Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-01-05

The bailiffs posted Friday night war
rant for another special village meeting
to consider the water question: to be
held in Festival hall next Wednesday
evening at 7.3O O'Clock. The warrant
contains four articles, as follows:
Article /. To see if the village will vote
to construct or purchase a water system
for the use of the inhabitants thereof, in
pursuance of the resolution adopted at
the special meeting Dec 49, 1905.
Article g. To see if the said village will
choose a committee to construct or pur-
chase water system.
Article g. To see If said village will
provide means with which to construct
or purchase a water system, by raising
a tax, issuing bonds, notes or orders
therefor.
Article A. To transact any other bust
ness that may lawfully be done.
The resolution referred to in article
one was introduced by John Calvin and
read as follows: whereas the legisla-
ture of the state of Vermont, by Act No.
III, approved Nov. %, 1892, authorized
the village of Brattleboro to construct
or purchase a water system for the use
of the Inhabitants thereof, therefore be
1t resolved that action be taken by said
corporation to construct or purchase n
water system to be owned by said in
corporated village in case it can be ac-
quired at a reasonable cost"
While the sentiment of a majority of
the voters appears to be in favor of
owning the water supply there is much
difference of opinion as to which course is
best to pursue at the present time.
Developments at the two recent village
meetings have emphasized that point.
But there is another phase of the ques-
ton which ought to be considered care
fully, and that is as to what steps can
be taken legally.
The act of the legislature of 1892, re-
ferred to in Mr.. Galvn's resolution, was
an amendment to the village charter.
Section 10 reads as follows ANY action
taken by said corporation under the pro-
visions of this act, or relating to the
matters therein set forth, shall be by vote
of the majority of the legal voters of
said village at a meeting duly warned and
holden" A question has arisen as to
whether this means the majority of the
voters present at a meeting. Some think
that it does, while others think it means
that action may be taken only on vote
of the majority of all the voters in the viii
lage Bond houses are particular about
Nuying bonds, and If the village should
,ote to issue bonds to pay for water
system there is little doubt but that the
r. legality of the vote would be questioned.
One view of the matter was expressed
by c. H. Davenport at a village meet
ing March 7, 1898, called to act on the
report of a committee to investigate the
water question. At that time ]. L.
Martin voiced a complaint about the
price charged by George E. Crowell for
water for domestic use The Windham
County Reformer of March 10, 1898, of
which Mr.. Davenport was then editor, con-
tanned the following in a two-coumn
report of the meeting:
&C. H. Davenport said that it seemed
to him that the village should look to see
where 1t would be left If 1t didn't adopt
the report. The question which this
meeting was to answer as embodied in
the report was whether it would be
satisfied with the Crowell system. If
we say yes he can go on and put in his
plant for an additional supply; if he
does not the resolutions provide rem
edy with the instructions for another
meeting. If we say no, 1t will be equiv
alent to a notice to him that we want
nothing of his system, and he won't of
course, incur the expense of the additional
plant-no one would in his place--and
then where will the village be? There
will not only be a delay of a year, as the
report points out but in all likelihood
of many years. The charter requires
that a majority of all the voters of the
village must vote yes before the village
can go into the scheme. How long is it
out so that the yes voters will be ma
jority of all in the village? There has
never yet been so large a meeting. To
reject the report therefore, would mean
to hold the village helpless, to delay or
prevent getting an adequate supply, to
perpetuate the very conditions COM
planned about. AS to the prices about
which Mr.. Martin talks, We all know
that they are not high enough so that he
has ever made a dollar out of the works,
and he never will. When there is patron
age enough to allow that he will reduce
the prices for that is his way. He went
into the enterprise for the public good,
not his own, as he always does and
after the thing had been talked about
for % years without anybody, public or
private, taking the first step. If the time
ever comes when the village wants to own
it's water works the way is to buy these.
There is a Golden Rule to observe I'm
public as well as private-and in this
case it is the one that will pay best"