The San Francisco call., 1898-01-17

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16.-A grave question has arisen Shall a water company rule this city? The present year will witness an eventful struggle to determine this point No more i'm portant contest than the one to be waged between an entrenched capital and the taxpayers has yet been record ed in local history, and the outcome must directly interest every one of the 10000 residents. Nevertheless, the peo- pie who recognize the fact that their rights are in danger. that a corpora ton, fattened on their generosity, is 10th to reHnquish its grip, are obliged to turn to San Francisco to find a daily paper bold enough to champion their cause.
 Almost as a unit the people of Los Angeles, taxpayers and voters, favor public ownership of a water r-distribut- ing plant This statement is not ad- vanced as an estimate. It is simply declared as truth. for the people have directly indicated their wishes at the baIlot-bo
 It will be thirty years on the 22d of next July since the city of Los Angeles entered into a contract with private parties to take from the management of the little adobe town of 1868 the water works plant, then owned by the municipality, and to conduct and oper- ate it for thirty years.
 To these private partfes-new known as the Los Angeles City Water Com pany-the City Council of the later six ties gave the use of the water of the . Los Angeles River for the period above stated, the same to be distri- buted for public purposes.
 According to the terms of the lease, 1t was provided that at the expiration of the contract the plant of the water company should once more become the property of the city. the company to be paid at a fair and equitable figure for all improvements made thereto
 When this contract was entered into and this lease made the city of Los Angeles had a scattered popula- tion of a few thousands. No one for one moment thought that at the ex- piration of the lease there would be here the second city in size and com mercial importance west of the Rocky Mountains. But such is the case, and. as the city has grown. so has the re- muneratiOn of the original holders of that valuable lease, their heirs and assigns.
 Under this private direction and con- trol the city and its people have for thirty years been put to a very heavy tax for water supply. The water com pany has had monopoly and has been enabled to place a burden upon the peo- pie which they have been forced to "a frfc ing to the rates now in force, and they have been reduced year by year for some six or seven years, there is an an- nual profit of $400,000 accruing to the stockholders of the water company.
 The citizens have long realized this but in a good-natured way they have borne their burden almost without murmur. They had to- But they had all the time one bright ray of hope in the future. In 1898 the lease, franchise Nand all rights of the water company were lapsed by the contract and the property reverted to the city Then a greater era would dawn People could have all the water they desired for household and other purposes and it would be furnished to them by the city direct, at the simple cost of distribu- tion, which would be exceedingly light All agreed that when this time arrived their troubles as to water would be over
 The water contract that was made in the adobe days of Los Angeles has be- come an historical document, and it is certainly most extraordinary paper It Is given in full. as follows:
 G3 . 6 . . z 6 6 c c c This agree
 c Gment. made
 c The Binding Document e and entered
 Q On Which c l6th HhO day of of
 = Much Depends. . July, A D.
 co c co Q c c c 6 co the corpor
 ation known
 as the Mayor and Common Council of
 the city of Los Angeles. and their
 successors in office. for and on behalf
 of said city of Los Angeles, party of
 the first part, and John S. Griffin,
 Prudent Beaudry and Solomon La
 gard. residents of the city and county
 of Los Angeles, State of California,
 party Of the second part, witnesseth
 That for and in consideration of the
 yearly payment of $500 per annum in
 gold coin, such payments to be made
 on the first day of January of each
 year after the signing and approval
 or this ordinance and contract until
 the conclusion of the term of this < contract and the further considera- ' ton that the said parties of the sec
 ond part will surrender to the said
 parties of the first part and cancel
 all claims that they now hold against
 said city for repairs of said wate.
 works, and for damages amounting to
 the sum of SS000. a little more or less: and for the further consideration of