The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-26
GIVES SPACE TO
THE. CIIY'S WIRES
NORTHWESTERN TELEPHONE
|. COMPANY, AGREES TO A PLAN.
Fire Alarm and Police Signal System
! Wires Will Go Underground in Con-
Quits. Saving Thousands Of Dollars
to the City More Money for Build
ing Inspector and Police Department.

G. P. .Wainman,, vice president and
general manager of the Northwestern
agreed, on behalf 81 the Company, to
give the. city what space may be re-
CURED in the company's conduits for
the wires. of theasfre and police de-
partnlent alarm and signal system. A
letter to. that effect was received today
by thesboard of taxsleYy after friend
~ difference with MI: wv amman earlier
il the dasSIathis Sletter the COM
pany agrees to s4nEnish, space for the
fire alarm iresasoApng as the space
is not required to eaffY1the eompany's
wires. In the event that the company
will be given the city, to give ample
tine 81 for making other arrangements 1g1
Will be provided for the, city wires.
This arrangement, which will save
the city thousands Of dollars, was made
largely thru the .thoughtfulness Of
Mayor David P. Jones. u When Chief
.J: r. Canterbury Of the fire department
reported that he had to have, his wires
in conduits to comply with the law,
Mayor Jones suggested that Mr.. Vain.
man be- invited to 4attend: meeting
of the board. He~-did So, and the
plight of the city with regard to con-
=duit service was presented+.by Mr.
Jones. :, AS wires. had been ordered un,
derground IN the business district, the
zeity::should=be7 the~ffstzto set the ex.
ample. It could not, however, con
struct conduit system except at 8
great expense. Under its franchise
the Tri-State Telephone company is
obliged to give the city conduit space
but there, is no such provision in the
Northwestern S franchise Mr.. Vain
man man intimated that his company was
fully as public spirited as any corpoa.
ton in the city, and promised to enter
into an agreement with the city.
Building Inspection.
James G. Houghton, the building in
spector, appeared before the board K
1907 had increased from $17,
$780, the amount appropriated thi:
year, to $4,000. He quoted figures
to show how the department. IS worl
had been increased. For the first eigh
months Of the present year there hat
been: issued 1856 permits, an increas
Of sos permits over the corresponding
period Of last year. The cost of thu
building improvements for the las
elgnt months was 81 ,oll,532, an lncrea
oyer the corresponding period Of 1868,
900: He needed additional help in. or
der to make the inspections what the,
should #be. Moreover his assistant
were So expert in their lines that the,
had received tempting offers from
other quarters and.in order to retai1
the men j it was advisable to offer bette
salaries. aSf
7 Mayor Jones and Secretary Ralpl
W: ,Wheelock spoke Of the needs of tn
police department. for which an esti
mate of. $272,0o0"3 is made. This in
cludes a slight increase in the payroll
on account. of a .numbers of frst-yea
men becoming second-year men. Mayo
Jones. recommended that provision b
made for increasing the wages Of tn
police force. He quoted from report
of many other cities to- show that tn
police payroll was far below the aver
age Of large cities: Practically a.
classes of the public. service had re
ceived increases in salary with the ea
Eception Of the police force.