Show TIlE CITY COUNCIL If things go on as they have been running run-ning since the Liberal council was sworn in and assumed control it wont be very long before there will go forth a popular and earnest demand that the municipal legislature legisla-ture resign This demand will not bo confined con-fined to a political party but will be supported sup-ported by all bona fide citizens who own property within the corporate limits The CDuncU has been in just three months and it has succeeded in disgusting the community commu-nity Oqe of its first acts was to give tho city a black eye and check the prosperity which was upon us That was the discontinuance discon-tinuance cof a work on the joint city and county building That structure had been started the money was in the treasury to complete it and people confidently expected that the undertaking under-taking would progress There was something some-thing stimulating and encouraging in the fact that the city and county were going to expend a large sum of money and add to the beauty and attractiveness of the city The council ordered the suspension of work and at once a chill ran through the community com-munity Following this order there was circulated a rumor that a scheme was on foot to undo all that had been done and in the interest of real estate owners select anew a-new site for the building Mayor SCOTT now denies that there was any foundation for the rumorcand he may be correct but there is getting around a feeling that the mayor is not as familiar with what goes on around the city hall as he might be At any rate he cannot deny that the rumor prevailed and had its effect Week after week nothing was heard in the council concerning the building and finally the people in mass meeting > demanded that I work on the structure bo resumed Much evil had been done by the delay however through the discouragement that had been caused Then the council with a recklessness reckless-ness that made peoples hair stand on end published notices of intention to lay about fourteen miles of cement sidewalk pavement pave-ment at 2 per foot running tho walks into the suburbs past potato patches and where there was not the least call or demand de-mand for the improvement Property owners were alarmed They were unaccustomed unac-customed to such recklessness and extravagance extrava-gance They feared they would be ruined by extreme and unnecessary taxation We know of some who were so much frightened that they tried to sell their lots and get away before they were pauperized pau-perized Meantime there was talk about extensive street paving The official sala ries had all been increased and some of them doubled tho police forchad been more than doubled both as to number and cost new offices were created and filled and big salaries paid the occupants Recklessness Reck-lessness and extravagance marked everything every-thing the council did How to spend money fastest seemed to be the study And with it all there was a current of boodle talk jobs and jobbing being charged until the council is today looked upon with suspi cionand people do not hesitate to suggest that there is crookedness in this measure or that one as it is advanced in the board THE HERALD does not believe the councilmen council-men have been bought or bribed as men charge but wo do believe theyhav shown a woful lack of capacity the council coun-cil being in no sense equal to the task oi managing as they should be managed the affairs of this city At their last session Tuesday evenincr they dealt the city another fearful blow by rushing througb without previous notice ana without discussion dis-cussion as if the matter had been secretly agreed upon a blanket franchise intended to depreciate the value of the street railway rail-way and injure financially and discourage the enterprising men who had expended half a million dollars in building up a street railway system that is the pride and boast of the citizens and which has done more than anything else to enhance the value of real estate Can it bo expected that men with capital will come hero and invest their money if tho city will not keep faith with them I If the now streetcar street-car company knew that when its lines were completed and in operation another concern con-cern would be granted the right to parallel its tracks and divide the traffic how much money would the Rapid Transit people put into tics iron and cars 1 Not much we take it There is mighty little that the new council coun-cil has done that is not open to criticism Recklessness and incompetency are marked features of pretty nearly everything Extravagance Ex-travagance is seen on every hand and in all that is done The people without re gard to party or politics are not only losing confidence as they seo the injurious effects of tho councils operations but arc growing indignant as they note the fact that instead in-stead of being progressive the council is a hindrance to progress threatening and alarming citizens with outrageous taxation and frightening capital from investments that would prove beneficial to the city Ihere must come halt in tho recklessness and a change of methods or there will be such popular indignation as will overwhelm and crush the council ffhe people will not submit to it They are patient and longsuffering long-suffering but there is a limit to their powers of endurance and there are in the air signs that the limit has aboutf been reached The mischief that has been wrought in three months is sufficient tofill them with the direst fears when they think of the twentyone months remaining of the present governments life |