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Show THE CITIZEN SPRINGVILLE WANTS RIGHTS O 0 THE CITY of Springville claims the Columbia Steel Company has not lived up to its contract in acquiring 400 acres of pasture land and the water rights pertaining thereto, and now the city has taken the matter to court to enforce fulfillment of its agreement with city or to annul said agreement. Mayor George A. Anderson of Springville says the Columbia Steel Company has separated the water from the land and is also filing on other water, some of which may prove detrimental to his city. Also that Springville is entirely ignored in all matters, even to giving employment-ther citizens, as well as the purchase of supplies when possible, and is doing all of its business with Provo. The citizens of Springville are said to be up in arms and the mayor is leading a fight against the steel company to fulfill its agreement with the people. The courts have been resorted to because of reported and continually ignored requests made by Springville for her alleged rights. Now Springville wishes to withdraw the deed which she claims was secured in a roundabout way. GAS GENERALLY USED to FOR several years past, the gas industry has been engaged in research work to determine the feasibility of using gas for cooling as well as heating purposes. It is expected that within a short time the experiments will show practical possibilities of such a combined house heating, cooling and ventilating system. The forerunner of this is the gas refrigerator, which is already in general use. By means of gas heat, ammonia within the machine is converted into a gas which is cooled by water, and in this expanded state, readily absorbs heat from the interior of the refrigerator. This heat is then carried off by circulating water. When a burning gas flame can create either intense heat or ice, and either cool or warm a house, we are indeed living in the age of miracles. During the period from 1923 to 1927 reductions have been made in the cost of gas and electric service that have saved United States consumers approximately $414,000,000, according to P. H. Gadsden, United Gas Improvement Co., Philadelphia. At the same time, employes of public service organizations have received appreciable wage increases, and in the investment market public utility securities are held in high regard. This is indicative of the tremendous progress made by gas and electric companies in the past few years. In every section of the United States service has been improved, made more comprehensive and efficient. Gas and electricity have entered into many new fields and served in the establishment of endless new industries. Tne result has been real and undeviating public service. SICK BONUS TWENTY-FIV- E The medical million to combat influenza! fraternity are waking up to the possibilities in Washington. The best the government can do is a propaganda campaign which requires large sums of money but no ready re- - 4f. Our city boards of health, as well as the county and state, are called upon during epidemics to work overtime, and they do real service. If the government has any money for the sick, it should be put into states where the sickness is and give the people the benefit of it. S ELECTRICITY PLEADS GUILTY MORE ity than any other single agency, electricis responsible for our modem social and indus- trial order. , There is almost no comparison between the modem home and that of 50 years ago. Electric lights, vacuum cleaners, stoves, almost endless labor saving devices have transformed it into a The old model of comfort and convenience. drudgery of house work has disappeared and in its place is new ease and efficiency. Before electric power was harnessed, industry was largely a matter of strong arms and backs. The possible productiveness of a laborer was limited to his physical power. The modem worker, in contrast, with electric power at his beck and call, can do many times the amount of work and do it better and with less effort. As a result of his tremendously increased productivity, he is able to command wages that give him living conditions, pleasures and luxuries formerly undreamed-of- . Today electricity is making its way in a new field, that of agriculture. What it has done in the past 20 years for industry and the city home, it is now doing, for farming and the farm home. Electricity operated machines and devices replace laborious hand work and operate at a low cost with unparalleled efficiency. Electricity has been more than a mere aid in performing necessary functions. It has proven a great civilizer as well. MINE OUTLET ONE OF the problems that have always con- fronted the mineral industry is the distribution and marketing of its products. Today mining is showing a tremendous advance in efficiency and economy in this branch of its work. New markets, such as that provided by the growth of the electrical industry with its great demand for copper, have expedited mining and helped greatly in raising it to higher levels of economic soundness. Information is now available that allows the producer to foresee market demands and adjust his supply to the best advan- tage. Mining has met its many difficult problems manner that in a constructive, forward-lookin- g has taken it from the romantic and speculative, to the stable, conservative industry that it now is. COSTLY LAWLESSNESS WHEN ONE reads the federal government prohibition report, showing the immense wealth expended in fighting liquor, the vast toll of blood and cash involved, it makes one shudder to think that such things are possible in a country like ours. In the nine years dry agents have killed over 200 citizens, and no telling how many have been wounded. Over $300,000,000 has been spent since the act was passed and today it is easier to get liquor than ever before, and that doesnt exclude this city, either. Bootleggers are running wide open in this city. Probably the police have worn themselves out trying to catch them. Anyhow, liquor flows freely by the drink and by the bottle. It is said that in Ogden the bootleggers pay $100 per month and some of the bars have the appearance of the old saloon days. Millions for enforcement but liquor is cheap. What does it all mean? It is said that it costs the government $30,000,-00- 0 a year to arrest a few wets in order to satisfy a few drys. The increase of convictions since 1923 shows an increase of 14,753, or 43.3 per cent per 100,000 population. The federal dry unit has been reorganized, many times because of corruption, but in a majority of cases the deputies were allowed to resign without punishment, while those with a political pull are retained when otherwise they would be dismissed. The governments own record of the constant increase in the number of deaths from alcoholism in spite of all the efforts, by both federal, state, county and municipal enforcing agencies toward enforcement is an open book. In 1927 the country was startled by a statement by the Metropolitan Life Insurance company, calling attention to the fact that the death rate among the companys industrial policyholders from alcoholism and acute alcoholic poisoning in 4926 was 4.1 per 100,000, which is identical with that for alcoholism in 1911, the initial year of the period studied. In the face of all these facts and figures, a majority of the people are wondering what the ending will be. There are thousands engaged in the making of beer, wines and others in distilling whiskies, and the law suits them. Beggars in the street have become wealthy bootleggers and they live in the most respected residential districts and drive the best automobiles that are made. It is so easy for the average drinker to get his supplies that he does not care if there is a change. But the worst of it all is that most of the liquor is poison and our doctors tell us much damage is being done. During days, we were told that with prohibition, all our jails could be turned into institutions of learning because there would be no criminals. Instead the country cannot build jails fast enough and these days it is quite popular to be a criminal. Our jails are full, the poor houses are full, there is not enough room in the insane asylums. Now what has brought this condition about if it was not prohibition which has taught people not to respect the law. . pre-prohibiti- on SELFISHNESS THE QUESTION of taxation is outstanding among present day problems. It is a rare community that is without indebtedness, and to a greater or lesser extent, a tax burden. Investigation shows that communities which have the largest bonded indebtedness and the highest tax rates are not usually the most prosImprovements and government venperous. tures which are made without sound economic foresight are doomed to become expensive failures. It is easy to vote bond issues. The rub comes when they have to be paid in the tax bills. We will have general tax reduction when communities learn the difference between improvement and extravagance and prefer to pay more as they go instead of charging it all to the fu- ture. COMPARATIVE BEFORE the federal government enters upon deany expansive program of inland waterway velopment it would be well to determine the merits of each undertaking as well as the cost. The engineering estimate of the cost of the Panama Canal was $140,000,000, but it actually cost $375,000,000. In a message to the legislature in 1925 the Governor of New York stated that the cost of the Erie Canal up to that date was $230,831,000. For every ton of freight moved one mile on the Erie Canal the people pay 3l,fc cents, as compared with one cent on the railroads. There should be no bond taxes imposed on the can people for waterway development unless it will cheapen the be shown that cost of transportation, a result not yet attained on inland such-expenditur- |