The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-04-16
7 the meeting of the Peoples Pro
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~ tective committee at the CONNER
ciaI club last evening the report
of the legal subcommittee against the
franchise was adopted except on one
point the term of the franchise to be
granted. The committee voted in ia
vOr of a fifty-year franchise.
The attendance was not large. Not
-Elore than twenty-three votes were
asst or any issue that arose. and it
4 Is not certain that all these were cast
by members of the committee The
report 81 the committee of lawyers was
sustaiE roy the floor by .. w. FoW-
Henry ". Lawrence. Charles 5. Bald
win. w. II. Dale W. ]. Snyder and +.
s. Darling. The report or some oor-
tions of it were opposed by Ashby
Snow. AlOnzo 3. Irvine. Henry 5. Tan
ner. Hugh Watson. George VI. Can
non. Z. H CallisteT. Edward +. Jen-
kins and Daniel Harrington. y There
was decided feeling that the meeting
was packed i'm the interest OF the com
Dany asking for the franchise. The
friends of the company regarded as
a great victory to secure the ENDORSE
meut of the fifty-year term.
John Dern presided over the meet
ing. In the absence of Judge Powers
, at the opening Judge c. s. Varian read
the report of the committee. After
; preliminary sl0irmshing it was decided
take up the FIVE points Of the report
80 order. The section providing tO1
the fort. itUre clause was Unauf
Hfoisly adopted after considerable dist
cussion. led by Judge Varian and i
L E1dredge. il.
The second section was adODted Aft
err considerable discussion and after it
was amended on the motion of Q. W.
Powers providing that the city reserve
the right to make reasonable regulh-
tons as to gas. light and railroad
charges.
Right to Good Service.
The third section providing for the
establishment of a standard of light
and gas to be furnished, was discussed
by Q. W. Powers w. I. Snyder Hugh
Watson. +. :. Darling, c. s. Baldwin,
w. n. Dale. Ashby Snow and Cl s
Narian. 1t was adopted.
Section four gave rise to the most
spirited debate of the evening some
Of the speakers rambled off into a dis
cussiOn of the water question i'm MANY
OF its phases. the nature and value of
the power rights of the cOmpanE i'm
Big Cottonwood Hugh Watson fibally
moved to strike the section FROM the
report. Charles Baldwin moved that
Il be laid on the table as a substitute.
taking the position that it was not vi
. tai The motion to lay OF the table
was los by vote of II to 10. The
sectie6 was theI' adopts6. a..
fou&ast franchise granted by the cOun-
cfiIbe limited To May %, 194T, was laid
on the able by vote of Y TO H. on
motion of =. H Callister. Following
this w. l. Snyder moved that it he
the sense of the meeting that no fran
chise be granted for a longer period
than fifty years from last January.
on motion OF J. L EldredEe this was
amended TO give the city the right to
string wires on the cOmDany's poles.
and in this form il was adopted
Before this final vote was taken
George NJ Cannon. Fl. 6. Tanner and
Daniel Harrington delivered euloEies on
the the Utah Light & Railway com
psnv. while Allen T Sanford and Hen
~ w Lawrence spoke with consider
able spirit on the other side. On mo-
ton of Judge Powers, Chairman John
Dern and Secretary Allen T Sanford
were instructed TO report to the cum
Gil the action Of the committee
Report of the subcommittee.
The report of the CSTnmittee Is given
herewith in full as i, came from the
committee of lawyer.e
ITon John Dern Chairman Citizens Pro-
tective Committee:
Dear Sir-YoGr committee on law met
"Wednesday evening" april y, ana after a
pared in ACCORDANCE with instructions OF
a ma jOrity of the members OF tie coun-
Gil committee having this matter under
consideration. begs leave to submit the
following as the unanimous report of this
committee:
Ffrst-The street railroad franchises and
a part of the electric light franchises
now have a forfeiture clause We deem
II Of valid Importance that Whatever fran
chise NAV be granted the ltah Light <
Railway company the forfeiture clause be
retained It is the only effectual means
of compelling good service and we do
not believe that this very important func-
tion should be delegated 10 the police
court of this city. for under the prOvi-
Rions as contained in the proposed fran
apDIied and il would be necessary 20
T1rove beyond a reasonable doubt that the
company had failed 10 comply with the
provisions of its franchise and the pen
atty would be only fine. Excepting the
UaterwOrks. no public n. nty is OF such
traportance TO the masses Of people as are
those operated ny the Utah Light a Rail-
vgav company, and the public should not
delegate or sur-en6sf the right TO ompel
good service. Moreover. there does not
seem TO be any GOOD reason why a con
tractxr1ade with and for the benefit of the
city ~ uid not reserve to the city the
right tOTescfnd il IL chooses, upon fail
ure Of tle. Qther party 10 comply with
the provisi0f4s OF its contract, as in the
case OF priva1e parties =
Right tP Regulate Charges.
Second-Tbel right to regulate charges
and rent of malters hereafter should be eS-
pressly TeserVtnd- II ne use OF eiectficitS
is in its infancy. AfSsancement IS being
made year by year And w should reserN s
ht 10 size 10 The ptiSc me "eiieAi'