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Show PERNSTnOM-:.: ATTEMPTS;7 A PCLITOHL STUNT If! REPLYING TO EDfJUNDS - - t Politics attempted to block , the filing of the report on the special bond Issue made by J. William Edmunds- before the City Council last evening. Councilman F. S. Fernstrom as the one lone minority member-raised a roar, from his side of the house, declared that Mr. Edmunds was never hired by the Council, declared that the Finance committee did not hold a proper meeting, because he was there and did not take part In It. and ended by handing In a minority report In which he denounced the ability and character of Mr. Edmunds and declared that the Edmunds Ed-munds report was a political document. The denunciation of everything In and connected wl;h the report was the signal for a discussion which lasted nearly two hours. ' Ferns trom Objects. When the Edmunds report, which was off, came up before the Council, Councilman Council-man Ferns trom was there with his minority mi-nority report that contained three figures and much talk on the pluck required to build an Increased water system, and the Ingratitude of the people in opposing It. He asserted that It was not a report that should be received and filed by the city. "You know you are loaded with a lot of stuff that you can't make good on," declared de-clared Mr. Mulvey. Wells Has a Kick. - Councilman Wells came forward with the argument that the document should have been presented In the Council before the newspapers were allowed to get hold of It. ' "It Is a matter of record," declared Mulvey. "You people have been trying al week to beat around the bush, but you hnvit pnt in KTallnw It " pldity of the gentleman's statement, .wherein he claims that the engineering work to secure an increased water supply for Salt Lake City should not hare cost the city over 4 per cent of the money expended. When, the commonest kind of a bookkeeper, a man without business experience, no knowledge of engineering, knows nothing whatever about the difficulty diffi-culty and the enormous work and pluck it took to formulate a plan, andfomplete cross sections and specifications., sets himself up as a judge of a work that engineers have spent eight or ten years on. and have failed to bring In practical suggestions that could be adopted, the question arises as to who engaged this gentleman. For what purpose was he engaged? Was It to receive Information? No. It shows clearly, further In his report, re-port, that It was to mislead, the public pub-lic for political reasons; for he proceeds pro-ceeds to say that since the present engineer en-gineer has taken charge of the work the cost of the engineering has decreased 790 per cent. Is that an honest state-meat? state-meat? Was he so Ignorant that he did not know that the engineering work for the Increased water supply was all done by the last administration, and all that is necessary now is to supervise the contract so that the work will be properly carried out? Why did not the gentleman tell the truth? For a more barefaced falsehood was never uttered. Kelsey Is Attacked. The present engineer Is certainly responsible re-sponsible for an extra expenditure, which is useless, of from $"5,000 to 1100,000 on the building of the conduit alone. Was It not he that urged, day and night, not to repudiate his recommendation recom-mendation to spend the money, wheS the majority of the members Of this Council openly and everywhere stated that they were opposed to the grab? Was It not he that brought the American party , v... rvnnctl Into a secret party caucus, and then, with a pollti-'.. pollti-'.. io orar such Influence that the scheme went through? To prove that It is useless, we might call your attention to the. fact that several thousand thou-sand feet of that conduit was completed befpre this administration came Into power, and that over the most difficult diffi-cult part of the whole distance. That part that was completed Is going to remain re-main as it was made, with the exception excep-tion of a little cement wash Inside, which does not in any way strengthen it; In other words, the proposition is to leave well enough alone, which is a monument to the good work done by the last administration ad-ministration and a protest against the reckless and Indefenceless - grab on the bond fund by the present administration. Expense Accounts. Then Is taken up the Incidental expense ex-pense , account in a manner of finding fault. The records In the Mayor's and City Recorder's office will show that every dollar of those expenditures was an absolute necessity. It he had wanted to make a fair statement, he might have told us that the bid of the Mntual Life Insurance company was something like J50.000 higher than the next highest bidder. bid-der. And that It would have been a gerat loss to the city If said deal could not have been consummated. He might have told us that because marked copies of The Salt Lake Tribune were- regularly mailed -to the New York headquarters. Ing purchased. The consequence was that when they were finally received. It was In the latter part of July, and as such the work was necessarily delayed until this time. Why did he not tell us then that every dollar that was lost to the city through Idle money. The Tribune and American party are responsible for? If he Intended. to be fair, why did he not state that the former administration did the best they could by receiving Interest In-terest on this money, which the City Treasurer deposited in the banks? Through his businesslike methods we received re-ceived 2 per cent Interest on the money. Why did he not draw the comparison and call attention to the fact that this same money Is still idle and that since this administration, which he so foolishly attempts to defend, came Into power, the books will show that the city has never received a cent In interest. Again, we say, is it fair to pay money for a document docu-ment that has not the decency to give credit and commendation to whom It belongs be-longs and to criticise those who have deprived the city of money, and are still withholding and preventing the city from receiving interest on idle money, which we as a matter of Justice should receive? re-ceive? He might have called the attention of the Council to the fact that In the bond Issue $100,000 was set aside for the bet- terment of the water system In. the ' city. And as this administration has been in power for eight months nothing has been done to use the money for the purpose for which it was set aside, while thousands of water users have been short and have been deprived of sufficient water, when millions of gallons have been running to waste In our creeks. Just because this money has been lying Idle in. the banks and not been used for the purpose for which it was Intended. Then In conclusion he makes another glaring misstatement In an attempt to show that the last administration did not keep good faith In spending the bond money as they were pledged to do. He says that about $30,000 more money was spent in securing water rights than was estimated in said statement. That is not true. The $40,000 used for buying the East Jordan Irrigation company's stock was taken from the fund set anart for "Chickens sometimes eat