The San Francisco call., 1898-02-02
Going Ahead With Improve nents Made to Enbarrass
 the Municipality.
WORKING UNDER COVER.
wnl Continue to Do Business, If Pos
 sible, When It's Contract: =. =,.: Expires:
Special Dispatch to The Call.

LOS ANGELES; Feb. .-1.-The people of this city are thoroughly imbued with
 the idea that the fiftytwo stockholders
 of the water company have not the
 slightest intention of going out of busi
 ness when their lease of. the present
 plant expires on July 9 next. This be-
 lief is founded upon experience in deal
 ing with the corporation in the past,
 and upon certain facts which tend 10
 prove beyond any reasonable doubt
 that the officers and directors are not
 making the slightest preparation to go
 out of business at the. expiration Of
 their contract. On the other hand the
 water company is making every prepa-
 ration to continue in business.
 For instance, the water company,
 through it's president, w. H. Perry, is
 now dickering with the Fulton Engt-
 neering Works for a pump to replace
 the machinery 1t now has at it's Ely
 sian Park Station. The new pump is
 to have a capacity of 6O0O,000 gallons
 in twenty-four hours-just three times
 the capacity of the present plant at
 Elysian Park.
 The company is also going ahead
 with numerous other improvements to
 the cityS plant, none of which is
 being made in good faith or for good
 purpose, but merely to stick the muni-
 cipality and to impede the transfer of
 the plant to the city. IL was to eStop
 moves of this kind that Councilman
 Hutchinson, at the request of the mass
 meeting held Saturday evening, intro
 duced a resolution in the Council last
 night. which the seven representatives
 Of the city government then present permitted to die without second. If Councilman HutchisOn'S resolution had
 been adopted the water company would l7, IrSrN, 7nf n O lYal any save absolutely necessary inn provements to the city's plant between now and the expiration of the lease. Then the corporation would be pre- vented from making additions in the interim which would interfere and not accord with the general plan for the improved municipal plant which it is designed this city shall have.
 The stockholders of the water com pany are figuring on obtaining an ex- tension Of their lease. They have not entered into negotiations to turn the plant back to the city in good faith, nor with the intention of doing any thing of the kind.
 In their designs the great point is to keep the people in the dark as to what their plans are and also as to how they are to be consummated.. They are receiving the same support from men in public office that they have in the past, and if, through the aid of press: the people can be led to believe that everything possible is being done for municipal ownership when really nothing is being done, then half the fight is won for the water monopoly. The syndicated dailies-the Times, Herald and Express-are doing well the work of: the corporation, and SC. are the majority of the City Council men.
 But the people of this city have al ready had one lesson taught them which they should profit by. In 1893 the city had an option to purchase the Hooker Pomeroy land at the mouth of the Tehunga River, about 435l acres, for a head works site for 80, 900. The deal was all but consummated and it would have been the initial step for muni cipal water system. Daniel Innes, a of the City Council at the time, tells the story of how the deal was blocked by the water company and its tools.
 we had discussed the matter thor oughly among all the members" said MT. Innes to-day, "and it was agreed that we should pay the $30,000, and then we would have had the finest headworks site it would have been pos sible to obtain for the city'S water plant. The money had all been obtained and was in the city treasury. On Mon day, June 5, 1893, Acting City Attorney William E. Dunn came in and told us that the money could be voted by reso- lution to take up the option which ex- pired on June :. The resolution was accordingly presented and received six votes Councilmen F. G. Teed and John T. Gaffey alone. voting nay. It was carried, and we supposed that the transaction was closed Councilman Pessell, a strong supporter of the reso- luton and of the proposition, desired to go East to the Worlds Fair, and as we supposed the transaction was set tied, we gave him leave of absence. He departed, but he had no sooner got out of the State than Acting City At orney Dunn came in and informed us that 1t would require an ordinance to | vote the money. He knew that we were then short the vote of Councilman Pes- sell, which was required to give an or dinance voting money the necessary two-thirds vote.
 "It was a trick, and it worked. A | meeting of the Council was called to | pass the ordinance so that we could take up the option, as we had been | notified that it would not be renewed | The ordinance failed by one vote. The | scheme had been successfully carried | out and this city's purchase of a head works site was defeated
 Councilman Nickells, who. had been absent when the vote was taken on the resolution appropriating the | money, was present when the vote was | taken on the ordinance appropriating the money. It was his vote against the | ordinance that carried the nefarious | job to consummation, and he is the | present chairman of the committee on | water supply. Litigation that has ex- tended over five years and that is not | yet ended would have been avoided if | Nickells had voted right on that June day in 1893, and the present City At Will k. Dunn. can never con- vince many people that his position was above criticism. When questioned | to-day MT. Dunn declared that he | ,o+o5 eroo1 foifb