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Show I'll CJslen fcetbp. ! g Ogden, Utah, June G. In the long ago J jj, there was in Ogden what was known in . . & politics as the water works question. For i several years it was kicked and cuffed )j,i about, until it landed in the platform of h j j the Republican party at the city convenes conven-es jj tion which nominated Bill the buffalo for H ;m mayor. After that The Question loomed H up like a giant ready to destroy every B I V one against it, or insure tlie political suc-Kii' suc-Kii' cess of those candidates who stood for V it. The Question became the issue on H;r Jl4 which the campaign turned and the Re-H Re-H Is publican ticket Avon. In order to win, H h the Republicans promised the people that fl , The Question would be settled in ninety Hj "1 days after assuming office. In other j ,V words the system of water works in gen-H gen-H J eral use in Ogden city would become the H H property of the city i. e., the people, and B 1 1 ' upon this promise the people elected the 1 aforesaid Bill, who for the nonce, was m ( called Bill the Wise, as mayor. m i H H V l1 About a year ago Matt Browning was Hj,f mayor and n. n. Thomas was president f- ' of the council. These gentlemen burned T the midnight oil studying The Question. J They examined all its forms. The con- H elusion they arrived at was that the only possible chance for the city to get con- H , trol of the water system was to buy from H ' '" the owners. Accordingly, after much H travail and sore tribulation, an offer was M made the water company to pay 45,000 H j for the stock of the company the city W 1 to assume, of course, the obligation of H , ' paying the annual interest of 20,000 on H ,( the bonds held by eastern capitalists, l ' agaist the system. As the earning ca- H J ' pacity of the water works at present rates Bp V was about 50,000 annually the mayor H and president were satisfied they had H made a good bargain. Not so the people. H iH I w i j There is no question that public opin- H j I ion is created, fostered, swayed and bun- H ; '' coed by the newspapers. When Bill H U'l Glasmann and Mayor Littlefleld each got HHj Jj out a lurraraer about nine-tenths of the Hlh people began to knock. In a series of HI III i lessons which find no parallel in mathe- H BE matics, they stood and showed that "the B IS I deal" meant in the end a total cost of Hill! al)0Ut $750000 to the Pei)le for the HV water system. Indignation meetingg HhS were held and the mayor and council HHjfflL were ridiculed as children in finance, if HEji! not commission merchants in disguise. BBREy There were those who openly declared HxBi there was to be a "cut up';, whatever that HHMI may mean. The artists of the graft who HHI1 manipulated the indignation meetings were not in on the "cut up." They had not been consulted in the negotiations. The poor mayor and council were up against it. They had no newspaper, though Bill offered them the free use of his columns to defend thevr proposition, reserving the right to tear their arguments argu-ments to tatters after his own peculiar methods, in a subsequent issue. What could they do? The people and press were against them. Every attempt to move was thwarted by au injunction. Nothing was left but to lay down; so down they went, and The Question, now the size of a mountain, was rolled over them till they were flatteued beyond the pale of political recognition. In the chaos of the rout, Prest. Eccles of the water company withdrew the acceptance of the offer from the city, and quiet was restored. The advocates of "city ownership owner-ship without paying for it" walked the streets rampant, while The Question hung with mighty menace over the city. Then came the city election and The Question entered politics. Bill was nominated nom-inated because the people recognized him as the leader of the water fight. The Question was turned ove to him. lie threw his paper Avide open and the people had water works every day for four turbulent, tur-bulent, wearying weeks. It was Bill who made the famous ninety-day declaration, lie assured the people it was a cinch. He trotted out the -state constitution and proved beyond peradventure of doubt, that the Avay to take the water works was by "eminent domain." lie kept up his eminent domain racket until he had a comparative majority of the people buncoed bun-coed out of their last reserve of common sense, and he was elected. The cry of victoiy from five points of Berch creek echoed from the mountain to West Ogden. It was a glad day. The Question had been settled. No sooner had the Republican officers of-ficers warmed the chairs of their predecessors predeces-sors than they began to hedge on the water works. The city attc rney hastened to deny that he had fathered the ninety-day ninety-day proposition. The Standard shut up titer than a clam and no word on The Question has escaped it to this day. The ninety days were up April 1st, and what an April fool was there, my countrymen ! Not a move has been made, not an in oh of ground gained. The mayor spends his cfP'iial I i ..i in iKir.'ling th' council se 1m ted samples of warm packages, while the councilmen turn the council meetings meet-ings into free, open roasts for the mayor. The water company is still drawing dividends div-idends while the people go home and ponder over a choice gold brick, labelled "The Question." There is but one word more before the finale is reached. The whirligig of jus tice is sometimes a little slow in getting round, but when it gets there Mayor Browning and n. II. Thomas will be recognized rec-ognized as two of the ablest representatives representa-tives the people ever had. The present city government has already arrived at the conclusion that the one opportunity for getting possession of the water works was when Messrs. Browning and Thomas had the purchase well in hand. Already the people are preparing to kick themselves them-selves for spoiling the only chance for doing' business with the water company. The lesson Ave learn from these sad Avords, Willie dear, is that the action of the peo pie is sometimes incomprehensible; and the moral is : Public opinion moulded ty bunco-steerers is liable not to assay verj fine. No my dear Gaston, there will be no Morning Sun. That Avas only a little ex periment Bill Avas trying on the people's credulity. No, he had no Associated Press franchise. That Avas just a little fun he Avas having Avith the Salt Lake papers. It Avas one of Bill's jokes. You see, to get a morning franchise he Avould have to get the consent of the Tribune and Ilerald, and as these papers Avere not consulted the joke readily appears Yes, he still oavus the Standard; that Avas the best joke of all. The Avay of it Avas, Bill expected to touch the pocket nerve of some of his rich political associates, but the pocket nerve is exceedingly sen sitive, you know. Col. Mazuma Avas a little off his feed, and there Avas nothing doin'. That's where the joke comes in Bill is so fond of a good, rich joke. And so, vale Sun, vive Standard. After yon, my dear Alphonse. |