The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-12
HAPHAZARD ACTS
Sixth Ward Sewer Proposition
Is Not Understood.
Unless Protests Come in Swend-
sons Plan Will Go.
HITS TENNESSEETOWN.
Nay Be Means of Driving Ne
grOes to Other Locality.
Now Figuring on Attaching to
Small POtWin Main.

If Councilman S. A. Swendson's Sixth
ward sewer is built, it may cause the
colored people in Tennesseetown TO
evacuate that locality to a considerable
extent, and move to some part of town
where taxes are not so high.
For a long time some people have
been trying to get rid of Tennessee
town, and some intimate that the sewer
tax method has been adopted for the
purpose of compelling those who own
little huts and few feet of ground to
sell out and move elsewhere. Tennes-
seetown comprises about a dozen
square blocks in what might become a
very fine residence portion of the city.
and real estate men look at it with
longing eyes. 1t is almost surrounded
with fine residences, but efforts to buy
the property owned by the Tennessee
town negroes have been generally un-
availing. During the past ten years,
the lines have been drawing tighter
about the little settlement, and the
houses occupied by white tenants now
hang like a fringe on the colored dis
trict.
There has been something very queer
about the way Councilman Swendson
has worked up this Sixth ward sewer
scheme, and it leads one to think that
whether TennesseetOwn has anything
to do with it or not, there is possibly
a negro in the woodpne."
In the first place, Mr.. SwendsOn did
not present to the council petition
from the people in the proposed sewer
district. asking that the sewer be built
He simply went into a deal with his
colleague, Councilman Hughes, and the
two seem to have quietly interviewed a
few leading citizens of the district on
the matter. People who might be in
clined to roar" were persuaded to
Eidetrack their intentions, and let
Swendson and Hughes engineer the
scheme to suit themselves.
The law does not require a petition,
though so far as known, every sewer
district in the city has been asked for
by petition. Violating all presidents.
therefore, Councilman Swendson mere
~ presented a resolution to the council,
setting forth that the construction of
the sewer was necessary for the best
interests of the city, and authorizing
that estimates be prepared, bids called
for and the sewer built. This resolu-
tiOn was passed at the last meeting of
the council. Perhaps the councilmen
realized what they were doing, but 1t
is doubtful.
Unless there is a remOnstrance filed
against the construction of this sewer
prior to May q, the sewer will be built.
The law gives people in a proposed
district 20 days to demonstrate after
publication of the resolution, and the
sewer resolution was published Off
q
filed, signed by property owners living
in the district, the city council Will
then start an investigation to find out
whether the people really want the
sewer, or whether effort is being
made to thrust something upon them
while they are asleep.
People living in the proposed district
therefore still have chance to Kill
the whole proposition if they desire to
kill it. 1t may be they want the sewer
built They have never been given an
opportunity to express themselves.
There are some structural peculiari-
ties involved in this sewer which are
probably not generally understood. In
the first place, it should be remember
ed by people who are asked to build
the sewer that it is not expected to
build it large enough to carry any
storm water. No catch basins will be
built to receive rain water from the
cutters. All the storm water Will have
to run off in the bitches, ravines and
cutters a s al present. This is the most
serious defect in the proposition.
It would not be possible to build the
sewer big enough to carry storm wa
ter, under Swendson's scheme. Swend-
son figures on connecting the north end
of his proposed sewer to the Potwin
sewer The POtwin sewer main is only
Is inches in diameter. The largest
main which can be used in Swendson
sewer is therefore about L inches. It
would be absurd to expect a l2-inch
main to carry storm water.
The principal cost of laying a sewer
IS the cost of excavation. The size of
the pipe used is not of so much i'm
portance from financial standpoint
1t would not cost the people much
more to build a big sewer, adequate
for all purposes and for all time to
come than to build the proposed tenn
porary makeshift.
All estimates which Mr.. Swendson
or anybody else have made on the cost
have been merely guesswork- The city
engineer has made no borings to de-
termine the amount. of rock which will
be encountered, nor has he made any
estimates. The cost may be S25 a num-
Der, and it may be $50. No one can
tell It would seem that the people
who will have to pay for the sewer
should have a more definite idea of
what they are getting into before the
council takes action which cannot be
revoked.
Unless the sewer has for its purpose
the driving of the colored people out of
Tennesseetown, it is difficult to under
stand Just why Mr.. Swendson is so
anxious to have it arranged for in such
a mysterious, unusual SOFT of way.
There is said to be a good deal of OPP
position to the construction of a sewer
at this time and the probability is that
the opposition has not been heard from
simply because it has not known how
smoothly Mr.. Swendson was sliding
the project through the required legal
forms preliminary to the accomplish
ment of his object
-,r Nd ~ t1,o r;,-o-