Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-26
BOND ISSUE IS
NEXT OWENS step
COUNCIL WILL BE ASKED 70
AID MOVEMENT
Since Feasibility Has Been Approved
by Experts, Los Angeles Bank
ers May Take Whole
Amount of Bonds

Now that the Los Angeles aqueduct
hydraulic engineers have mace their
report on the proposed owens river
water system the board of public
works will probably ask the city coun-
Gil to arrange for an issue of $22, 1856, 600
bonds.
AS the feasibility has been pro-
nounced o X by such experts as Fred
erick p. Stearns, John r.. Freeman
and j. ID. Schuyler, 1t is believed there
will be no trouble in disposing of the
bonds, especially as Los Angeles banks
are already talking about taking care
of the entire issue.
AS $1,500,000 was voted by the people
last year for bonds the figures given for
the issue are a sum made by deduct
ing this $1500,000 from the estimated
cost of the work by the engineers.
1t is believed that public sentiment
is in favor of finishing the work at the
earliest date and therefore no time
will be lost in submitting the bond
proposition to tie people.
Bond Election in April
1t Is now believed that the election
will be held about April /.
AS to the procedure necessary a city
official said yesterday:
1.-The initiative will be taken by the
board of public works, which will re-
quest the council to pass an ordinance
declaring the public necessity for rails
ing the money, and another ordinance
declaring the intention to ask for
bonds. The council will request the
city attorney to draw these ordinances
and they will be passed. Then the
council will decide upon the date for
the holding of the election and pass
an ordinance calling it."
Local Bankers May Bid
The plan to absorb the $230OO,O 900
issue in Los Angeles has been freely
talked of by bankers here for some
time. They regard it as a good adver-
tisement for Los Angeles and a de-
served slap at certain eastern finan-
ciers who, favoring interests opposed
to the Owens river scheme, have
thrown cold water on the scheme when
ever possible.
w. H. Workman, who quit banking
to become city treasurer and who next
week will retire to become a banker
again, is given a large share of the
credit of figuring out the scheme. He
explains that the project seems to have
been an inspiration which occurred to
several Los Angeles bankers. IL mad
no definite conception, he says, further
than that all the bankers began to
talk it over among themselves.
How to Get Funds
The way the $23,OOO,OOO can be raised
as rapidly as needed is this, so the
official said:
LET the people vote on the entire
issue; then the city can sell the bonds
as rapidly as the money is needed
1.-THE Los Angeles bankers can easily
take care of the bonds in lots of
IS, 100000.
by issuing them in this manner the
city will save a great deal of interest
which it would have to pay if all the
bonds were put out at the same time.
"There is another economy made
possible by one of the new constitu-
tional amendments. If it is ratified by
the legislature the city will be enabled
to deposit it's bond money in bank
and receive per cent interest. The
bonds are to draw per cent, and so
the net interest the city will have to
pay will be only 2 per cent.
"The last showing made by the
banks of Los Angeles fixed the amount
of cash actually on deposit in the city
at more than $S0000 000."