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Show B , , DO NOT ADOPT IT. IThe terms of the proposed water contract have been materially modified, though we have all the H m time been assured that the original was the very H t best that could be secured after months of earnest I effort. Kj 1 This shows that the business was in incompe- H ' tent hands. We say incompetent, to avoid a HI I'1 harsher term. The Temple Block would not per- ml mit the proposed graft on the paving of South Temple street from Main street to the depot, and the same sinister spirit that sought to work that graft is the noisiest one in authority who is urging this proposed contract. The changes in tho terms are good as far as they go, but they do not eliminate elimi-nate the paper mill grab or the Spring Creek graB, and the amount of water proposed to give the farmers in exchange for Cottonwood water is excessive, ex-cessive, and if attempted to be carried out would be most liable to bring the city in collision with the canal companies at the source of the Jordan. The charitable view is that it is too big a question ques-tion for tho prosont city council of Salt Lake to deal with. It is clear, too, that notwithstanding all that has been said and done, the subject of improving im-proving the water supply, is not yet well enough understood, to vote a mighty sum to be exhausted on experiments, as was done in Parley's Canyon, and in the purchase of the old mattress factory water right. Again, tho voting of $200,000 for the improvement improve-ment of Jordan canal can be better arranged with the General Government, if a proper effort is put forth. Again, there is vast danger in any arrangement that involves a possible conflict "with the canal companies that own four-fifths of the flow from Utah Lake. Again, while a great many thousand thou-sand sheep graze every summer in Cottonwood canyon, the waters of that creek In the autumn months are not fit to turn into the mains of Salt Lake City. There is nothing that is meant to be captious criticism in the foregoing. All want a perfect supply sup-ply of water for Salt Lake, but they want the best possible arrangement that can be made, and the best has not been reached. The matter should be placed in the hands of a commission, and that commission should be made up of heavy taxpayers, who are clear-headed men, and of legal and engineering engi-neering experts. A little more time can well be expended before doing something from which the city can not retreat and which is not the best that can be done for the city. The proposed amended contract is an improvement improve-ment over the first one, but it is still open to grave objections, the chief of which is that a vastly cleaner and clearer arrangement can 6"Q made. We hope the taxpayers will refuse to ratify it. |