Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-03-17
4 MAJORITY OF
 S|CNERS SECURED Sawyer and Austin Lumber Company to Sign Major ity Petitions, Say the Commissioners.
Mayor Caldwell Was Present. It Is Said, When Citizens in Mass Neet- ing Asked for Forfeiture of Water C0ntract-NeW Commissioners.

l The committee who has had charge of the majority petition now being
 circulated, urging the formation of an
 improvement district, embracing the
 whole of the city, for the purpose of
 building or purchasing and operating lits own Waterworks and light plant,
 was yesterday assured that the peti-
 tion would be signed by the Sawyer :! and Austin Lumber company, which
 firm is said to pay one-third of the taxes of the City of Pine Bluff. It is
 also stated that the Bluff City Lum- Iber Company will endorse the munic- | ipal ownership idea when asked to l do so.
 | The attorneys rep1c "enting the im- provement district will ..,pear before the City Council tomorrow night and ask the councilmen to name the three additional commissioners suggested
 at the last meeting of that body. The failure of the City Council to direct City Attorney Coleman to pro- ceed in the courts to secure the for feiture of the Pine Bluff Light and
 Water Companys contract, request made by the citizens of Pine Bluff at a recent mass meeting, has caused
 no little unfavorable comment among Ithe supporters of the municipal own ership proposition. They demand it's
 forfeiture on the grounds that the contract has been frequently violated. Mayor Caldwell recently stated that the reason the Council has taken no action in the matter was because no official information had been furnish ed the Council of such action having been requested by the citizens in mass meeting.
 It was stated yesterday that May or Caldwell was present at the
 mass meeting when the resolution, asking that the city attorney be instructed to go into the courts to secure a forfeiture of the compa-
 ny's contract, was adopted. The
 resolution was endorsed by Alder
 man J. B. Boyce at the same meet
 ing, it is said The interested com
 missioners say they did not think
 it necessary to officially inform the
 council oI the adoption of the reso-
 lution at the mass meeting, in view of the fact that Mayor Caldwell and Alderman Boyce, who voluntarily denounced the water company be- cause of it's poor, inadequate service
 at the East End fire, and especially Mayor C.. .dv d.. rho 'I:! previous. denOunced tEs water service on the
 occasion of the complete destruction of Alex Strauss residence on West Fourth avenue, were both present at the court house gathering.
 The commissioners declare that the delay of the past week has in no way
 interfered with them ill their work,
 notwithstanding the fact that they were anxious to get the municipa. ownership bill into the Legislature
 the past week. They assert that the
 Council, if they name the commission CTS at tomorrow nights session. will aid them materially in completing their labors, as majority of the pro-
 perty owners of the city, in value,
 have already signed the petition for
 the formation of the entire city into an improvement district, and that an
 immediate disposal of the matter by the Council will enable them to. se- cure the passage of the measure, au- thorizing the district, before the close of the present session of the General