The Mankato free press., 1914-10-23
Convention Welcomed 10 Kate
| By Mayor Meyer and iaa
z. M. cnrrisr
An Interesting Address Given
By President Isuks, 'rr no
s. Cloud %


teresting a !. ;tructive gathering
for city of IS was called to order
In Elks' ha en- o'clock this morn.
ing. j f As, city attorney OF
ST. Cloud : resident OF the Mime
sofa Lee Il Municipalities, pre-
sided oy e session. Many dele!
gates I, r. ties in the state we're
in after When the league was
ready IL siness Rev. Father A. j.
Hartman of st. Peter and Paurs
church invoked Divine blessing on
the work Of the convention.
Address Of Welcome. -.
Mayor A. G. Meyer then delivered
the following address of welcome.
"Mr. President and Gentlemen of
the Convention. | take great pleas
ure in welcoming you to our city.
In doing so It is impossible to dis
guise certain brotherly feeling to-
wards you all that animates me as I
look into your faces. We have all
a great many ideas, experiences and
feelings in common. We have all
been elected by the people OF our
respective communities to attend to
their public business for them, pre-
sumably because they saw In as
either some especial fitness and cap
ability for the work assigned US. or
because they thought we had the will
and desire to serve them well, or
probably for both reasons.
Extending Their Fitness.
I'VE are here, gentlemen again
by the will Of the people for the very
purpose of enlarging and extending
our fitness and capability to do the
peoples business, and for the further
purpose of fostering our enthusiasm
for the public good. For all public
efficiency consists Of two things, the
capacity to serve the public well and
the hearty desire to do so.
when we invited you last year to
hold this meeting in our city, we
called attention to the peculiar fit-
ness Of Mankato for a convention
place: a fitness due not only TO train
facilities and hotel Accommodations,
but TO the fact that Mankato has
faced all OF the problems generally
confronting municipalities OF our size
and has solved them all in the last
five or six years. First OF all comes
the fact that no city can really pro-
gress as long as II has partisan
spirit and Mankato was the first or
Minnesota cities to discard PARTISAN
ship. and put patriotism and local
loyalty in its place.
Can Look at the Result.
"You are here now and we in
vite you to look at the result and
Judge for yourselves. We invite you
to look at our parks, our miles OF
boulevards, our side walks, and paved
and unpaved streets, our fire depart
ment, our water works, In fact all
our municipal improvements, and IL
you admire we will say to you: This
and all this has been accomplished
In Mankato mostly In the last ten
years. and Is the result OF wider.
broader more intelligent and more
enthusiastic public spirit. -
City officials, we are glad to have
you with us. we are interested In the
same problems, the same ideas and
the same solutions. Our stay together
cannot but be productive OF much
Measure and much benefit.
eft Is with a feeling of confidence
that I hand over to you the keys
10 our city. This confidence arises
from the fact that the people Of your
respective municipalities have voted
upon you and selected you to attend
to their public affairs; the keys to
our city are not entirely a strange
sight for you: you come to us with
the endorsement OF the people OF
your respective municipalities, and
are here for the purpose OF serving
those people hereafter with greater
intelligence and increased ardor.
For these reasons i believe you can
be trusted with anything. even with
the keys of the city OF Mankato. so
here they are. Open every thing, see
everything. enjoy everything and ben.
,fit by everything.
"Once more. In the name OF the
city, of the city officials and OF all
the people, welcome you. one and
all to our beautiful little city"
Remarks BY ?. N. currier. is
F. NJ. Currier, on behalf OF the
citizens OF Mankato, emphasized the
" elcome that the mayor had already
extended In his official capacity. Mr..
Currier incidentally remarked that
he did not believe the citizens OF
Mankato would care to go back to
the old system OF government but
preferred to maintain the commits
sion plan. Mr.. Currier said there
was one subject that he thought the
convention should consider very seri-
ously and that was the matter OF
taxation Of city property. He de-
clared that the country property did
not pay half what the city property
did in proportion to Its actual value
He spoke Of many people having
city lots on which they had paid
taxes for many years. These lots. he
said, would In many cases sell for
little more than they brought four
score years ago. He said he did
not see just what should be done to
remedy this state Of affairs, but the
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