The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-08-04

The board OF aldermen neld InTlllHS
meeting last night.
Two agitatng subjects engaged the
attention of the city fathers-the bonds
and the bear.
The bonds came first to the bat, but
they seemed to arouse no enthusiasm
on the bleachers, and soon famed out.
The bear then took the floor and held
1t until he squeezed an extra 5000 for his
keep out of the city treasury.
Then the board adjourned.
eve have bear at the park" is the
way in which Alderman Jones, chairman
of the Park committee, introduced the
sul%;ct to the meeting
Wen bear it in mind" was the re-
Spouse Mayor Powell made on behalf of
the board.
'It may be a thread bare subject" re-
Joined Alderman Jones, determined not to
be outdone in the matter of puns-''for
the News and Observer calls him the
much advertised bear-but l hope you
will rc~" 18th me for few minutes. We
are making the park attractive. We are
building bear-pit for that bear, and
hundreds of people are going out to see
him. But the bear is not all, we've quite
a zoo-the greatest zoo that ever zooed,
somebody said, and that's about it. We've
got wolf and monkey, crows and
pelican, rabbits and an alligator"
Here Mr. Jones reminded the board that
il takes money to run a menagerfe, that
mighty few even wealthy people can az
ford to keep a bear, and if the city eX-
pected to maintain his bearship in the
style to which he'd been accustomed, it
must put up the coin-something like
$500 a year.
He moved that amount be appropriated.
Alderman Arthur seconded the motion,
and the proposition passed unanimously
better than bare majority.
The bond matter came up before the
bear question and Alderman Drewry,
chairman of the Street committee, was
responsible for that. Bonds" was the
subject of his street committee report.
He said that few men were now en-
ployed upon the understanding for
bonds.
That much work needed doing. but it
couldn't be done just now-waiting for
bonds.
That he regretted to see some folks
trying to distract attention from the real
issue waiting for bonds-to an attempt
to discredit the present administration.
He was willing to abide the decision of
the people at the polls, and he was will
ing to compare the work done so far on
the streets, both as to quality and price,
with similar work done in any city in
the union. He invited honest comparison.
The letting out of certain work to
be done by contract was defended on the
ground that the contract was only award
~ dc ND
by contract was the cheapest and best
way to get the work done.
The Street committee, he said, had done
the best it could for the city, working
Loyalty and faithfully for what they con-
sidered it's best interest. Being conscious
of this, he challenged the closest scrutiny
of their record.
lie didn't think the streets ought to
be improved by direct taxation That
would be unfair to the present genera
ton, A bond issue, he said would dis
tribute the burden over many years to
come. bearing heavily on no one. The
permanent improvements in nearly all
cities, he said, were made by means of
bonds.
He read a table of tax rates, and said
that out of 140 cities given in the World
Almanac only 10 shows less tax-rate
than Raleigh,
Alderman Barbec reported that the FL
nance committee has rented Metropolitan
Hall to Mr.. r. c. Rivers the city to have
free use of the hall at al times.
The bonds of Treasurer Brown ($S5,000)
and City Clerk Smith ($2,000) were &C
cepted Mr. Browns bond is signed by
himself, Col. A. B. Andrews, Charles H.
Belvin and j. S. Wynne. Mr.. Smiths is
signed by himself, w. A. Linehan and
John G.. Drewry.
petition from residents on East street
for a gas lamp at the corner of Polk
and East was referred to the Light COM
mittee with power to act
request was read from John w. Man
gum, city electrician, asking an increase
in salary from 1915 to $12 week. 1t was
referred to the Finance committee.
Capt. j. J. Bernard of the Raleigh Light
Infantry, appeared before the board and
protested against a division of the $500
hitherto allowed his company. He said 1t
had been organized and ready for duty
day or night for three years, while the
new company was only organized some
six weeks ago. He didn't think 1t fair
that they should receive part of the APP
preparation. The matter was referred 10
the Finance committee with power 10
act.