Waco evening news. (Waco, Tex.) 1888-1889, 1889-03-30
The Proposed Contract.

The Proposed Contract.
The special meeting Of the council
might to consider the proposition Of
Mr.. j. D. Bell to furnish water to the
city on fifteen years franchise, as re-
ported on favorably by the committee
on water, Aldermen Lacy, McCulloch
and Forsgard, will be an open meet.
ing at which citizens will be welcomed
not only as spectators but as partici.
pants in the discussion. We say this
not authoritatively but as an inference
from the well known policy Of the
council which is to do all things openly
and under full light
The committee are enthusiastically
in favor Of the contract and that is a
great point in its favor because these
three gentlemen are brainy and honest
men, thoroughly conversant with the
subject matter Of the report they make.
That the contract, the salient features
of which were set forth in the News
Of last evening, 10 most favorable one
to the city there Is not the least doubt.
Compared with the contracts at force
in other cities it is wonderful gener-
Gus contract in favor Of the city. It
is so favorable to the city that for like
service the city could not furnish its
own water at like cost, as may be shown
by
THESE CALCULATIONS.
Effective city water works would cost
the city $125,00O. The interest on
this at 6 per cent would be $500,
yearly tax for sinking fund to redeem
the bonds in twenty years 1920, cost
Of operating per annum not less than
"a, 900, making total yearly cost Of
$1S, $50.
The Bell contract would give the
city 1875 hydrants at $40 per annum,
the cost for fire protection
$4,000, and water for all other city pur-
poses absolutely free. This would
make difference between the Bell
contract and city waterworks Of $12, $50
in favor Of the Bell contract.
The contract sought for is also I'M
usually favorable in other respects in
regard to rates to private consumers,
and in providing good and substan-
tial bond. To sum it all it is won
derful contract under ordinary circum-
stances.
PER CONTRA.
But we are not under ordinary cir
cumstances. The widest imagination
cannot reach the magnitude of the ar
tesian find to Waco. We are like a
poor man who has just come into pos.
session of a vast fortune, and that man
at first is not in condition to handle
money. The artesian water, if hand
led with true comprehension Of its
value, is more than all railroads or
manufactures. Men appreciate this
and there is an indisposition to ham
per the city with franchise to any
body.
The News suggests these three OBJ.
jections to accepting the contract or
any other contract at this time. First,
= bid made without competition is
against all precedent and dangerous;
second, franchises Of any kind are fet-
tiers easily put on and hard to shake off,
and third, public sentiment in Waco is
almost unanimous against giving q
franchise and overwhelmingly in favor
of
FREE WATER
By which is not meant absolutely but
free. There never was thing
on which the people OF Waco were so
near q unit as in their enthusiastic ad-
vocacy Of free water.
1t may be a craze but it is fact.
If it were put to vote tomorrow,
nine out of every ten votes would be
cast for bonds for water system. We
suggest these things to give reflex of
public sentiment. The News would
add that with an ocean Of water be.
meath our feet, there is room for more
than one system. Mr.. White has the
right to pipe the city, SO has Mr.. Bell.
Let the water supply be free to all as
the supply is illimitable. We need
not one artesian well, but fifty. Water
should be made to flow through the
city as plentiful as air. 1t should run
in trucking streams in all the cutters,
and Waco should become a city like
Salt Lake City, with brook on every
street. 1t can be made the grandest