The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-08-23
M. cALpwELL,s REpLY

SCHOLARS IN thS echOol'
~
MIR, CALDwELL's REPLY
10 the Card of SIessrs. Whitaker aud Brock
Wnler.
TO ne Editor Ofhe LaisuigeacU.
sIR.-As you have opened your columns
to an attack Indignantly personal in lis
character byintereBted paTLisansinansWer
10 INV late card which certainly was not Of
that kind, 1 will ask in fairness that you
will permit q reply, which | pledge myself
shall be the last word from me in the
newspapers whatever may yet be said by
others therelA. The personal features Of
the controversy are not what the people oil
Wheeling are interested IN, but they have
an interest in seeing that life and properly
Is not put in unnecessary peril tn deposit
few more dollars in the pockets oil
Messrs. Whitaker and BroCkunier.
The only real on they assign for wanting
unlimited pressure is that they may keep
The mills running, When i. Ia proposed
10 them by parties, who like the writer
have no adverse interest 10 them in any
Way, shape or form, To Try twenty pounds
pressure, and II that proves insufficient
that Council will at once Increase u, they
resort to attempt 10 prejudice public opln'
ion against their opponents personally I'M
pugning their motives and endeayorlng to
tntimidate them. No one doubts, they do
moi Themselves doubt, that II the twenty
ponnds pressure proves insufficient those
Who now oppose unlimited pressure would
vote 10 increase IL to whatever Ia neCes'
sary. They would do so even II they were
convinced that 1t could only be done at
considerable risk. We must have the gas
Tor our manufacturers even itrlsk Is necss-
sary,
il has been demonstrated by previous
artiOlea in your paper that twenty pounds
is autlicieut to supply our mills and fac
tories, why then i5more Clamored fot. 1t
cannot DC as ii Is asked Tor the sake Of our
manufactures and Workmen. Twenty
pounds will supply them. Ii not the
advocates Of that amount Of pressure aud
OF public safety, say prove twenty pounds
Insufficient, aud we will VOC Tor more,
This reasonable proposition is rejected
II Ia evident that the cry that those ra'
ieCting 1t are doing SO outtofa regard f0r
our manufacturers and workmen Is hypo-
critical and mere demagcgue. Plainly
there is some hidden motive, and the
cry that those who are trying TO do their
duty by insisting that reasonable preCau'
tons to l,la and property shall DO taken
AZ TO pressure, are opposing the Interests
Cf manufacturers and workingmeu, Is
merely raised to intimidate them and
raise prejudice against them 10 make
them yield,
II ie said, and The course OF the company
il Conlrmatory OF the charge, that the
supply Of Bsllaire factories is the cause
Of unlimited pressure being desired in
Wheeling. That the one pipe down the
Ohio side OF the river Is Insufficient, after
being depleted all tho way down by the
mills, &C., to supply Bellalre fully. That
It is 10 escape tho great expenae Of laying
another pipe down the other side, to save
their own pcckels, not 10 benefit the mills
OF Wheeling or the workingmen Of Wheel
ing, that those men are willing to eubjeCt
their iellow.Citzens OF Wheeling to the
dangers OF unlimited pressure through the
entire length Of the city, OF course they
do not eVow this rs their reason before
the City Council, because Council would
not be willing, they know, to take such
risks for the manufacturers OF BellNire.
tits said that self-interest would keep
tho gas company from running any risSs
with the pressure. But self-inteTest makes
men willing to take risks. 1.-two or three
houses are blown up, and several souls
sent TO heaven, rs In Washington, Pa, in
the twinklilg Of an eye, by undue and un.
necessary pressure through our streets to
supply Bsllaire, 1t will DO very poor con.
ISOLATION to tho spirits Of tho departed TO
know in another world that the gas COM
pany is pecuniarily responsible and will
pay for killing them.
1t is thought that the above explains
who the writer was, publicly aud passion.
ateiy denounced as q coward" and pup"
by Mr.. Whitaker after the last meeting Of
the city Council, for opposing Mr. VIZ
moneyed interests, and threatened by him
with political extinction for daring to OPP.
pose him in the discharge Of what the
writer thought to DO his duty.
The two persons named above state in
their card In your Saturday paper that
the special committee OF Council which
went 10 Pittsburgh and elsewhere to In.
yestlgate and report what pressure was
safe, reported not 10 pounds but blank
pounds. Below is the verbatim report Of
that committee exactly as 1t came to
Council from the CoWnittee, as verified
by the records and the City Clerk:
"Your committee otter the following
resolution for adoption: d.
Msoircd, That the City Solicitor be
directed to prepare an ordinance allowing
natural gas 10 DO transported through the
pipes or street mains within tho city at q
pressure not greater than fifteen pounds
TO tho square inch, aud requiring each
company operating within tue city tC
place pressure gauges In the hose houses
In each ward through which the pipe
lines may pass, and compel, under penalty
each company 10 inspect and flush each
escape at least once in every tOEty.eighl
hours.
The statement that tho committee re-
ported blank pounds Ia not in accordance
with the facts. II is, however, Just as &c
curate and truthful as tho statements Ii
tho card Of Saturday last as to what thu
writer OF this card had said. Ny utter
ances were perverted, changed and dis
torted willulIy, l deny ever saying what
wasput in my mouth, oithor In substance
or words. This isa question OF veracitJ
in which the public has no interest exCep,
to defeat the persecution attempted to bt
inRugurated against mo for trylnghonostlJ
10 serve them and not being sufficiently
subaerviant and servile TO private interests
q. b. CALDWELL.