The San Francisco call., 1898-06-21
FARCE NOT
 YET ENDED Water Company's Reply to Los Angeles. REFUSES THE CITYS OFFER SAYS ARBITRATION MUST BE
 REsoRTED TO. Next Proceeds to Show Why This Alternative Would Be Bar
 ren of Practical Re-
REFUSES THE CITY'S OFFER
SAYS ARBITRATION MUST BE
 REsORTED TO.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

AOily NSS1lllcQ WllIl lIdlhS. l HIS III brief is the reply of the Los Angeles City Water Company, made to-day tC the city's offer to purchase the corpora tion's improvements to the city's plant for S1,300,000 When the Council con- vened this morning this reply was ex- pected and it came in the shape of a communication from the water com pany, which was as lengthy as usual and was signed by its attorneys.
 The communication in brief set forth in rather ironical terms that the figures l submitted by the company to the city were more than twice what the city of fered the company The company main- | tained that its property could easily be l shown to be worth hundreds of thous- | andS of dollars more than had been estimated by the City Engineer. It de- l clared it was so confident of the value of its plant that it was willing to leave ] the question to an impartial board of arbitration. Then the conditions and objections to this course were pointed out as follows:
 First, the question of the constitu- tionality of the bond issue for the municipal purchase of utilities. This question might have to be settled by the courts.
 Second, the question whether the old ordinance providing for municipal bond issues had not been unwittingly re- Voked by mistake in number of the statutes.
 Third, the question as to how the city could be bound to observe the de- cision of the arbitrators. The latter might determine the price that should be paid and the contract of the water company with the city would hold the municipality to such a figure, but the voters might refuse even then to ap- prove the bond issue to cover the amount determined by the board of ar bitration.
 The company then suggested that bonds should be voted prior to the de- termination of the arbitrators in suffi- cient sum to cover the price that might be named by the board.
 AS soon as the communication had been read the Council referred it to the Water Supply Committee and provided for a session tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. At noon an executive session was held and the Council decided under no circumstances to call any election for an issue of bonds prior to the time when the arbitrators shall have fixed the price the city is to pay for the plant. On the ether hand, an informal discussion was entered into as to who should be named as arbitrator by the city. This was certainly waste of time, but despite the fact that the pros poets for securing anything other than buncombe arbitration are absent there are half dozen persons striving to be named as city arbitrator. The session of the Council tomorrow may produce some developments.
 Mayor Snyder has returned to the city, but he refuses to disclose the ob- ject of his hurried visit to some un- known point and his mysterious de- parture from the city further than to if had haQ rinO fhQ question.
 It is the consensus of pubic opinion that the time has arrived to dis cuss the question of municipal owner ship without holding out further elusive expectations and promises to the people of this city. It was The Call that be- gan a discussion of this character some months ago when there was yet time for the people to meet the issue and do something or have something done for them by their servants in the City Council and in the City Attorneys of flee. Five months have been permitted to pass by the Council. the City Attor- ney and the Mayor and now at the eleventh hour there Is a great rush-a false pretense that something is going to be done. It is true something will be done, but that something will amount to absolutely nothing as far as practical results in the interest of the people are concerned.
 Five years ago the city could have purchased the water company's im- provements for S2,000,0 ,000 but no nego- tiations were opened.
 Litigation, having for its object the clearing of the way to obtain full mu- nicipal ownership and operation, has been pending in the shape of several suits for four or five years and in no single suit or legal proceeding has the city gained an advantage. There are several cases pending on appeal; one case has not been decided and one case in the Federal court has been decided against the city-that decision holding that the Council had no right to fix rates.
 The water company now stands firm ly entrenched behind it's contract with the city, which the courts have decided to be legal and binding on both parties.
 The company is proceeding on that contract and Is endeavoring to the best of it's ability to put the city into default upon the agreement.
 In proceeding under the contract the city finds itself badly handicapped Neither the company nor the Council can agree upon a price, trifle like S1, FOG, 900 being the difference as to the valuation of the company's improve ments.
 Mayor Snyder says that on the ex- piration of the contract July g next, if the city has not already taken pos- session of the plant, he proposes to take detachment of police and in the name of the city take possession by force. This would be all right and would truly be coup de etat if the water company were to sit idly by and permit it to be done. But it probably will not. It will probably procure pro- lection for whatever rights it may have in the courts. The impression Is that it will protect itself It has always done so in the past, and there is no reason to believe 1t will not pursue the same policy in the future.
 The water company would probably go into court and claim 1t had stood by and was ready to carry out every pro- vision of it's contract whereby the city was to acquire it's plant at the expira- tion of the lease, and that the city had failed to carry out its part of the agree ment. This being the case, it would ask to be protected against forcible dis possession
 This is the status of the water situa- tion in Los Angeles to-day There may arise some great and mighty mind who can unravel the tangled threads within the next thirty days, but that man has not yet appeared.
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