Arizona republican., 1899-11-07
THE DEED IS DONE
The Water COmpdnY'S Ser
wants Were Faithful,
The SirangIing OF the Bond Prop
position Accomplished Amid
Kisses and the Public cxecra-
fion of Three nemberS.

y, Il
the council chamber last night. He was
speaking of the adoption by the coun-
Gil of a resolution putting the DISPOSE
ton of the question of municipal water
works into the hands of a committee
of three, of whom two are sworn
friends of General Sherman and the
Phoenix Water company. The city was
thrown hard but as the fall was not
at all unexpected there was not
great shock. From the moment that
General Sherman arrived in Phoenix
there was hardly a hope entertained
by thinking men that 4 bond PROPOSE
ton would be submitted to the people.
Many even gave up hope when Coun-
Gilman Fickas and Mayor CAM re-
turned from Los Angeles last summer.
The personnel of the men supporting
the Phoenix Water company left no
doubt from the beginning of Council
man Morfords course. Whatever
doubt existed rested wholly upon the
mayor and some trustful souls fool
ishly hoped to the last that he would
carry out his pledge to the people last
spring.
A meeting of the city council was
held at o'clock yesterday afternoon
to get the regular monthly bills out of
the way so that the evening session
might be wholly devoted to the water
question" It was a needless saving of
time. The majority already knew to a
dot what was going to be done and it
could be done in five minutes as well
as five hours.
The evening session began an hour
earlier than usual and the hall was
crowded as it never had been before.
A single glance at the faces OF the
councilmen was as conclusive of the
result as if the vote were already
taken. There was not, it is true,
stamped on the foreheads of Mayor
'-Iia..z and Councilmen Morford and
Fickas the word Sherman" but the
purpose of the water company was
strongly stamped there.
There was some preliminary miscel-
laneous business after which Council
man Dyer called up the water ques-
ton Mr. Fickas Immediately rose,
holding in his hand a large bundle of
typewriter paper, which he said was
a Statement" Mr.. Dyer objected to
the presentation of the statement and
a heated colloquy between him and Mr..
Fickas ensued, in which the latter de-
clined, he said, to be gagged in this
early stage of the proceedings. MI.
Dyer's objection to the presentation
was that it was waste of time en-
bracing only arguments of the water
company, with which the town was
already acquainted. At the close of
the dispute Mr.. Fickas proceeded His
statement was a history of the water
question since the late election, the
postponement last summer OF its con-
sideration by the vote of Messrs.
Fickas, CAM and Morford to the pres
ent time. Then followed a cOmmunica-
ton from President Ainsworth of the
water company, in which in answer to
two inquiries he replied that the COM
pany was bound by its contract to fur
nish the city free water for flushing 4
public sewer system. He also said that
in case of a foreclosure of the bond ID
indebtedness of the company the city
would lose none of its rights. There
was also a long opinion by City At
torney Darby on various points con-
nected with the prospective bond prop
osition, in which he held that the
water works and sewer propositions
must be submitted separately. There
was too a report from Secretary Pratt
of the water company showing the re-
ceipts and expenditures of the COM
pany for the last year to be: from
water users inside the city, S14,99613
outside, s6,O9S36; city rent for hy-
drants, $3,S7S.52; street sprinkling,
1.11665. For the verification of these
figures Mr.. Pratt invited an investiga :
ting committee composed of Mayor
Il, j. \.
statement closed with an argument
against a municipal system. All this
had been preceded by the introduction
of the water company's petition for
the appointment of committee to in
vestigate the cost of water works AMI
the annual expense of maintenance.
The signatures We're numerous, but
many of them had been obtained by
Misrepresentation as has already been
described by The Republican.
This petition was followed by much
longer one obtained within a day or
two, urging immediate action on the
bond proposition. Every signer of this
petition fully understood what he was
doing.
When Mr. Fickas concluded his
statement Mr.. Dyer observed that he
had heard it before at Los Angeles last