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Show NO.. BARK -LANTERN JOBBERY f The public of this city will resent with a strong and just Indignation any' secret understanding or arrangement between any Council committee, or any members of the Council, and- the Light and Railway Company, with respect to the proposal to extend that corporation's corpora-tion's franchises. There has been altogether alto-gether too much of this already, and in a rh6'st offensive form. The taxpayers of thjs city voted In -good faith for the Issue of a. million dollars in bonds to Improve and add to our water supply. Before anything could be done In the actual work of this addition and. Improvement, the company com-pany named . put Jn an application for the extension of its franchises for an additional fifty years beyond the forty years they have yet to run. It then turned out that this application wns part of the water' scheme; that the corporation cor-poration was' using its claim of a water wa-ter right that had not been used for fourteen years, to prevent the city's progress in the water plan, this precise right being essential to tho project; yet that right, having been unused for so long, was, prl5r to tho bond election ; of January 3, 1905, minimized both In the validity of tho claim of this company, com-pany, and In the value of it on the market mar-ket It also transpired that there had been some sort of a secret agreement between be-tween certain members of the Council and the officers of the company, that the franchises of the latter should bo extended, In consideration of the transfer trans-fer of this water right claimed but not us'ed by tho company. As to the precise pre-cise nature of this agreement or under- '. standing, thero are differences of statement: state-ment: but that thero was something detrimental to the city is evident, for . It was withheld from the public prior to the bond election; If It had been divulged, di-vulged, it would certainly havo defeated defeat-ed the bonds, and If the bonds had ' been defeated, the public would never have heard anything about this underhand under-hand agreement. There Is no mistake about the feeling feel-ing of this city respecting the extension exten-sion asked' by this corporation. It is distinctly and emphatically hostile. No amount of secret plotting or evasive tactics can change that all-important fact. And nothing can change the fact that this hostility Is both justified and righteous. Let the secret workers beware, be-ware, then, and not overpass the bonds I of decency and good faith any. further. I There must be no trick, no jugglery; but the people must be considered, and their Interests, rights, and wishes respected. re-spected. No extension of franchise for this concern! At the same time, It must not be forgotten for-gotten that a proposition In every way superior to the extension asked, Is before be-fore the Council, from Mr. Newhousc. who proposes to' put in an ample service, ser-vice, at a cost so much below the rates asked by the present company for their franchise, that It would be a crime against the people to ignore his publlc- spirited proffer. |