The Nome nugget., 1901-09-13
SHUTTING UP THE EAST WIND.

Tho city council has solved the question to how vacancies shall be filed should they arise in the council The council, by an ordinance passed, says that tho ward in which the vacancy occurs shall elect the councilman. This, believe, is sn etnently fair proposition and one that will meet the approval of the great ma jority oi people since it will insure all portions of the city representation at the council board
 We want to state emphatically that, personally, we do not care whether the councilmen from tho east west middle of the town long as they arc capable ard honest It is with regret therefore, that factiona spirit being dis played inethe council. The west end is being played against the end, and vice versa, and dare that councilman might be found who would play both ends against the middle
 We might also remark that the ecoune has other work to do, than wasting time in wrangling the question whether a councilman shall be elected by ward the town at large There is neither principle nor privilege involved in the question; it is simply one of equity, and we believe the equities involved have been met The council had far better face the financial problem with which they confronted We tell them that the people of this community do not fardel for the spectacular iubdub ofcouncil men over the manner in whicha councilman shall or shall not be elected The council but wastes it's time
 
 the east wind and trying to enact the role of cheap reformer and stickler for ''constitutiona" rights The people interested, however, in decent govern Inent, carried on in econ omical manner Will the gentlemen of the council their pyrotechnics for while and evolve plan by which enough money may be secured to maintain any form of government According to the last report of the city clerk there city warrants outstanding amounting to $l5,79S Next week couple of thousand more will be added to it. When is it going to stop and will the gentle men who are supposed to manage the financial end of the machine kindly point out how it will end. Besides the outstanding general warrants, there are special street fund warrants outstanding, and there is an indebtedness of at least $10000 for new fro apparatus purchased, by order of the city, by Mayor Giese.
 The fact of the matter is the city has en indebted ness now of $3O0OO, at least, and it is climbing steadily. To offset this there is the which ono per cent assessment possessory rights, inn provements, etc., will yeld. This sum will certainly not make than, $20,OOO. big revenue has been derived from fines and forfeitures since last May but that source of revenue is rapidly failing The town will certainly need some police protection this winter; it needs street lights the hospital must b. maintained; must the fire department and salaries must be paid and, gentlemen of the council will you kindly tell interested people how you are going to do it? Dc you not think that you have enough to do, and that the question of ways and means transcends in importance all the fespun and wise dissertations as to what the Alaska code may be construed to mean, when it comes to the uromentcus question of filling 8 vacancy in the council?
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