The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1902-1905, 1902-04-24
Go Slow, Gentlemen.

r i MS NEWS HIS HlIileTJO TelT1lHe'
!, y from taking any part in discus
! sion of the imbrOglio into which tn
a retired council and the water com
q panv got itself over a Reputation b!
|, the former body of the latter's con
0 tract for supplying the town will
water-a discussion taken up by thu
. parties composing the bitter, vindic
7 tive and unreasOning factions which
have been the curse of this town fol
the past 10 or more years. AT the
time of the council committees ad
verse report OH that contract the
. News simply took occasion to say
(see q. e. News OF Jan. "a, 1901 that
"Should the contentious of Aid
Hurlbut prove true, the chief regret
J of many will be found in the fact
that there will be left no legal ground
for compromise, no matter what may
be the morals in the case for in the
view of many there is sound morals
in the claim that the city should pay
for what it has already had, and on a
That contract was entered into in
good faith by both the parties to it,
aid so far rs the News has heard its
performance has been faithfully eX-
ecuted by each of the parties up to
this time. Therefore, from Il purely
moral standpoint, it would seem that
the city ought to pay for goods it has
already had, the same as any ihdi-
vidua1. But in this case, if the law
is correctly interpreted, what we
consider a moral obligation may be-,
come, in case of it's satisfaction, d
serious, legal ENHANCEMENT. Just
what to do, then, is going tU prove a
hard matter to decide without re-
sort to the courts.
"If the News has one hope in the
matter that hope is that a solution of
the problem may be reached without
litigation, which is expensive and
productive of bad feeling. This
might be accomplished by the inter
ested parties getting together. The
water company certainly will have
something to gain by diplomacy if
their old status is knocked from
under, and the city will gain by
diplomacy, in settlement without
litigation, and thereby contribute
its share in the promotion of harmo-
ny, without which any small town is
but foretaste of hell"
1t is currently boosted on the
streets of Crescent City that at the
May meeting of the town council
that body proposes to reinstate the
old water contract irrespective of
any alleged illegality. 1t is on ac-
count of this statement that the
| News advises the members of that
body to go slow; advise it gives,
too, without any feelings in the mat
ter other than a desire to see the af-
fairs of the town administered in a
perfectly legal manner, the only way
in which to avoid trouble. In this
connection the News begs to submit
the following impartial review of
the water contract up to the present
time.
The contract in question was made
and entered into on July 25th, 1894,
between the firm of Miller u Cash,
party of the first part, and the town
OF Crescent City, party of the second
part. The parties of the first part
agreed to furnish facilities for fire
protection for the town for a period
of 10 years. and the party of the sec
Ond part agreed to pay therefore the
sum OF $lO5 annually for such SER
vice, and to exempt the entire water
works from taxation.
The contract thus made was car
ried cut faithfully by both the par
ties to it until February, 1901, when
payments were discontinued by ac-
zion of the lately retired council, act
ing under advise of J. NJ. Bars, Esq,
city attorney of Jacksonville, whose
opinion was asked in the matter.
Mr.. Bars said:
''As / understand, this contract
was submitted to the town council
and was approved only by resolution
and not by an ordinance of the cOun-
Gil in which case the contract is not
a Validrone, as contract can only
be made by II city or town in COM
pliance with an ordinance duly
adopted.
Hon. S. j. Hilburn, city attorney
of Palatka, gave it as his opinion
that the contract was invalid under
the law of 1893, which provides that
in contracts of this kind 1.-The agree
ment shall be ratified by majority
vote of the freeholders of the town
voting at an election held for the
purpose of ratifying said agreement,
provided, that copy of the agree
ment together with Il notice of such
election shall be published in a
newspaper in such town for four
consecutive weeks prior to said cleo
tion."
1t is claimed by the factions favor
able to the continuance of the old |
contract that the council committee
which reported adversely was per-
sonally hostile to the owners of the |
water works company and had laid |
awake o nights in an endeavOr to
hatch up some scheme whereby to |
evade the contract. Granting for |
the sake of argument that this is |
true, the question still remains: Is |
the position of that committee legal
ly tenable? Are the points made |
against the legality of the contract |
by the attorneys right?
1t is stated on the other hand by |
parties opposed to a continuance of |
the old contract, that the city could |
not enforce the payment of taxes in
case the council continued making |
payments thereon. for the reason
that such payments, being Illegal, |
would invalidate the whole tax levy. |
This is not true according to the |
opinion of attorneys. The illegal |
appropriation of town funds in no
way lessons the responsibility of citi-
zons for taxes. The only way the
citizen who objects can get even, is
to bring a criminal prosecution |
against the aldermen who vote for
the misrepresentation of public
money.
The News believes the sentiment |
of the people of the town is favor |