rocks," commented com-mented Fernstrom, "but Mr. Mulvey will find big boulders after him before he gets through." Fernstrom Dictated It. In answer to a question from Councilman Council-man Mulvey, Fernstrom declared that he dictated the report and his son wrote it. "Did you not read it in Mr. Wells' office?" of-fice?" asked Mulvey. "No, sir," said Fernstrom. "Mr. Wells is to be congratulated," commented Councilman Ferry. "I had to neglect my religious duties to write that report," continued Fernstrom. Fern-strom. "Mr. President, t think he has attended to his religious duties," asserted Ferry. Fernle Is Turned Down. Then Fernstrom went at his subject and wanted to know why he should not have been given an opportunity to see the color of the hair on the head of the maa hired. Comments were heard from all parts of the house, and Fernstrom's scheme to have Ae minority report filed to the exclusion of the majority report failed, and the majority report was carried car-ried by the Council. Minority Beport. The Fernstrom minority report Is as follows: We, the minority of tho Commit. js on Finance, beg leave to report the following follow-ing facts concerning the attempt cf the majority of the Finance committee to bring in a commnnioatioa- by it William Edmunds,' accountant, - purporting to be a report prepared in compliance with a resolution introduced on May 17 by Councilman M. E. Mulvey, wherein the Finance committee were authorised to spend $1000 in the employment of some one to examine Into the account of the bond fund. The . Finance committee was called together once to discuss the matter, and several names were proposed as suitable for the work contemplated. Such men as Messrs. Godbe, Bateman, Edgar Howe, Raybould and several others, were mentioned. The committee decided that the chairman thereof should - communicate communi-cate with the above-mentioned gentlemen gentle-men to ascertain if any of them could be secured for this purpose, and what they would charge, and then report to the committee for further action. That was the last the committee ever heard of the matter. Although Mr. Edmunds's name was not mentioned as an expert at the time, at least not to the committee, for that reason he could never have been engaged by the Finance committee. Last Thursday be appears before the committee and reads a document which in every line shows that it was prepared pre-pared for nothing else but political purposes, pur-poses, and as such should not be filed or accepted as a statement coming from or authorized by the Finance committee. The city should not be called upon to pay out money for labor performed for no other purpose than to mislead the public. Fernle Almost Funny. Increasing our water rights In Utah lake, and the records In the City Recorder's Re-corder's office will show this to be the fact. From the above It Is plain to see, we think, that all the members of this Council Coun-cil will agree with me not to recognise this document a an official report, nor to pay any moneys out of the City Treasury Treas-ury for its production, because It would. In the first place, be illegal, for Mr. Edmunds Ed-munds was never legally employed by the city, and in the second place, he is evidently unfit to carry out the intention of the resolution, and then again. It Is written for no other purpose than to build up and defend the American party. It would be a crime to take money out of the City Treasury for any such purpose. pur-pose. More so on account of the financial finan-cial condition of the city which confronts us today. We therefor recommend that this communication be not received. F. S. . FERNSTROM. containing all kinds ef false and mis- ' leading statements, such as that the bond election was not properly or legally performed, and - other such misleading statements intended to defeat the bond deal. Communications now In the May-' or's office will show that the Infamous work had so well succeeded) that It was ' necessary to Relegate the Mayor, F. S. Richards and'R. S. Wells to proceed to the main office and secure a definite reason rea-son why the money was not forthcoming and also that it became necessary to bring the matter before the Supreme court to establish the legality of the bonds. The money which was expended for this purpose The Salt Lake Tribune and the American party are responsible for. y Tries to Shift Blame. The next is a criticism because the . bond money was received and we had to pay-Interest on them before they were actually needed. In explanation of this let us state that the original plan was to receive the money as the work progressed prog-ressed and the money was needed. The bonds were sold on February 27, 1905. and part of the payments were net to fall due until December, thereby avoiding the paying of Interest on unused money, but again, the opposition of The Salt Lake Tribune and the leaders of the American party delayed the work because It became an uncertainty as to the bonds ever be- To show to the members of the City Council why the city should not be responsible for a work unauthorised and utterly unreliable,, and of no value to the city whatever. It may be necessary neces-sary to call attention to a few of the statements contained in the above-mentioned document. Tbe gentleman leads out with the criticism that tbe city will not receive ait accrued interest on the bond money which It Is entitled to. That statement Is not true. It only shows that the author lacks common sense, and Is by no means an expert at business transactions. According to his calculation, the . Trust company should have paid the Interest on the bond money to the very minute that the money was received In the Treasurer's office at Salt Lake City. The fact is that tbe money was drawn by the city In New York, and the discrepancy, as he calls it. is tbe time required to make the transfer. Make a Discovery. , The next lathis attempt to criticise the engineering department. There, among other great discoveries he has made. Is the statement that I71L1S ought to be transferred trom the contingent fund and credited to the bond fund, as the money properly should have been paid out of the contingent fund. His excuse for making this great and important im-portant recommendation Is, that when tbe work contemplating the Increase of our water supply was commenced. It was necessary to buy equipment for the engineering en-gineering - department to carry on the Increased work In the department. And because there might be a possibility that the Instruments so bought for that purpose pur-pose might not be entirely worn out or destroyed before the work is completed, therefore, his opinion Is that it should be charged against the contingent fund, which is now already depleted, and he entirely forgot, or be did not know, that there always will be water problems, and that the engineering department de-partment will always be engaged la some kind of Work in behalf of the water system of our city, and as such the Instruments In-struments can always be used by that department, and It only shows that the gentleman was entirely unfit to sit as Judge of the engineering department. SUll Another Spasm. And to further demonstrate this, we wish to call your attention to the sublime and stupendous gall and stu- |