The daily sentinel., 1906-11-24
A BULLS EYE SHOT.

franchise. had its aspiration in The
other organ, through the desire OF
the Gas company to defeat it. Havine
no real ground upon which to base
their fight. which would not look a
If 1t was a matter of Jealousy upon
the part of the Gas company, the
mayor was hit upon as a target.
OF course the very respectable
members of the Gas company dis
claim any knowledge of contract en-
tered into TO make the fight upon
the extension of the Electric ligh'
company franchise. We should eX-
pect them to do so, there is no other
course open for them, as they could
hardly acknowledge that they had
purchased n mouthpiece to give pub
llclty to their objection on the fran
chlse.
But when we asserted that the real
issue of the franchise was that THE
ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY WAS
IN AND THE GAS COMPANY WAS
| OUT, AND THE GAS COMPANY
THAT is OUT is TRYING TO GET
IN. we somply gave the truth of the
whole matter in a nut shell.
Nor can the Gas company be par
ticularly blamed in their attitude OF
opposition TO the Electric light com
pany. II stands to reason that
they as a competing lighting company
should prefer that the Flee
trio light companys franchise should
not be extended. But on the other
hand, if the Gas company was placed
in the Identical position that the Elec
tric light company is placed. does
any one with a modicum of sense be
lieye that the Gas company would MOI
be doing just what the the Electric
light company is doing right now.
Certainly they would and they would
be foolish if they did not do 1t.
These two lighting corporations
are commercial antagonists. No one
will gainsay that statement. One Is
not going to place in the hands of an
other any means whereby that other
shall have an advantage. This is the
plain statement of the matter. robbed
of any sentiment
Il Most unfortunately the council that
/ has the right as n legislative bod
to reject or grant an extension of any
franchise. stands between these war
ring elements for business. The coun-
ell is not supposed to recognize the
/ commercial contest between these
1.-Two corporations in iegislating for the
city's best interests. The men that
own the stock OF both are residents
of this city, one having possibly a
few more stockholders than the other
and they must be treated fairly and
/ justly. Under the circumstances the
council will be subjected 10 criticism
by the friends or opponents of either
of the two corporations whatever is
done.
Then again It is to be expected
that the mayor win be subject for at
| tack in the organ of the Gas company
/ because its editor Is wild with rage
because he did not secure piece Of
commercial business. in the publica-
ton of the ordinance. He was to have
received 1t. so it is asserted by him
self. but when he found that unsolicit-
ed the publication was given to The
Sentinel, it. nearly set him crazy and
he refused to publish the proposed
ordinance as matter of notice.
So the public can be assured that
the wild rage of the other paper
against the mayor. is simply because
a piece of commercial business thai
he had contracted TO publish, was
given also to this paper and he conld
not stomach seeing this paper make
the publication.
Regarding the Gas company, The
Sentinel is happy that we have n
plant that can furnish fuel and light
1t has no fight with the corporation
whatever It believes that the city
] Is most fortunate In having such \
well managed institution Nor can
we say that they are greatly TO blame
/ because they are endeavorinG to Sc
| cure the best for themselves and res
training its competitive commercial
as they would themselves desire. If
they were placed In the same condi-
tion. but on the other hand neither
must they blame council when It
|, simply look to the justice of the
claims Of both companies. without
any regard for the commercial com
petition between the Two companies
II seems to be the purpose of the
other paper TO force us into n dis
cussion of the merits of the petit
tion for an extension of its fran
chise. Il win fail in its purpose At
the beginning, when the light com
pany first made application for an
extension, we said that on account of
the position We occupied we should
refuse to discuss it through the col
umns of this paper. We shall adhere
to that original determination.
The awrul(?) threat that our po-
litical future will be terminated at