Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-10
to ''go carefully, and be sure you're right /"
What EVERYBODY Wants to Know.

What Everybody Wants to Know.
After brief discussion it was decided to
engage D. T. Watson and William B.
Rodgers, ex-City Solicitor of Allegheny, to
unravel the tangle by furnishing opinions
on the following points:
The citv's present position under the
Supreme Court decision.
Cnief Bigelow's list of indebtedness on
street improvements.
The necessary curative legislation to
remedy the present lack of law under which
to collect assessments.
A new street bill which will pass The
scrutiny OF the Supreme Court.
Messrs. Watson and Rodgers will be
waited upon to-day, and these points sub
mitted to them, and so soon as they prepare
an opinion another meeting of the committee
will be called TO receive it.
City Attorney Moreland is also busiiy en-
gagged in defining the city's status in the
present dilemma. The decision was all the
more a surprise in the City Attorneys Office
because the act of 1887 was merely a codifi-
cation OF the street laws passed from 1864,
and all had been sustained by the Supreme
Court. Until this decision the legality of
the Board of Viewers had never been ques-
toned. The suit over the paving of Wine
biddle avenue, few years since, wherein
Court, was supposed to have settled the con-
siltutionality of the law.
A Cure for Present Ills.
The question of the power of the city to
collect the assessments for work done under
the acts of 1887 and 1889 is the one which
chiefly agitates the CITY Attorneys office.
1t is hoped and believed that what is known
as curative legislation can be obtained
which will prevent the city from losing I
dollar. As explained in the City At
torney's office, curative legislation is de-
signed to cure defects in existing laws. Ii
the Supreme Court has left any portion of
the street act intact 1t can be mended to
carry the city over its present stress, like a
warrior wounded in battle who is fixed up
hv physicians so that he can return TO the
Ield and make one more staEd for his cause
Harrisburg, third-clasS city, which once
got into just the same snarl as Pittsburg
over its street paving contracts, was pulled
out of its difficulty BY curative legislation.
Assistant City Attorney Clarence Bur-
leigh was caught on the street Yesterday and
was held up" for his opinion on the matter.
He was averse to talking at all, but finally
said: 81 am confident that the entire act
is not wiped out, and firmly believe that the
city can secure curative legislation which
will enable her to collect the assessments on
street-paving contracts already completed. +"
The Legislature is All Right
Just at present the city officials are anx-
ious Tor immediate relief, but some of them
are looking ahead and fear, as a result of
the late election, that some difficulty will be
found in securing tine passage through the
Legislature of new street act for Pittsburg.
Senator Upperman dropped into CITY
Hall yesterday and this phase of the ques-
tion was put to him. He answered: "You
prepared an act which will pass the Supreme
Court and we'll see that the Legislature will
pass it"
Mayor Gourley when asked what he
thought OF the matter, replied: "Do YOU
think it is probable that any stumbling
blocks will be thrown in the way of legis-
lation necessary for the relief of Pittsburgh"
His Honor answered his own question bv
his manner, which said in bold, DIack type,
NO"
During the meeting OF the special sub
committee il was suggested that street act
be prepared abolishing the assessment of
abutters, and paying for the grading, paving
and sewering of streets by general taxation.
The point was raised that abutters, and there
are thousands of them, who had paid for inn
provements in front OF their own properties,
would vigorously object to being taxed for
10
Assistant Controller Davis made the sug-
gestion yesterday, but not seriously, that
City Councils make an appropriation for the
purpose OF engaging the Supreme Bench to
draw up 4 street law which would stand any
and all legal assaults.
The Board of Viewers Has Quit.
The Board of Viewers is deiunct. Invent
Of gracefully. After the manner of a
Chinese Mandarin, it refused 10 heed the
order for its execution issued by the Su-
preme Court, but reached the same end by
performing hari-kari.
Yesterday morning City Controller Nor.
row suggested in a kindly way TO the board
that uEder Justice Williams decision there
WAS nothing Tor them to do. The members
OF the board thereupon decided that if there
WAS nothing 10 do in the office and no salary
Tor doing il, they might as we'll do it on the
outside, and they Lett. Chief Clerk Black
more was winding up the business of the
office Yesterday, and he, too. will drop out.
< Several gentlemen called at the Viewers
Office Yesterday to learn the amount OF their
assessments, and stated that they would pay
them, too. They realized that they had
been vastly benefited by the improvements,
and they saw no good moral reason. what
ever the legality of the question might be,
why they should not reimburse the city.
Chief Bigelow yesterday ordered ali work
on street Improvements stopped for the
present. He expects that by the time the
weather is warm enough to permit of good
work being done, the city will have received
the authority OF the Legislature to continue
the improvements. The work of preparing
a list OF the city's Liabilities under the recent
decision has proven greater undertaking
than was at first thought, and it may not be
completed for several days, although several
clerks are busily engaged upon it.
RUDYARD KIPIING'S series of letters nm