The herald., 1897-06-08
SHALL THE WIRES GO? ?
THAT AND STREET PAVING
DISCUSSED
At the Merchants Association Last
Night-Corporations and Prop
erty Owners Represented

A meeting was held last evening in the
rooms of the Merchants and Manufac.
turers' association which was more
fruitful in promise than in accomplish
ment. President H. W. Frank was In
the chair. and the members of the COM
mittee on municipal affairs, and the rep
resentatives of various corporations
were present. The object of the meeting
was to talk things over" and if possi-
BILE to decide whether it were better to
repave Spring street now or later, aud
| If not, why not; to discover If such
thing could be, the attitude of the tele-
graph and telephone companies on the
subject of underground conduits; and
| incidentally to settle on some definite
plan Of action now or in the future.
| President Frank called the meeting tt
order about $3.50. At ten he adjourned
the meeting subject to call of the chair.
man of the municipal committee. In the
meantime there had been good deal ol
conversation bearing more or less d.
rectly on the subjects in hand. But
neither the representatives of corpora
tions nor those of the property owners
had succeeded in presenting an argu-
Iucul 81 CllACLiA6 Ill lOlCc, VI 81 per-
suasive in logic that 1t resulted in una
nimity of action in any direction except
to adjourn to meet some other day.
The pros and cons of resurfacing
Spring street were presented; whether
or not the city would do it or could be
made to do it; whether the property
owners had better take the matter in
their own hands, the bit in their teeth,
as 1t were, or wait for the city; and
whether-and this led to the condui.
matter-it would be wise to repave be-
fore the underground wire subject was
settled.
One speaker stated definitely that all
wires of all companies and corporations
had been ordered underground before
April 1st. 1898; another expressed a
skeptical, worldly unbelef in that man
date of the council, and smiled sar-
donic smile at the idea Of telegraph
corporation going underground just be-
cause 1t was ordered there by any coun-
ell, and so on.
Mr., Keyser, who represented the Sun
set Telephone company stated briefly
that Mr.. Hinchcliffe had been called
suddenly out of town, and he wasn't
prepared to make any statements; on
the contrary. he had come to get the
sense of the meeting that his company
might figure on expense, ETC. He re-
marked casually, that they had their
own little underground conduit from
Main to Seventh street ,on Spring now.
Mr. Thaxter of the West Side Lighting
company stated promptly that his COM
pany was ready to cooperate with other
companies or citizens and do whatever
was best for the general good; and that
they would go ahead and do their share;
that they had the licenses for the Edl-
son system for Los Angeles and that
they believed cooperation meant q
great saving for all concerned.
Mr.. Vetter, who represented the Home
Telephone company, said they were all
underground now; their franchises were
SO worded they couldn't come up even on
pole to breathe, and as long as they
were obliged to be underground they
would like to see the rest out of sight
but he, too, implied slkepticism ON the
subject of the council and that mandate
Of the significant date--April 1st.
G. j. Griffith, N. B. Blackstone, e. +.
Kubel, L. w. Godin, M A. Hamburger
and Felix G. Howes. all members of the
municipal affairs committee, spoke TO
the subject, and all agreed that If pos
sible the underground conduit should be
made an issue and that 1t was impera-
tive that the wire subject be decided be-
fore the street paving matter could be
permanently settled, but they were
unanimously in favor Of both.
Secretary Knight read d long list Of
names Of property owners on Spring
street north and south of First, and ev-
cry one was In favor Of resurfacing
Spring street. with the exception Of
Messrs. Bryson and Woollacott, and the
latter expressed willingness to be
persuaded to an affirmative view II the
conduit were an established fact. Sug-
gestions were made by Secretary Knight
and Mr.. Griffith that the committee. and
the corporations ''get together" and try
to arrive at terms or compromise that
would seem to point to practicable re-
sults, and The meeting stood ad1ourned.