Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-05-07
KNOWS INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
New Mayor Outlines His Policy for Ensu-
ing Tive Years.
In assuming the Office of mayor,

nlr. hnON sAlQs
Gentlemen and members of the City Council:
In assuming the duties and responsibilities
OF the Chief Executive of your city, l desire
to make a few remarks outlining in a very
brief way. the policy which l believe To be
necessary to a successful administration. and
l deem it not out OF place to offer few sug
gcstions to your honorable body.
In becoming Mayor this year-the beginning
Of the Twentieth century, 1 fully appreciate
the difficult and important problems we have
to solve. but with the assistance of all the
members of the Council, trust can give
to the city good. clean administration, and
] assure YOU my utmost endr .Vor will be 30
make II the best administration the city has
ever had. and / hope to have the hearty CO.
operation OF all of you TO honestly and fear
affairs.
l shall endeavor in my administration the
presiding officer OF your body. to be absolutely
impartial and always willing to have tull
aud free discussion and cler erstaudiuE
on matters brought before the Council and
wish here to ask you Aldermen, represent
ing you do. the people of the different
wards of the city. not to be too hasty in get.
ting measures through the Council, regard
less OF their rightfulness or the financial
ability % the city TO carry them out. You
may deem IL advisable TO advocate the build
ing carrying out of various improvements
or the purchasing of Metropolitan parapher
MALTA, but remember IL is always more wise to
take time and enquire into these matters be-
fore hand, than to be cCmpe!Isi Ia sSr-; fee
CXI caGiures in behalf n ~ - p'-C h-st;r -
tbs city. in order - ave- fnInciJ- em:bdrs. =
meat brought ~ la.t,h ext cultures scr
Improvement aud style.
You all aware that plats
of additions of land in various
parts of the city are represented to
you for acceptance. lie requires time to thor
oughly investigate the various questions CO
grades and draiIsge aud the relative positions
streets N 81 hpfOrp
they can be intelligently passed upon. Never
railroad, so to speak. an ordinance or petit
ton of this character through the Council to
please some friend. and have it afterwards
discovered to be a detriment TO the city,
has been done in the past.
l wish to bespeak your earnest attention to
and consideration of our Rerservoid and Watzr
works system. This is a vexatious problem
to solve. Great sums of money have already
been spent i'm the Reservoir and il is yet in
complete, and whether when more money is
spent. it will be a success or not is somewhat
a matter of speculation. No sacrifice of
money is too great IL the health of the COM
munity is correspondingly benefited. and no
amount of expenditure is wasted If absolutely
pure water is secured. The public health as
well the public pocket book demands you.
careful and Intelligent consideration of our
water-works system.
I l propose to abolish the wine roms and
stalls in so called saloons where harlots
or fast women constantly kept or are fire.
quent callers, and where our young girls are
: sometimes induced to go. This must be put
a stop to, and no man will be able to secure
a license from me. without l know that the
license is to be used only for the purpose OF a
saloon. and hope and trust this may meet
with your hearty approval.
I / am in favor of an Independent Telephone
system in our City, and believe in encourae
ing our country people 10 connect with this
system or to make some arrangement so that
they with us. All of the community south,
east and west of us have for years had the
interest of Rock Islands prosperity and im-
provement at heart. nd have spent their
money freely with our merchants and bust
ness men. and will continue to help upbuld
our city. therefore they should not be shut
out from a modern system of communication
with
I should be in favor of making our Bridge
across Rock River free. il this could be DONE
but J do not know in what way this could
be accomplished Moline has a free bridge
across Rock River and this helps the bust
ness interests of that city largely.
/ 90 think that the City can get along for
some tirue without the Gamewell Fire Alarm
system. as there hundred or more places
where money could be used TO a better advan-
tage. The City is so heavily in debt and taxes
are 50 greatly out OF proportion to cities of
our size all over the country. that the inter
ests of the people generally, II seems 20 me.
demand that we decrease the Indebtedness of
our city, rather than to increase II pur-
chasing devices OF this character nd increas-
ing the burden OF the taxpayers when we
already have reasonably good system of Fire
Alarms
In regard 10 our Fire Department, I am proud
of them. and hope they may continue to be
always prompt and to discharge their duties
in a credtable manner I think we have
good department as any city. This ques-
ton of fire alarms is a matter OF some magni-
tude and Importance and involves an expen-
diture of ten twelve thousand dollars. and
we should use as much caution in SO large
expenditure of the public money, we would
in transaction of our own business affairs
involving the same amount
A great deal of precaution should, in my