The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-07-08
COUNCIL AND WATER.
Committees Lame Apology for
Unnecessary Delay.
VERY INGENIOUS ARGUMENTS.
Each Step OF the Council In the Water
Works Matter Gfven-The
Full Report

0enbeo the fotlOWiuS fepUft iIuu iic Com-
mittee on fire and water, to whom was re-
ferred the recent communication from the
Chamber Of Commerce concerning the wa
ter supply of the city:
To the Honorable Mayor and Common Council
Of the City of Seattle-G Gentlemen: Your committee
on Ere and water, TO whom was referred q COM
munication from the Chamber Of Commerce
concerning the water supply OF the city. begs TO
report % follows:
Your committee thinks that q fall statement
Of the actual condition Of the water question Is
due 10 the citizens OF Seattle. and in order to
place the question intelligibly before the people
proposes TO trace its evolution from Its incipi-
ency to the present time, incidentally showing
the labor necessary on the part OF the commit
tee ana the council 70 bring about what results
may have been attained. This viii be the best
Justification OF the council from the charges
which have been made against IL
Your committee uses the word justification ad-
visedly, and here. at the outset. asserts that 1t
believes that the sentiments expressed IN the
resolutions of the Chamber of Commerce meet
with the general approval neither OF the people
nor the chamber itself
The common council has lately met with
censure for Its hasty action on sundry import
ant matters which have been before IL for con-
alteration, and your committee thinks that in
some cases this censure may be just But what
shall we say of the Chamber OF Commerce In its
treatment OF the city council in the matter of
these resolutions? The members who could be
conveniently reached by the secretary
are notified an hour or two before the
time designated, TO attend special
meeting cf the chamber, for the purpose
of considering the question OF the census. As q
matter OF course only a few members attend
Toward the close OF the meeting, Judge Lewis
in one OF his Characteristic speeches, introduces
these resolutions, and Is in a measure sup
ported by the remarks of some gentlemen who
were honestly and anxiously interested in an
adequate water supply for the city. This ankle
~ ON the part of these gentlemen naturally
enhanced by the a'arm cccasioned by the Col
man fire. Artiuly taking advantage OF this
feeling. Judge Lewis springs his resolutions.
and they are adopted By the gentlemen pres
ent al the meeting.
Now. observe, here is no warning 70 the men,
bers of the chamber nor to the council, that q
subject so momentous was TO be discussed. No
examination OF the matter. no data produced,
nothing but wild inyecttve ana assertion on the
part of Judge Lewis, followed by a demand ON
the council to yield mp its representative pow
ers TO an Irresponsible committee, which COM
mittee the resolutions suppose could smite the
rock with its magic wand and make the water
come Immediately, as the resolutions say.
Now your committee thinks that such work is
better fitted for the practice of justice court
than for the arraignment of the council OF this
great city, on the charge OF gross negligence of
fits duty.
Judge Lewis has acted in ali this matter az II
he was the paid attorney of some person or
clique, whose aim 1t was, under the guise of
public spirit. to discredit the present city gov
eminent He has for years been tortured by a
morbid desire for political notoriety, "a is evil
deDced by his adroit afiliation with every polit-
ical fad which seemed TO this great trimmer to
promise popularity and success Wonder at
anything which he may undertake will cease
- 49, - IT, A. l.
DRY OF even our new settlers he has been an
Apple orchardist, o Prohibitionist. . Woman
suffragist and sufferer from Northern Pacific
phobia In its most virulent form.
Your committee, in further support OF Its the
cry that Judge Lewis 10 the attorney for some
body. mere hired stabber, needs only to recall
to public recollection how in the time subse-
quent to the great fire, he alone of ali the attor-
neys Of the city enjoys the shameful notoriety of
accepting fee to obstruct a. much o. lay in his
power. the council in Its replat of the city
This man will carry to the grave this mark of
Cain, this brand of base Inconsistency and
traitorous desertion of the peoples cause and
this, too. at O time when mems souls were tried
in the crucibie Of adversely. When the old Sc
stsle had died and the new city had been born
second time in the glorious resolves of the
people assembled in the Armory, which resolves
have made the people of Seattle forever heroic
In the history OF our country this man Lewis
let US make Front street q broad and straight
thoroughiare from stetson & Posts mill to Bell
town." and pledged the council his help and
the support of the people in their herculean
task OF doing So and yet he alone of all who
spoke that day was faithless found.
AS the newspaper cartoons of the day
pictured him. he had changed his mind for
substantial reasons and two or three days after
that historic meeting we find him, with the
favor of his great speech still his lips, fallen
but unabashed, appearing before the council,
with his fee in his pocket as the attorney of
obstructioniss. using his best endeavors to
thwaTt the wishes of the people and bar the
onward march of Seattle to her destiny
But public opinion was too strong for him,
and the council cut the corners Off and made
broad thoroughfares and Judge Lewis subsided
into obscurity. only to emerge at this time
accu ing that same council of the want of that
patriotism OF which he has been such an Illus
trioas example.
But enough of this nosome subject.
Your committee has said that a full account
OF the movement for the city's ownership OF Its
water supply was due to the citizens, and neces-
sary both for the explains alton of the situation
and the justification of the council and its COM
mittee on fire and wafer from the CHARGES of
dilatoriuess and dereictiou in their duties
which have been made against them by certain
parties. Your committee Will begin at the be-
ginning OF the agitation
On October :, lSSs his honor, Mayor Moran,
In message TO the common council. recon-
mended that committee he appointed TO re.
port on the feasibility of the city owning its
own water supply. This was the first Official
proposition looking TO that end which had
been made in the city, and was the seed from
which has grown the ownership by the city OF
ifs own water system.
The matter was referred BY the council to its
committee on fire and water, two members of
the committee as now constituted, being men,
bers sc that time. This committee after a care
ful consideration of the ques tiou and having
obtained the data which were available reported
fsvorably on the scheme to the common coun-
ell at its meeting Oh octob 90 lsSS The
council unanimously approved the report and
ordered an election TO be had under the provis-
ions of the charter on November 10 IsSS to de-
eide the question whether the city OF Seattle
shall incur an Indebtedness of 81 600 300 for the
purpose OF supplying the city With water from
Rock creek. . tributary of Cedar river" The
proposition met with the hearty support Of
the great mass OF the people. and the indorse-
ment Of = portion OF the newspaper press of the
city. Before the time set for the election. how.
ever, it was discovered that the council had
been misled by careless compilation OF the
published official copy OF the charter, and that
the act OF the legislature a. passed made no pro.
vision for special elections The election was
therefore postponed TO the general election of
July 1854 The people were quietly waiting for
that time. when the sth day OF June. 1859, pre-
senied new and irresistible Endorsement of the
councils action on the water question. On the
morning OF the eth OF June we ind the city as
corporation without streets in the business por-
ton. without wharyes without an engiue-house
or city hall. with hardly any apparatus In the
fire department. and no FIRE department 10 USE
such apparatus II we had il, while. wors, of all.
we had an indebtedness already in excess of
our charter limit
But the people were in Seattle who were to
re~crcate the city, and your committee believes