Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-01-13
ANNUAL ADDRESS.

Last Tuesday evening, Mayor Louis
Marchetti submitted the following
message at the r. gular session of the
city Council. 1t is an able document
and the recommendation made are
such as meet the approval of every
citizen. The following is the message
in full:
10 the Honorable the Common Council Of
the ciuy Of Hausau
GENTLENlEN:-Att this our first meet
ing in the new year permit me to ex-
press TO you my kindliest feeling and
wishes for your personal welfare, and
the hope that the city of Wausau may
receive its full share in the general
prosperity
1t Is true that the city government
cannot bring such prosperity about,
but by being careful and prudent and
economic, it may remove every obsta-
Gle which may retard the progress of
the city
Our relations have been cordial in
the past, and feel assured they will
SO remain in the future Some mat
tiers of Importance to the city will have
to be undertaken in the near future,
and it may be well at this time to call
your attention to it, not with a view
of planning new enterprises, but to
carefully mature plans for such i'm
provements as are contemplated al
ready aud others which the immediate
need of the city requires.
STREETS AND BRIDGES.
L call your attention to the necessity
of further street improvements. At
the first communication which | had
the horror to address to the city coun-
Gil in the year 1901, | recommended
that in paving or permanently improv
ing streets, such Improvements should
be made in a systematic manner and
in accordance with plan, and renew
at this time this recommendation
mediate attention, but we must not
lose sight of the fact, that streets
which lead in and out from the country
are as important as business streets.
1t should be the aim of the city, to
secure good macadam roads from
north to south on both sides of the river,
and from east to west to the city limits
believe the cost would not be too
high, and the object could be ac-
complished without unduly burdening
the people with taxation. The city
owns good stone crushing plant,
erected and purchased at reasonable
expense and the material can be pur-
chased at a low price
recommend that the city attorney
be instructed to make careful investi-
CATION and report, whether under the
present charter, the city has not ample
power to order the paving of such
streets and charge the cost, or por-
ton thereof, to the property holders,
without any petition on their part. 1t
seems to me that that power is given
the city, at least it was with a view of
obtaining that power, that that part of
the new charter was adopted.
STREET LIGHTING.
The contract for street lighting eX-
pires on the 18th day of October, 1904.
The city has paid annually since the
last three years, the sum of Sc, $50 for
lighting. 1t is doubtful whether any
competition will exist when this con-
tract expires, in as much as the laying
of gas pipes has not kept step with the
extension of the city, and it would be
well for the council to keep in mind,
that ut present it can contract only
with one company for lighting. 1t
would be well in any event to ascer-
tain if some measure could not be
adopted so as to make the city not
entirely dependent on one firm for
lighting streets.
WATER WORKS.
The water works are conducted on
an economic basis apparently, though
they yield hardly sufficient income
for the capital invested
l repeat what l have suggested at
some other occasion, that the laying OF
new water mains be not entirely paid
from the general fund. The conduct
ing of water becomes more expensive
from year to year, because it gets fur
Their from the source of supply, and the
income from it is in many cases insult
licient to pay even the interest on the
money invested in the extension, and
under present rules the city is losing
from five to ten dollars in the first in
stance in the putting in of every new
service.
The water works are the pride of the
city; it furnishes good and wholesome
water almost at cost, and it should
continue in the future to be looked
upon, not as source of revenue, but
as the means to furnish the people
with one of the necessaries of life with
out which life would become extinct.
and furnish it at cost; but 1t should
not go beyond that point. Water
should not be cheapened at the ex-
pense of the city at large, unless all
people derive the same benefit, which
they do not at present. in my Judgment.
Investigation and analysis, micro
scopical as well as chemical, have
demonstrated, that the water furnished
is good from hygeaic point of view.
1t is only Immediately. after flushing,
that it becomes for short time less
pleasant To the taste as is usually the
case; nevertheless tie fact that the
pipes conducting the. water become
covered with a growth which is pro
nouneed to be vegetable by those com
petei to Judge, demands our most
earnt st attention.
Professor Smith of Feloit College has
o,ada a rnOOrt to the counril with