Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-08-07

as the road and fire funds, should have
oeeb orasn upon to paw for those i'm
provements. | recommend that your
nrnoraole body request the City Attor-
ney TO examine into this matter. and
ascertain whether tie amount expended
on these two slips canno. be recovered
oy special assessment upon the property
holders benefited thereby, and returned
/ 10 the road and fire funds. which have
been seriously crippled By what con-
sider Al unauthorized expenditure
! CITY SCRIP.
call your attention to the fact that
CITY scrip, In excess of the amount Of the
/ fund against which il is drawn, has been
Issued 10 considerable amount upon
several funds / recon- mend the inaug-
uration OF system of economy in ap
/ pFopriatiOns, ns,eXpendItures and contracts,
which Will prevent a recurrence of such
/ issues of the scrip of tbs city. Only by
such a system as have suggested can
We prevent the creation of onerous pub
| lie debts, injury to the city's credit, aud
I severe losses to those who do the city's
work.
REGULAR MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL.
Ever since tbs organization of the
I CITY government ii has been the custom
To have but one regular monthly meet
| ing. la the earlier history of the city
such regular monthly meeting Was suffi
cient for the transaction of all matters
brought before the Council. OF later
years, however, with the growth of our
city the increase of business has neoes
STATED special meetings of the Council.
In my opinion there should be two reg
ular meetings of the Council each
month. At present all bills against the |
| city are placed in the hands of the re- |
speotive committees, passed upon after |
hasty and often necessarily imperfect |
examination, and ordered paid. While |
this might be done without prejudice to |
the interests of the city. l am of opinion !
that there should be allowed greater |
time for examination of the various ac- |
counts you are called upon to pay, and |
| recommend that an ordinance appoint |
ing two regular meetings each mouth be |
passed at the earliest convenient time. |
| am aware, gentlemen, that this i'm |
plies grsatcr personal sacrifice upon |
yosr part, but am also fully persuaded |
that you will cheerfully meet whatever |
demand may be made upon you in Or
der that the best interests of the city |
you represent may be subserved.
HEALTH OF THE CITY.
Directly and indirectly much has been |
done during the past year which will |
contribute to the bettering of the health |
of this Community; but much remains |
to be done. The Mill street and WASH |
ington street sewers recently completed |
ut very considerable expense will prove |
potent factors in this direction. The |
true office of these sewers, however, will |
not be Performed until al. lateral sinks |
and water closets are placed in direct |
connection Herewith. That some ao- |
tion should be taken by your honorable |
body looking to this result is a truism |
which needs no argument to add force |
thereto. Ii is equally true that as Zap |
idly as possible the sewer system of the |
city should be enlarged and extended |
throughout the whole city, and, as |
tributary to the general result of pro- |
viding against disease and securing the |
best standard of health possible, the |
earliest possible construction of a sea |
wall along the entire water front of the |
city, beyond which the contents of each |
and all of the sewers of the city should |
empty In deep water, should engage the |
serious consideration of your honorable |
body. No CITY can have more attrac- |
tive recommendation TO the intending |
immigrant than a low death rate. In |
this respect Seattle, up to the present
time, has been and IS sinRularly for
tunate, the death rate for the year end
] ing June l. 1883, having been lower per
Thousand than any city on the Pacific
Slope, Oakland. Cal, alone excepted,
and the rate for the year ending
June /, 1884, having fallen one and one
half per thousand below that of 1883.
These things certainly furnish excellent
cause for coperatulation. Nevertheless
feel il my duty to call your attention
H. the fact that epidemic diseases,
especially the yellow fever In northern
Mexico, and the Asiatic cholera In many
portions Of Europe, are doing their
deadly works. and In all portions of our
country the National, State and munic-
ipal authorities are diligently aiding
the works of sanitation in the employ
ment of such preventive measures as
experience aud good Judgment suggest
This city should first be placed III ths
best possible sanitary condition, and
then, by its regularly constituted health
officers, be held ready to meet any pos
sible visitation of epidemic disease.
While We have no special reason to fear
an invasion, We have no right to expect
special exemption. l recommend due
vigilance and intelligent precaution.
GENERAL CONDITION OF THE oTFY.
This city eaters upon Its sixteenth
year of corporate existence under some
what anomalous circumstances. The
general financial depression which pre-
walls throughout the coantry, from
which city and hamlet, mandatory
and farm suffer in greater or less de-
gree, is felt here quite ssnsibly. The
withdrawal of large gangs OF laboring
men from the completed, AS Well
as from the unfinished sections
of railroads tributary to this city has
been sensioly felt. The unexpected re-
action In the lumber trade of the Puget
Sound region has contributed largely
| 10 the same effect. O.her causes purely
local have tended to the same direction.
The old spirit of the city, which from
its earliest days has tostefed in its clti-
xens a spirit of self-help and seif-reli
ance first aud then spirit of mutual
assistance and mutual forbearance, has
been notably manifested during the
reaction" ss II has been happily termed.
and presenting as We do q united front
against disaster and all attempts 10 poll
Us down, aud what is equally as much
To the purpose, a united front In what
ever tends to renew the act witty which
Mas heretofore contributed 50 mach to
our prosperity, there 10 not and there
cannot be tue slightest reason for an
tlclpAtlng more tnan a brief coutinu-
ance of dull times. King county, of
winch Seattle Is the shire tosn and nat-
ural entrepOt, Is OF itself too rIch 10 re-
sources, agricultural, mineral and lum-
bering, 10 cay nothing Of It's fisheries,
manufactures, etc, 10 ALLOW any mere
local and temporal cause 90 affect the
continual and inevitable prosperity II
this city. which, il it had no outside
trade 20 depend upon, could by q wise
syssem of development quinGupie it,
population IN less than ten years.
Ihe character and extent of the
coal iieids of King county have been
toa often deliberately set before the
| public from among whom yoar honor
sbIy body have been chosen, % render
|, it at all necessary 10 present facts and
neusesn on this branch of the subject.
, satiice it 60 say THAI well engineered at
sempss have been made TO make these
King county mines tributary 10 other
localities. Against this proposition,
. which embodies an amount of cool
, sff routery which voald be amusing II 10