Waterbury Democrat., 1902-05-28
ABOUT LAYING CONDUITs.
Superintendent Sykes Hopes Every
 thing will Be Agreeable.


 There was vast difference in the way the representatives of the South ern New England Telephone Co ap- preached the city fathers last night compared with the attitude of the com pany towards the city few years ago, when it thought to ride rough shod over the people without as much as saying. If you please" Engineer Cairns re- ferred to this last night in very forcible language. remarking that the man the company had here at that time was ap- proximately as ugly as a human being could well be. He laid the conduit the company has on Bank street over the twelve-inch water main, insulted the engineer by calling him a liar, and doing things to suit his own notion gen. erally and without regard to public convenience. "That kind of tactics had bad effect, and the company must have found it out before this time" said Mir Cairns.
 sWell," replied General Superinten- dent Sykes, who, by the way, appears to be very agreeable gentleman, q have no Knowledge of that. I was in the west at that time, but even at this late day I should like to offer an apol- ogy on behalf of the company for such conduct. We have no disposition to try to force things and we're not here with that end in view. We want to deal with you in an amicable manner"
 That's very commendable disposi- tion," chimed in Commissioner Whit ing. rolling one hand in the other, ap- parently much pleased at this change of base.
 T should like to say word in de- fense of the man who is said to have acted so arbitrarily remarked MT Sperry, coming forward somewhat modestly. ''When he commenced to eXcavate on Bank street opposite the Masonic temple, MT Welton, who was then at the head of the water depart ment told him to shift a little from the point where he was digging in order not to operate over the water main. He did so and this brought him directly over the main for some dis tance. That is why the conduit is To- cated over the main at that point"
 I'm surprised to hear you say that man called you a liar, MT Cairns" said Mayor Kilduff, that is provided he lived any length of time after it. Ie did that I should expect to be buried the next day"
 Tn answer to question as to the number of polls which would be re- moved from a street after a conduit should be built and in working order MT Sykes said he was not prepared to say. The polls are owned Jointly and VIII probably remain in use by other corporations. The conduits will re- move most of the wires, but not aII of them. They have about as many wires on the poles at the present time as tbev can use and the idea of tho nndar- ground system, it would seem is to give the company an opportunity to in. crease its facilities rather than to ra move the pCils. so that in time tba nnh- nc streets. underground and oyer head VIII De pretty well suDD1iad with money making devices of one Kind ana another. No wonder ona of tba commissioners was prompted to in- qulre what the city was going to gat out or It. So far all there is in sight TOT the city is duct for the fire alarm and police signal wires. To some people this may appear a poor return Tor the use Of the public streets, but it should be remembered that It IS more than the company was Wiling to offer a short time ago. And 1t might be well to remind some of our wise heads that if they had had their way, the company would have been allowed to go ahead and construct their conduits without giving the city anything in exchange for the privilege. When one stops to consider this, it will be seen that it was fortunate that there happened to be someone on deck in the past who was 'pugnacious' enough to make a fight for the peo- ple's side of the question. The com pany now realizes that the public has rights in the highways which it is bound to respect and it's representa- lives come forward and declare that it is ready to treat with the city on business principles