The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-12-22

Mayor Currier and all of the alder.
men were present atFriday nights meet,
ing of the council. The most impor'
tant action taken was in regard to the
amendment to the street railway ordi'
nance, extending the time for the com
pletion of the first three miles until
Jan. 1st, 1901. The ordinance was
passed over the mayors veto by vote
of five to one.
Mayor Curriers' message vetoing the
street railway ordinance was read.
Aid. Jordan moved reconsideration
of the vote by which the ordinance had
been passed. This was carried, and he
then moved that the ordinance be
passed Notwithstanding the mayors
, yato He said that he thought that
the council had intended at the last
meeting to do right by both the COM
pany and the city The objection of
the mayor in regard to the city pur-
chasing the company's property is met
by the state law No business man
would agree to sell the profitable part
of his business and retain the remain
der. If the city buys any of the plant
it should buy the whole. The question
of the bonds of the company, covering
the entire property, must be taken into
consideration, and the company should
be dealt with fairly.
fMayor Currier called Vice President
TAYLOR to the chair and took the floor.
He disclaimed any feeling of hostility
toward the company or any member of
it. He had vetoed the ordinance in
good faith. He desired to explain his
position more fully than he had done.
The municipal election of six years ago
showed that the people were in favor
of municipal lighting plant, The city
can be lighted more cheaply by a city
plant than it is at present. The mayor
said that he had talked with fifteen or
twenty business men, and all laughed
at the idea of an electric railway line
being constructed at present. The
mayor did not believe that the COM
pany intended to build line. One
would not psy for five or ten years any
way. He said that the lighting part of
the company's business would be
profitable. He did not want to do any
thing that would tie the city's
hands in case it should desire to do it's
own lighting and thus save $1,000 or
$1,000 year. The present lighting
contract expires in September. 1902
He considered the street railway fea-
ture as chimerical.
Aid. Meyer said that the ordinance
had been so framed that the company
cannot go on and build the lighting
plant and drop the street railway. He
did not think that the company would
build street railway, because he did
NOT think that anyone would be foolish
enough to put money into it. 1t would
be unfair to cripple the company at any
time by the city taking away the light
ing plant in case it did build street
car line. He did not think that the
company had commenced construction
within the meaning of the ordinance,
and thought it would be out the fran.
chise if the extension was not granted.
He favored extending the time so that
the company might get eastern capital.
if possible,
AID. Taylor favored treating the
company fairly and thought that it
should be given the extended time
which it asks.
Aid. Jordan said that the ordinance
did not prevent the city from erecting
a plant and doing it's own lighting at
any time.
Mayor Currier said that the effect
would be to bar out municipal lighting
for twenty years, on the cry of protect
ing the investment of home capital,
No matter how many companies there
are, the price of street lighting will be
high.