Wilmington daily gazette., 1872-08-27
The Last Democratic Council,

The censure and r,dlcule which the CoDin,crttdL
IN its edition of Monday, attempts to cast upon the
last Counc, is so unmerited and false, that when
compared with tho valuable results OF the lshors
of the Democratic portion Of that body, it amounts
{, abuse.
The CO,amers,s! was early IN it's censure OF ono
Of the works sf the Democratic Council, j. e, the
Eleventh street water main. This great work was
initiated and successfully accomplished by the
Democratic Council, notwithstanding they were
embarrassed in the early part of tho work consid-
erably by the gentlemen on the opposite side
Before it had been half accomplished the CONNER
cia! proclaimed that Mr.. Dillon was digging the
grave Of the Democratic party, and it continued
it's opposition to this great work until 1t WAS prov
en- and admitted by every man III the Council that
it was one Of the most successful achievements.
1t was done by fair and open contract, and the
city saved At least So 900 to 900 by the aiop-
ton If the contract system in doing it. The
Democrats fairly entitled to this credit.
That main, We are informed, was the means of
preventing water famine in portion Of the
residences In this city. situated on high ground,
and secured to the lower sections Of the city wa
ter tor one whole day, whereas they would have
been without II had the old mains remained in
position until this summer, or had the work been
deferred and been under way at the time the cor
hish pump gave way.
The Democrats defeated, by their opposition,
the visionary projects for taking the water
to Rokeby, at an expense, probably, of 100000
They also defeated the project OF buying all the
mills OH the Brandywine below the bridge to Sc
Ah< -uk- -,..LA "A
opposed abandoning tide-water.
That Council also defeated the proposition for
apaid Fire Department. which had been passed
upon by a previous Republican Council. thereby
saving to the citizens a cost of fully $4,000 and
an annual cost of nearly the same amount
That Council conducted the affairs Of the city
on tax levy Of lOK cents, upon an assessm ent
of property very much below the present inflated
rates-rates which have proved to be illegal and
wrong by the sales which have since taken place.
Notwithstanding this increase the present tax
levy is II cents, and We told would have been
10. had the Democratic committeeman, Mr. Payn-
ter. not opposed the high figures Should the
next Council be Of the same cast of men. the
taxes may bs expected to be largely increased.
As proof of the value OF the efforts OF the last
Democratic Council, the extravagant measures
they defeated were not revived when the Repub-
llcans came into power in September last
In conclusion, we may add that considering the
time the Democrats had control of the Council
they did good work for the City, and perhaps
saved many thousands of dollars which would
now have been hanging in debt over US, directly
in the way of proceeding with the water improve.
ments that arc 90 much needed. Had they been
continued in power another year We believe our
city would have been far better off to-day, and
property holders would have saved almost one-
fourth of their present taxes.