Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-12-23
NEW WHATCoM'S PURCHASE

The residents of New WhatcOm are
to be congratulated upon the practical
unanimity with which they endorsed
the proposition to purchase the system
OF water works from the Bellingham
Bay Improvement Company and to
bond the city in sufficient sum to inn
prove the plant and make it adequate
for any demand which may be put
upon it. If properly handled the
profits resulting from the working of
the system should more than justify
the step taken at yesterdays election.
1t was the expectation of those voting
in the affirmative that large part of
the money thus being returned to the
Bellingham Bay Improvement Com
pany on its investment will revert TO
the city's good in the development of
the recently discovered coal vein and
In renewed operations in other depart
ments of the company's interests on
the Bay, especially in the payment of
its street grade taxes, amounting to
about $4,000. The popular estimation
Of the powers inherent in a corporation
are of the vaguest and most indefinite
nature imaginable, and seems to focus
into the belief that simply because q
number of men are interested in
proposition instead of one man, their
resources are infinite, and 1t only re-
mains for them TO smile and prosperity
reigns with universal blessing, or to
frown, and adversely creeps into every
home, the corporation being alter
nstely blessed and cursed according
to the ebb or flow of the local money
market. II II Is best for New What
com TO own its own water works, and
the present system is worth the money
10 be paid, then obligation on the part
Of the company ceases, except the
honesty Of paying its actual indebted
ness to the city. II on the other hand
the city ought not possess It's own
water works, and the affirmative vote
was cast merely to loosen the finances
Of corporation In the hope of its
spending the money in renewed activ-
ity AID developments, then the trans
action is utterly lacking In every essen
tial Of business foresight and amounts
TO a simple grasping ofstraws.
Will the Bellingha Bay Improve
ment company reinvest the money re-
oelved from the sale Of its water works.
In all probability, yes; but not because
Of the sale-for that were to confess a
motive in the transaction which is not
to the credit of the business instinct of
the company. Sooner or later all and
more Of the developments expected by
the people will be made by the com.
pany, but for reasons as widely sepa-
rated from the water works proposition
as the polls. Only one result justities
the investment of capital, either on the
part of an individual or corporation,
and that is the Interest or profit to be
realized from the investment-the law
of supply and demand. Aud at this
point the necessity of activity on the
part of the Bellingham Bay Improve
ment company finds its origin. OIL her.
wise 1t is merely charitable institu-
ton and cannot abide the pressure Of
practical business life. Its vein Of coal
must sooner or later be developed. The
law Of commerce is the imperative die.
tator In the premises. So with respect
to the other interests Of the company.
They must either be kept In active
operation or before long pass into ADLER
hands. Capital once invested In mills
and other industries rarely remains
idle for protracted period unless the
resources on which they were erected
happen to fail. But this one contingent
Is not the experience Of the company In
question. The resources on which its
hopes were founded remain practically
untouched, and in this, and not in in
definite promises, lies the safety of
those who voted for the purchase Of the
water works. The resources tributary
to Bellingham Bay, beyond dispute,
are second TO no other section Of the
state, and their development in the
near future Is q necessity which the