Cañon City record., 1900-03-08

hands of the Tice people, and then
soon thereafter everything seemed
to get back into the possession of
the Slater company. giving the Slater
company q franchise running for
twenty years from February Z, 1898;
provided, no election of the people
approving it is necessary, but they
say such election is necessary to
make our ordinance good, and yet
they must know that the same identi-
cal law was in force at the time when
the Tice ordinance was passed. as
when our ordinance was passed.
This is simply an illustration of an
old adage, that 1T makes . differ
ence whose OK is gored.r 1t is said.
however, that since the passage Of
the ordinance granting US franchise
there has new law gone into effect,
which gives the city right to pur-
chase at periods of ten, fifteen and
twenty years after construction any
plant built under franchise granted
after the taking effect of this new
law. This is true. The law went in
TO effect in July, two months after
our ordinance was passed, and year
and some months after the Tice ordi-
nance was passed. | see no reason
why the franchise granted to me is
an imposition on the people simply
because thereafter new law went
into effect, any more than ! do that
the passage of the Tice ordinance
was an imposition. There has been
more work done and money spent
under my ordinance than under his.
But it is said that the city is losing a
great opportunity by the ratification
of this ordinance of ours which will
not be subject to purchase BY the
town under the provisions Of the
new law. and yet Par. 2, Sec. 2 Of
said law Of '99 at page 420 Of the
Session Laws Of that year says:
Said cities or towns shall also
have the power to condemn. and ap-
propriate any water, gas or electric
light works not owned by such city
or town in such manner as ID or may
be prescribed by law for the condsm-
nation of real estate
do not care to say much upon
this question of the city buying. con-
demning or building an electric light
plant, because know, as does every
well posted citizen OF this community,
that the financial condition of the city
is such as to absolutely preclude the
possibility of any such thing taking
place. In 1884 this city issued $60,-
600 Of water bonds for the purchase
Of Tie water plant then in uss in the
city. Sixteen years have gons By
since that time and not single dol-
lar Of the principal Of said bonds hes
ever been paid, though thsy have
bssa rsfundsd. nor has anything bssa
.peid inso 4 slekj9E {pad * -. .RnEz.
poSs 81 paying them & u fGo1lS:
instead, there was added 10 1891,
$40. 600 additional bonds on account
Of the water plant, and nothing hes
ever been paid on this latter bond
issue. But further than this, the
city has $4,000 worth of bonds is-
sued in 1883, drawing 6 per cent and
upon these nothing has ever been
paid, nor has anything been accumu-
lated looking to their payment. The
constitution Of the State limits the
legal bonded Indebtedness of the city
to 3 per cent upon its assessed valu-
alton. In 1899 the assessed valua-
tion of Canon City was S767, TAB, 3
per cent upon this sum would be $23.-
o32.26. While, as before said, the
present bonded Indebtedness. aside
from the water bonds. is $40. 600, al
most $1,000 more than the city
could legally create. The city records
will bear out tie above statements.
With these startling facts before
one, 1t seems idla to talk about the
city buying. condemning or building
n light plant, and the question simply
resolves itself into the one thing. as
to whether or not the citizens of this
community desire to continue the
present company a. monopoly In
the lighting business, or prefer TO
let come new company share the field
with the old upon an equal footing
and compete for the business that is
to be had. II the city should ever
want to build there is no more legal
reason why they should not build
after ratifying this ordinance Of ours
than before. There has been some
talk made for the purpose Of trying
to influence the labor element, that
this was an outside and foreign cor
poration which was seeking to put in
a new plant. 1t is Colorado corpor-
alton which has at lesst spent "a
much or more money within the
limits of Canon than any other cor
poration which is doing business in
our city. 1t has given employment
to our own people, has erected good
buildings, and installed good machin-
cry, and 80 far has been constantly
paying in, rather than drawing out
money from the community.
Respectfully,
c. C. CoNKLE.