num-
Der of English, Irish and Scotch. Our peo-
pie are of all classes. We do an immense
deal of manufacturing, and we have the
workingmen with their turbulent ele-
ments. We are the Atlantic gate to Canada,
and large proportion OF our immigrants
from Europe pass through here. We are
also a residential city. and city of the
rich Many Canadians who have made
fortunes have their homes here, and
magnificent homes, too. We have resi-
dences which have cost in the neghbor-
hood of a million dollars more. This is
city of many churches and many creeds.
Indeed il Is a world in itself, and 1t Is a
wonder that it is as quiet and as orderly
as it is.'
Montreal is Well Managed.
'It must be costly city to run, is 1t
not?' said I.
Yes. We collect taxes to the amount
of three or four million dollars year. but
the money Is we'll spent, and 1 doubt If
Montreal costs as much as any city of It's
size in the United States. We have an ex-
cellent police force, numbering four or
five hundred, and this has not increased
more than one-third within the last twenty
years. We have good water service and
are gradually improving our streets A few
years ago our sidewalks were almost all
made of boards. We are now putting
down fifteen miles of new pavement every
year. There was an attempt some time
ago to widen the old thoroughfares, but
II cost so much that.we had to call a halt.
We are now going more slowly, but we are
improving"
How about graft your worship? Is
there much boodling in Montreal?'
Il don't think / had better answer that"
replied the mayor. although I might safely
say that Montreal is perhaps better than its
sister cities of similar size throughout
the world as regards such matters. How
ever, l don't want to discuss the graft
question. If l say there is none here 1
shall be charged with blowing my own
horn and those who think differently Will
rot believe me. If say graft does exist, it
others that question"
Municipal Ownership.
How about the city owning the fran
-hises for great public utilities? In there
any movement here in that directionY"
les, repneo the mayor or Montreal. II
think we are slowly drifting toward munic-
ipal ownership. and the day may some time
come when the city will own the street
railroads, the lighting plants. and other
things OF that nature. We are now having
trouble with gas companies. and we de-
mand that they cut down their rate to con-
sumers We want reduction of 40 cents
q thousand of of the present rate OF SI2O
q thousand. Gas can profitably be manu-
factured at 20 cents a thousand, and IL
Montreal will pay so cents the Companies
should not complain"
Are you native OF Montreal. your wor
ship?" I asked.
mo. ! was born within fifteen miles of
the city, but came here as a boy and have
lived In Montreal all my life I like the
city, and have every confidence In Its i'm
mediate and ultimate prosperity
FRANK G. CARPENTER
Algeria has a river of genuine ink.
caused by the Joining OF two streams, one
OF which comes from an iron region. while
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