Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-02
CITY ATTORNEY
ADVOCATES BONDS.
GIVES SIX REASONS FOR THEIR
PASSAGE
Declares Owens River VIII Forever
Settle Question That Has vexed
Los Angeles Ever Since It
Became a cIy
BY LESLIE r.. HEWITT
City Attorney

On June IL the voters Of this city
will give their answer to the question
whether this city shall incur bonded
debt of $23, 100000 to bring a water sup
ply from the Owens River valley. 1t
is seldom that an issue of such grave
Importance as this is presented for d.
rect determination at an election.
l will state some Of the reasons that,
to my mind, make it imperative to vote
the bonds. The one great element of
uncertainty in the progress and stabili-
ty of this city Is now and always has
been since it became city worthy of
the name, its water supply. When Los
Angeles was small and the country
sparsely settled the water situation was
not so acute as to render an immediate
solution of the question imperative, but
with the recent immense growth of
the city the problem that heretofore has
been, in sense, merely a subject of
casual thought by men who turned
aside from the business of the day to
consider the future has crowded itself
to the front and demands an immedi-
ate answer.
No Trifiing Permissible
A small city, with no particular care
for the days to come, can muddle along
in a way from year to year with ex-
but great city with hundreds of thou
sands of people within it's gates and
added thousands in the country round
about can not so trifie with it's present
or future.
Surely any one who has lived in this
land long enough to know it's scant
water supply and study it's semi-tropic
characteristics does not need to be told
that the one thing necessary to place
this city and it's outlying territory on
secure foundation is to provide it
with an abundant and lasting water
supply. The prosperity Of this city has
been the subject of our pride, but plenty
OF sunshine and fertile soil do not sus-
tain great cities; there must be a suf-
ficient water supply provided to assure
Tor all time continuance of progress.
In connection with this proposed bond
issue one salient fact stands out with
startling clearness, and that is that
there is no source of sufficient water
supply available for us other than the
owens river. The evidence on this
point is ample and conclusive. By
availability I mean a supply that can
| be readily measured by the quantity
of good water and the cost of bringing
it here, and these two elements are
completely satisfied by the Owens river.
we hear objectors urge that we ought
to get our water from some nearby
stream-the Santa Ana, the San Ga
oriel, the Mojave, the Piru, Big Rock,
and so on. Such of these streams as are
now in use 1T would be utter folly for
us to attempt to take because their
waters are very limited at best, and
our neighbors, on whom our prosperity
largely depends, need them; the other
streams are also limited in water sup
ply and the cost of bringing their wa
ters here would be so disproportionate
10 results obtained as to be beyond
all reason.
Gives Six Reasons
am in favor of the Owens river
bonds:
F'irst-Because the water supply to be
obtained thereby will settle once and
for all the one veXed question that has
made the people of this city uneasy con-
cerning it's welfare.
Second-Because the cost of bringing
the water here is within the financial
means of this city and has been care
fully estimated by the ablest engineers
in tie land, who have declared the pro
Ject feasible in every respect.
Thfrd-Because the supply of water
to be obtained is abundant and of good
quality and is most plentiful in the
summer time, when we need it most.
Fourth-BecauSe the power to he de-
veloped from the water will make Tos
Angeles one of the best equipped cities
in the world, with abundant power for
lighting and manufacturing purposes at
its disposal.
Fifth-Because the city already owns
the water, water rights and land neces
sary for the purposes proposed.
S1xth-Because the project will pro-
vide for the future and absolutely in
sure tne continued growth and prosperi-