The San Francisco call., 1898-02-01

LOS ANGELES. Jan. 1.-The people of Los Angeles are again brought forci- bly face to face with the proposition that if they obtain anything from the present City Council which will faciii- tate the acquisition by the municipal ttv of the plant now operated by the water company they will simply have to hammer 1t out. It Is again made very plain that the Council IS gong to do nothing of it's own free Wiii ana volition that savers of business meth ods in pushing negotiations between the municipal corporation on the one hand. and the private corporation on the other. Members of the Council who have up to date done the very thing at the very time that was de- sired of them by the water monopoly stand around in the City Hall lobby and prate about what they are going to do. or are willing to do for munlcl- pal ownership, and then. when the time comes for them to vote in the City Council. they do the very thing ana vote the very way that the City Water Company desires them to. Then they C,biect to being referred to as oppos- ing municipal ownership and as act ing in the interest of the water com many and not in the interest Of the neonle If they do not receive sub stantiaI recognition from the private corporation for the service they ren- der the consensus of public opinion is that they ought to.
 To-day Councilman E. L. Hutchinson offered the following resolution to the Council:
 Resolved. That the City Attorney be and Is hereby directed to draw up m legal form notification to the Los An geles City Water Company that further ir7provements placed upon it's system be- tween this time and the 22d of July. 1898, beyond what are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the said system until the expiration of the lease of the said company. would not accord with the plan for the water system for the municipal itv as outlined by the City Engineer.
 Resolved. That the City Clerk be and is hereby directed to forward this notice to the Los Angeles City Water Company at once.
 The resolution was drawn in con- sonance with the request embodied in the resolutions adopted at the non-par
 
 Saturday evening. It was a reasonable request to make of the water company simply a notification that the cor poration would have no claim against the city to compel 1t to purchase any unnecessary improvements it might make to its plant between now and the expiration of the contract. Yet the res olution absolutely died for want of second Councilmen Nickel and Toll both jumped into the breach as soon as 1t was presented and argued against its adoption. They lined up for the water company. No Councilman had backbone enough to second the resolu- tion, although it's passage was request ed by a mass meeting of hundreds of citizens Councilman Grider was un- avoidably absent.
 But the Councilmen who are in this fight and are so indifferent as to the rights of the people and so fearful lest the water company will not be accorded every right it is entitled to are seeking cover They are aware that the rate payers of Los Angeles, thanks to The Call. have their eyes opened as to the manner in which they are being dealt with by public servants who forget ante-election pledges. The result of this awakening is a report from the on water supply, which was made to the Council to-day. It was review. long and tiresome, of what that committee has done-or, rather, what 1t has not done-in the matter of bring ing to head the negotiations between the water company and the city. The