CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1900-02-22
The Sewer Question.

Canon City. 1t is a very carefully
written article, and were it not for
the peculiar circumstances surround
ing the sewer question at present,
the guarded construction of the ar
ticle might mislead the reader a. to
its Interior object. Those circum-
stances are: That several persons
are now being sued by the self-stylsd
sewer company for non-payment of
sewer rent, one case having been al
ready carried to the court Of appeals;
that the attorney fer the so-ealled
sewer company is, according to the
RECORD, "a good authority on that
question: the real managing Journal
list of the Clipper, that paper seeming
to be under the entire control Of this
attorney; that some members of the
sewer company have, on several oc-
casions, expressed . willingness to
sell their claim on this sewer to the
town. and SO expressed it as to amount
to strong desire to sell. Those are
the circumstances.
Now putting all those things along
in row and looking at them together,
who would fail to guess the source
of that Clipper article, or to suppose
it has meaning other than its ingen-
ious construction leaves only on the
surface?
1t is a question before the courts
whether the so-called sewer company
has just right to collect rent for
use Of the sewer, which involves the
question whether it has anything to
sell. It seems the sewer was con-
structed with $1,000 appropriated by
the State legislature, with money
and labor donated by the general pub
lie, and with convict labor from the
penitentiary. The sewer was made
of small capacity. Members of the
company have themselves emphatical-
| ly contended that the sewer has no
capacity for additional sewerage up
to Seventh street, and many lots on
either side are not built on or con-
nectsd with the sewer up to that
point. 1t is clear the State peniten-
tiary will always be in position to en-
force the use of this sewer for its
purposes, and with its constantly in
creasing population, may eventually
require the whole Of the present
capacity. Why, then, should the
town buy from this so-called COM
pany, sewer built and owned princi-
pally by the State, and which lack
capacity for scarcely anything in ad-
dition to State use? II because the
claimants want to get money out of
it sufficient reason for buying It?
| If Canon City ever has . sewer
system of adequate capacity for its
rapidly increasing needs it will have
to lay . new system from start to
finish. Let the State keep its sys-
tenn, and let the city own and control
its large system entirely separate
from and Independent of the small
one. Whatever money is put into the
old small line will eventually prove TO
be lost utterly. Only by laying . sewer
Of ample capacity from the first will
the people have service commensurate
with the growing requirements. The
city government can never expect to
have sewer system embodying any
thing approaching complete or sani-
tary, service from the enterprise or
public spirit of the present claimants,
for it is their boldly avowsd purpose
not to put dollar into extensions or
improvements, their policy seeming
to be to force all who want such SER
vice to build new sewer for them
selves and then be compelled, if pos
sible, to pay this pretended company
rent on it. Is it advisable for the
town to foster and encourage such
enterprise and public spiri. in order
to find what at first may seem an
easy way out Of a little difficulty, but
which in the end is likely to prove
most expensive and most fruitful OF
trouble?
The Journalist Of that adroit article
seemingly tiles to cajole the people
into good feeling, and thereby favor
able consideration Of whatever pro-
position may be put forward here
after, by using the high-sounding ex-
preston that future generations
will rise up to pronounce blessing
upon the projectors" but an undercur-
rent of evidence has tendency rather
to make some people think the pres
ent generation il wanted to rise up
and pronounce bonus on some worth