St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-03-22

To sell, 167
The result was received with con-
siderable demonstration after which
the meeting adjourned.
COMMENTS ON THE MEETING.
The result of the vote was disap-
pointment to the CALEDoNIAN because
we believed that the village would lose
nothing if it let private corpora
ton run its waterworks. We recall
that when the present Electric Light
Company started here and offered to
furnish the village with lights the
CALIFORNIAN then strongly opposed
the scheme. What has been the result
The company, which is III the hands
Of our own citizens, has given good
service and the village is paving over
$50 dollars less light per year than
the city of Boston. The rate the vii
iage pays for each light is lower than
the average in the cities and towns
in the United States. The result
would have been the same if the vii
lage had turned over its water
works to private corporation,
whose figures showed that they
would furnish water for hvdrants at
less than the average rate.
The CALIFORNIAN has only the best
interests of this village at heart and
has no disposition to get angry at
those who differ with it on this
question, but it honestly believes
that the village will pay dearly in
the near future for the privilege of
municipal control of its waterworks.
1t is very much afraid that the cost
will largely exceed the moderate sum
of $4,000 which was the contract
price for the use of the hvdrants.
The expense of future experiments
must be borne not by the poll tax
payers but by the property tax
payers of this village. Every one of
the latter now believe that his tax is
high enough and will naturally OPP
pose any more experimenting in this
line.
By Mondays vote we are still
committed to two systems of water
works for an indefinite period. The
Aqueduct Company will begin i'm
rnediately upon increasing their
plant and will be a more formidable
competitor than ever before What
ever the village does should be done
slowly and wisely. We have paid
pretty dear for our whistle in the
past as every property taxpayer
knows.
Thanks are due to the special COM
mittee for their interest in the mat
ter and for their careful examina-
ton of the problem in all its phases.
The committee were not unanimous
in voting to keep the village system,
but if they had been unanimous in
favor of adopting the contract we
doubt if the voters at Mondays
meeting would have adopted their
report. Certainly no one who was
not there has any right to criticize
the result of the vote. 1t was his
business to attend the meeting and
vote.
The trustees deserve a vote of
thanks for the weeks and months
they have spent in trying to solve
this question. The board is COM
posed of six men who have their own
business to attend to all of the time,
and yet they have given much of
their valuable time for nearly a year
to the village. For this service they
neither ask nor expect any pay.
What they would probably like, and
what they ought to have, is the
hearty communication of every
citizen for their untiring efforts to
settle the most important question
that ever came before this village.
1t would have probably pleased this
board if their recommendations had
been adopted. But what will please
them more is the confidence and
respect Of their constituents The
voter who cannot give them that to-
day is an ungrateful citizen.
DAIRYING THAT PAID.