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Show MAINTAIN THE CITY'S RIGHTS. It will not do for the people to allow themselves to be lulled to sleep In this interim in the consideration of the application ap-plication of the Utah Light and Railway Company for the consolidation nnd extension ex-tension of its franchises. It will not do for the public to lose sight of the fact that the company Is seeking by tho most adroit, sinuous and strenuous ways to gain such advantage of this municipality that the city will be bound helplessly In the company's toils for fifty years. It will not do for the voters vot-ers to forget that the company la planning plan-ning to erect Itself by city franchise Into In-to an independent government, free from municipal control In the essential principles of sovereignty. If the people lose Interest In this fight, they will pass under the yoke of oppression, beyond relief. The company com-pany never loses Interest, never relaxes Its Interest, never abates In Its aggression. aggres-sion. It demands all and concedes nothing that It can retain. It even assumes the privilege of drafting the ordinance which It asks the City Coun-to Coun-to pass In Its favor. It seeks to bind the city so that there will be no ownership or service of any public utility lo Interfere with the company's monopoly; and this In spite of the fact that the taxpayers of Salt Lake City voted a million dollars In bonds last January, one of the conditions condi-tions of Buch vote being that the water Improvement In view contemplates a water-power at the mouth of Parley's Canyon for the very purpose of putting In a municipal light and power plant, it the clty'd will. It continues to Insist upon a fifty-year fifty-year franchise (originally, fifty years beyond the forty-two year term of the longest franchise it now enjoys), nnd yet Its claim Is that It only seeks to equalize the term for which all the franchises would run. A fair equalization, equaliza-tion, however, would be not to exceed twenty-five years; and the citizens' committee was extremely liberal In pronouncing in favor of extending all the franchises to correspond with the tlmcof expiration of the longest, which Is forty-two years hence. But this does not satisfy the franchise-grabber, though it is plenty, and more than plenty, for the people. The company also Insists that it must be relieved of the forfeiture clauses that are contained In Its old and present charters. By no means should this be conceded. It Is hard enough under any franchise to hold a corporation to fair and adequate service lo the public But release It from the peril of forfeiture! of Its franchise in case it goes too far, and the power of the city to enforce service is practically gone; a suit at law is in fact not an effective remedy at all. it would to all intents and purposes be forfeiting control to leave out the for- foltlirn nlononu Then, the company wants the city to give up the power of regulating prices, and to permit the company to wreak Its sweet will upon the people,' both in charges and quality of service. ,Tone but an unfaithful Council could possibly possi-bly agree to sucha monstrous betrayal of the public. And we do not believe that the Council Coun-cil is unfaithful. We believe that it will stand for the rights of the people and of the city. It is publicly stated that eight at least of the fifteen Coun-cilmen Coun-cilmen have set their faces as flint against the betrayal of the people which the passage of the company's ordinance or-dinance would effect, We believe that this public claim' Is correct, and have only to add In connection with It, that It Is a shame to see that any member of the Council would so far betray his constituents and prostitute his public position as to yield In any of those points to this Inefficient concern which creates a double discontent In this city; for it is never content with the privileges privi-leges it gets, and the people are never content with the service they get, either from the light or the railway wing ol this- harpy. |