Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-02-19
TALK OF CONSOLIDATION
New WhatcOm and Fairhaven COun-
cilS Meet in Joint Session
VARIOUS VIEWS EXPRESSED
Committee Of Five Appointed TO Confer
With a New whatcom Committee.
The Business Meeting

The Business Meeting
The joint meeting of the Fairhaven
and New Whatcom city councils
brought out a large attendance of repre-
sentative citizens at the city hall yes
terday afternoon. All the members Of
the Fairhaven council, with the excep-
ton of the mayor, were present. OF
the New Whatcom council, Mayor
Slade, and Councilmen Cosgrove, Tay-
lor and Roeder were present. Coun-
Gilman Hedge, mayor pro tenn Of the
Fairhaven council, presided. At the
conclusion Of the regular business meet
ing the New Whatcom members were
escorted to seats within the rail, and
the discussion Of the question of the
consolidation of the two cities was
taken up.
Mr.. Hedge called upon Mayor Slade
to address the meeting, who responded
in substance as follows:
We are represented by only portion Of
our council, several Of our members
| owing TO pressing engagements, being
| unable TO be present BY many residents
Of our city IL has Tor some time been
thought that the mutual benefit and ad .
vancement Jf the cities Of Fairhaven and
| New Whatcom would be subserved by
! their consolidation under one municipal
government. by many II Is thought that
there Is no better time TO begin talking
about this consolidation than the present,
during the prevailing depression, when
men have plenty uf time 10 think. A week
| ago last Monday night we appointed a
committee 10 wait upon your council and
] lind out In general way the sentiment Of
your people upon the subject. Your body
| then extended TO us an Invitation TO meet
| you this afternoon. This occasion takes
me back two years, when some Of our citi-
| Zens, myself among the rest, came over
/ here on a similar mission. There were
then four struggling villages on this bay.
! Since then we have made some headWay
| toward union Of our intcrests-Eair-
haven and Beiiingham have become one,
and SehOme and Old WhateOm have con-
| sOlidated We have had experience with
warring local iealousies, but this feeling
Is disappearing month by month, ana we
see harmony growing up la the place Of
| antagonism and separation. This is only
a preliminary skirmish. We will en-
counter opposition In both cities. This Is
question upon which men will differ.
Those who favor IT have In view the
| question whether the city OF Puget
sound shall be built on Beiiingham bay
] or shall we FILTER away our strength
and opportunities until other cities
| further up the Sound get so great a start
IN the race for supremacy that we can no
longer hope TO oyertake them. We can
| better overcome the obstacles in our way
as united city. There will always be
three local ceEters on Bellingham bay
| Fairhaven, backed by population; Se-
| home, backed by a population; and Old
| WhatcOm, backed by the population Of
the plateau beyond. All cities have local
| centers. II Is our misfortune TO be
| stretched out too much. We have seen
struggling villages from Dead Mans
] Point to Squallcnm. The sooner we get
| together the greater will be our influence
/ and power for the building Of the com
mercial metropolis. The cities OF Puget
sound are now forming. We see Tacoma
and Seattle far In advance, Everett, a
new city, has entered the arena, and we
now have three aspiring cities to face In
stead OF two-two OF them far In the
lead. Everett is bringing In immense
| manufacturing industries and is backed
by heavy capital. Shall we, with finer
harbor than any OF them, and unequalled
natural resources, stand as two warning
cities and fritter away our opportunities
! In Jealousy and let our wealth slip away
from " Oh 90 toward the up-building Of
other citles2 We see every day, iron ore
dumped for the smeiter in Tacoma. We
see company formed In Tacoma 20 make
glass Of our sand. We see a company or
ganized IN Seattle TO make pottery OF our
clay. We see our coal transported To
Everett and Seattle. This locality IL
dominated over by Seattle. The time has
come TO let our local differences go and
build up city at this end Of the Sound
Terms OF consolidation will have 10 he
agreed upon. In order TO arrive at an
| agreement we must meet in a spirit Of
concession and fairness. Committees Of
each city could meet and arrange terms
10 satisfy conflicting interests and we
could then go before the people with a
proposition that would carry both cities.
The great question Is, shall we put our
shoulders together and build up one
great cityp We see the results OF our
jealousies In the past. We have q court
house located in the country inconvenient
20 both cities. In case the cities were con =
solidated u would become like the court
house on the north side IN Chicago II
could be used for probate court and the
county commissioners office. and a new
court house could be erected near
the dividing line. Our new eity
hall Is very we'll located for
Whatcom. We have created a
NpOh tp1 10 fiitAiyh WHICH VIC VIII nave
70 take care Of. IL the cities consolidate
the building could be used for high
school, and city hall could be more con
yeniently located for this end OF the city.
III We keep apart longer we will continue
TO DO things that will make IL more diff
cult 10 get together.
Councilman Knight, Of Fairhaven,
was then called upon. He said:
I do. not believe that the time has ar
rived Tor consolidation. lCheering In the
gallery. People Of New Whateom may
make line promises 10 us, but when we
come 70 vote where would we be? We
see the court house erected three and one
hall miles from here. We find the city
hall In the central part Of Whatcom. two
miles from here. / do not see how we
could at this time hold the people Of New
Whatc0m TO any agreement that their
representatives might make. ! do not