A Narrow Escape

The city luis just had a narrow escape from f.illing liclile.-s int o the hands of a monopoly for thnty years - Ihe period of a geiierallon. Tha plan was earefully I.iiii, prominent citizens were Interesten, ItMlIng aldrimen weresecured to advocate their intere-is, tlicy liada earefully wordad contract dr.iwu up by a ikilltul lawyer whkh was kept from sight until suddenly brouj;!it before tlie council, liastily iead and puïhed to iminedmte vote, all questions heilig choktd oll by the overbraring iiul liNiility mam. er of the aldermau who lia thown Mie most anxiety about it. If iliat contract had been allowed to stand we should have been plunytd into long and expensive suits with everjthing against us, or else we should have been couipelled to buy the works, at their price, in order to protect ourselves in the rights we luid giren away lor a mess of pottage. As we Mtd last week, e want walerworks, to lie put In by some reliable company, but wlicn the city j;ives away the monopoly of lts water supply for so long a time it is a vnliiable franchise, and we must see to it carcfnlly that we are properly proti-cted. Tliat we are not safe umlertliat contract may be Peen by the oniissions pointed out in another column. And they are only the few which oocur to a non 1 fial mltid. It Is ihought. by not a few that the cnmp.iny an not expeettng to bnild the works lo run Ihemselves, hut to st'll Ui the city. For instancc, mirht buil d thera for K'ss than a hundrcd tliousand dollars, then by pivinir us poor water and in n¦afflcient quantities, we would soon be glad to buy thfiu out al tlirce or four times the original cost. Furthermore, wc niight thcn have on our hand a cbeaply constiucted .-ystem which to put in Brei class condilion would cost nearly as inuch as fur new. It is earneitly to be boped t1 at no palm will be spaied by the committce of aldcrmeii to whom the matter is left to get everything in the contract which will protect the ('iry. They must be insüted iipon. Then if tliis company rel'uscs toagiee to thtm lliereare a plenty of olher companies which will give us water. The citlzeni will ri-int-tnber those straight aldernien who work for tho interests of the city. Our í'riend of the Argus, in an article upon the water works, says thls in speaking of the position taken by a majority of Ihe council upon the property qualilication qnestion: "The prinolple to wliich a m:ijoi ly of the couiuil is determlned to adhere ii uiideuiably a wiseone." In the iame artlcip, a Hule furtlicr on, lie renmiks on the same subject : "Witha ehief exerutive dlapotad to pander to non-taxable voters, and a perverse, unresoiiable niHJority in the council Dot one of whoni, providd thc-ir pie.-ent positionion tliis question bad been knowo to theiTconïtituency prior to clection, could have been elecird, etc." Tlien a man should be conderuned for upholding a principie that is right, .sliould In-? The queslion vottd upon at the polls liad DOthing to do with tearing to pi, ¦,. -m and revlcing nur city charter. The peo pie exprewed themselves as beingin favor of water works, and the snine memben of tlif council wlio voted to retata the safegiiMrds in the charter tliut had been there lor tliii ty jears, voted lor water works at the pl lí", and bellere they should be built, and will do all in their power to help secure llitm. Bnt there are grave questions to be considered in this biü-ini't-s. In giving awav the exclusive rk'ht (bottlng out all competltoiO f'r a peiiocJ of 30 years to this coinpany to foi'Dli'b water to this city, tbr riyhtsofthe people should be well protected. There should i.ot be nicfa hot liaste that Ihe Council who saddled the job upon the city woukl be forever cursed for their aotion in the matter. The people want waf er workf, but they ure not "hankeriiij; aller" law suits very nnirh. People wlio have Communications to to h paper ought to be rilling to at'acli to them tlieir own signatures. By iiot loing so tlic responsibility for the uiterancea contalned in their inicli-s ;irc ¦boulderrd on 10 the editor, mil quite uiten do hini a great injnstice by creatIng the impiession, that by printing the arlicle he endorses tlie sentinients expre.-sed. The editor cannot l'ide beliind ¦ nom de plume, neitlier can lie get iiny om' Ui ."tand op and t.ike tbc hard knocks llmt re iiiteiided for liis mvn .-imuldeis. He has a Mifflcicntly difflcult roail to tr ivel in tuking the nwpoimblllty tor liis own utteranoeN and pe ple wlio are acconimoil itt'd wilh space in a newspaper uujilit to bi' wlllinjC to assume responsibilily ibrwhat they say thereiu. The present tax law, framed by the tax coinmisHon, of which ex-Congressnian Hatch, of tlie lOth district was the eilief fuuliman, Hiid iawed ly the legislatme of 1882, has tieen derlared uncoiD'titutional bv tlit supictne cmirt. The law, llke its eliiet fraaier tsextremely .evcie. It takes the last I nHiim' trein the pooi' widow,nnd then reilt lur iioniciii a bonafide sal and tliere is no possiNe chance for mleinptio. Now the legttlatore luis an opportunity to trame a new law that shall be merci tul to the poor and jusij all.