Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-16
ALL CRY AND LITTLE WOOL

was q DISASTROUS fallure as D ROuSe-iur'
nishing experiment.
Az CRY And LITTLE WOOL.
The sum and Substance of the Present City
Councils Efforts at Great Reforms
They We're Elected to Bring About.
~ see an attempt being made to puff the
work accomplished by the present City
Council over that which preceded it" said
q member OF the latter body to a reporter
yesterday, "Now while l don't want to
draw any invidious comparisons he con
tinued, "there are one or two facts that
ought to be borne in mind. In the first
place the limit OF taxation under the old
charter, now superseded by the reincor.
p~oration act, was 8 mills on the hundred
dollars. Under the extended powers OF the
incorporation act the rate was raised to
* mills in addition to which extra tar has
been imposed for fire purposes.
at must also be remembered that the
city is three times as large as it was before
reincorporation and there is that much
ulOIO VOkAiVOGy w dAbO OttASo lEOus ~ ID
true that when the new Council came into
power there was an Indebtedness of 81, 200
from the previous year, but it was not all
accumulated in that year. part of it having
been q legacy from the year before. 1t was
simply impossible to run the city on a g.
mill tax and the people saw that and that
was one OF the reasons why the vote in
avor OF incorporation was SO large.
Now under the present state of things,
the city must lave three times the revenus
and that the old indebtedness has be. u
paid off is no thanks to the present Coun'
Gil. They have had plenty of money to do
this and q great deal more than is appar.
emit to the public. Main street has beer
graded for three blocks, but it would never
have been done if the street railroad had
| not laid the road bed OF the cable on the
grade and compelled it for public onven
fence. Just the same way on Park street
| Any grading done there has been forced or
| the authorities by the street railroad he
ing laid on grade. The Council had The
| nerve to order q lot OF sidewalks laid dowI
at the expense of property owners and in
| compliance with the general demand fol
post-ofice letter delivery, to which side
walks are a prerequisite according to the
I D6pdTUm6uJ dU w dSuIukUOus
But are the alleys any cleaner thar
sewers were built on Wyoming street, but
| the McDermottH Hotel is the only beneficiary
of that. I have not heard Of any OF the
property owners along it's line making con
~nections with it. City Engineer Harper
has pointed out time and again that the
| sewer from Quartz street that runs under
Turner Hall is in q dangerous condition
should any cloudburst take place on the
hill above; that it needed to be strength
ened. But nothing has been done to it
To be sure, it is part of what will be one o.
the principal sewers of the city if they ever
get the money to build them. But the &C.
cident may happen long before then and a
good deal OF property will be ruined.
"Then the way they have funked the
extension of water service for fire purposes
reflects no credit on them. They began
their negotiations with the company at the
plainly and distinctly by the water com
pauy that the pipes now laid were sufi.
Gent to supply their customers, meaning
water consumers. The city is one of the
water company's customers for water for
fire purposes. The company told the
Council committee that if the city needed
more plugs and a larger supply OF water 1t
would have to pay 30 much. The addi-
tional expense to the company was ex-
planned to the committee although the com
pany was not obliged to do 80, being like
any other private corporation, master OF
it's own concerns. 1t owes the city nothing,
but some OF the members like to play the
role of obstructionists and pragmatically
assume, forsootb, that the water company
should furnish the city all the water it
wants for nothing! An idiotic proposition
worthy of the pigheaded source that origi-
mated the idea. In consequence the entire
summer and fall were wasted, and the fire
protection of the city is no better than it
was before incorporation.
People living above Copper street have
not O whit more fire or police protection
than they ever had. What do 1 think has
become OF the taxes? Well, 1 think the
salary account has eaten up the larger
part of it. OF course, the re-incorporation
act requires tho existence Of certain cor
poration officers aud they had to be ap-
pointed. That can't be helped. But, take
the funds the present Council have had at
their disposal and l don't see that they
have anything to brag about in their
spending of them, and that on the essential
points on which they came into office they
have squawked miserably.
''Of course, the majority in the Council is
held responsible for the acts OF the whole.
But il it hadn't been for a Democrat like
Lynch pushing these s%ure-thing gamblers
relentlessly, they would have been in full
swing yet. And you may remember that
no attention was paid to the subject by
the majority until after the election. Then
the virtuous indignation that was suddenly
developed would make a cat laugh. They
took mighty good care not to kill the goose
that laid the golden egg until they couldn't
help themselves.
Look at the way they are frittering
away time about that reeking pest-house-
the block between Galena and Park that
they are haggling over running an alley
through. The Health Officer has warned
the Council over a month ago, and nothing
has come Of it but so-called committee re-
ports. In fact, take the Council all through
and it has been a case OF great cry and
little WOOL"