The labor world., 1898-03-05
MAYORS MESSAGE
Treats Each Branch Of City Govern
E ment at Length.


E ment at Length.
The mayor began by referring to the
generosity of the people" in again al
lowing him to write an annual message
He thanked his friends and fellow citi-
zens for "again placing in my hands the
scepter Of civic power" which he as
sured would be used for the common
good. He said the next two years would
be as important to the city as the past.
The purchasing of the gas and water
plants wt,s referred to as important as
solving q condition that no doubt had
injured the financial standing Of the city
and insuring pure water.
The building of the sO-called supple
mentary water system, which the outgo-
ing council has had to deal with, which
I understand will be in about a month,
connection can be made with the old
plant and pure water will be at once fur
,nished.
I desire to congratulate the outgoing
council ssnd everybody connected with
constructing the. supplementary system
OH the competent manner in which this
work hasibeen done. A large undertaking
of this kind is bound to cause some fric-
tion. The faulty plans of the pump
house caused a great deal of delay and
some unpleasant feeling between the
council, the board Of public works and
the contractor, but finally all minds met
and the difficulty was settled. We can
pride ourselves on having a slightly and
substantial structure, a credit to the city.
The construction Of the intake pipe,
reaching 1900 feet from the well into the
lake, was of necessity a very difficult job
and required more time than at first CAL
culated. It also became necessary to
make some changes to protect the pipe
from under currents. The city engineer
designed cribs constructed to sit on top
of the pipes and rest. on the bottom of
the lake. These were placed at intervals
and filled with rock. All the work has
been completed in a. satisfactory manner.
The pipe is perfectly tight and properly
protected with a crib and screens at the
end of it.
The reservoir, as yet, is only partially
completed, but as long as we have the
old reservoir there is no hurry about it's
completion.
We have had some serious difficulty
with constructing our pumps for which
contract was let to the D. Clint Pres
colt company and whose failure COM
PEELED the city, as authorized under the
contract, to complete the pumps. All
steps in this matter were taken under
advice Of the city attorney and with the
consent of Prescott's bondsmen. Under
these circumstances I have good reason
to believe that the city will meet with no
loss in this matter.
I am glad to be able to state that the
cost of the supplementary system, as
near as can now be ascertained, will not
| overrun the engineers estimate to any
considerable extent if at ALL
T am informed by the city attorney that
all preliminaries in connection with the
| sale of the gas and water plant by the
master-in-chancery have been completed
and that deeds from him and the Duluth
Gas & Water company have been filed
| with the register Of deeds to the pur-
| chasers of the property, Messrs. Unter-
/ meyer &, Washburn. Under these cir
| cumstances the city attorney will soon
| report to your honorable body on the title
| to the property. In this connection
would suggest that whenever bonds are
offered for sale to pay for the plant you
| instruct the city attorney to procure the
| opinion Of Storey & Thorndyke of Bos.
| ton, or some other noted attorneys on the
legality of the bonds, and when the bonds
are advertised for sale, that you ask fol
unconditional bids. We have had great
deal of annoyance in the past with bono
buyers that bid on bonds subject to le-
gality and whenever they desire to evade
taking the bonds they have been able te
have some Objectionable flaw raised by
their own attorneys and in consequence
| have refused to take the bonds, causing
annoyance and loss of time and money
to the city.