Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-07-27
REFUNDING ORDINANCE.
Member of Board of Trade Charges
Its Rehabilitation is to Delay and
Defeat Purchase of Electric Light

Plant.
To the Editor of the Register.
Why is it that our reform Coun-
cil' % can be hoodwinked into a con-
sent to impose an expense and bur-
den upon this community, which it
has twice condemned at the polls?
Why this persistence in trying to do
that which is not wanted and neglect
ing to do that which is wanted?
twice the people have voted down
refunding ordinance-the last time
more emphatically than the first, and
yet they must again be hectored to a
standstill by a powerful clique. who
have the ear of majority of Council.
And who is this clique? Is it not one
and the same, with additional local
achievements, who operated so Wig
orously 50 persistently at Charleston
last winter to prevent the city owning
the electric light plant? And do we
not remember how near the combina-
ton was to success?
| cannot for the life of me under
stand it. unless by reading between
the lines | find that an Interior pur
pose is at the bottom. You ask what
is the object? | will tell you 1t is
to prevent the city from buying the
electric light plant and supplying the
public with electricity. That seems %
the writer the motive behind all this
maneuvering.
The enemies of public ownership of
electric lighting know full well tha.
they dare not come out openly and
oppose the measure. They must do It
by stealth. Spacious reasoning must
be advanced to shut the public eye.
For instance "a refunding ordinance
pure and simple should be presented
to the voters because any riders for
extraneous purposes would defeat it,
But is not its defeat more certain han
If riders to cover the expense of buy
ing the electric light plant and build
ing a new market house were adde IT,
They are public necessities which
might pull a proper refunding oIdi-
nance through. But without them the
public is asked to again do the thing
which it has in the recent past SO en-
phatically said it did not want. The
advocates behind this third appeal to
the public understand this better than
| anybody else. Why then do they
persist in a lost cause?" SiInply be-
cause they hope to defeat the public
wish by this method. 1t means delay
to the city owning it's electric light
plant and delay to them in everything.
| 1t means more even than delay. The
opponents of public electric lighting
in this appeal to the voters have not1-
| ing to lose and everything to gain.
II the loan is defeated, they say We
have gained that much time. If it is
carried, they say, well, We have not
only gained the time but we have a
better chance now of defeating an adj
| ditional loan, as the public will not be
| so keen to add another heavy indebt-
| edness.
How long will our citizens stand
| this nonsence? And what Is our Re
form Council" thinking about? Where
are the wise heads of the present Coun-
/ ell who knew the Vaccinations which
are at work to prevent the public get
| ting its own? Have they, too, been
wooed from their duty by the powers
behind the throne with the same ease
and the same means as prevailed with
| their predecessors? 1t was not thus
| before they took upon themselves the
| cares OF public office.
Will not the Register speak out and
| tell the people what it knows on the
subject? How is Wheeling to pros
per? How is she to become greater if
| her Council does not guard her rights
and their honor and integrity against
the audacious and everlasting attacks
| of private interests2
As a member of body lately or
| gained for promoting the welfare of
, this community and which is costing
the membership thereof quite an an
nual tax, l appeal to the Register to
fully air what is going on behind the
scenes. Please give publicity to these
| lines. and oblige,
MEMBER OF BOARD OF TRADE.
Wheeling. July 25.