The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1908-04-28
C.L. .S.&S. B. PEOPLE
OFFER INDUCEMENTS
Entire Matter Goes Over Finally Until
Future Officials of South
Bend Interurban In Meantime Pre-
pare to Draw Up Acceptable Meas
ure To Be Used as Substitute.

The efforts of the representatives OF
the Chicago and Interurban Railway
company to secure the passage of q
franchise In the village of West Ham
mond yesterday afternoon proved un-
successful and the entire matter was
postponed until next Wednesday at one
o'clock.
An incident that served to change the
entire program came when Attorney
F. ]. Lewis Meyer of the Chicago. Lake
Shore & South Bend railroad, upon
reading in THE LAKE COUNTY TINES
that franchise was to be granted,
telephoned to the TIMES and asked 1t
tc convey the information to the men,
bers of the board that If they would
hold OFF and refuse to grant franchise
to the Chicago and Interurban COM
pany he would offer franchise that
would be exceedingly liberal in It's
terms and, what is more. he would give
a guarantee that he would build the
line.
This threw the whole board in a
turmoil Trustee Rohwedder, who had
been raising objections to this and that
feature of the old franchise and who
lad won the applause of the citizens
of the village by showing the weakness
of the measure which was about to
be passed, finally moved that the whole
matter be deferred until next Wednes-
day at one o'clock when the representa-
tives of the Chicago Lake Shore &
South Bend line could be present and
offer competing franchise.
| Martin Finneran, the village clerk
was under the impression that the Chi
cago. Lake Shore & South Bend inter-
urban was the Hot Air Line" as he
called 1t. but he was soon convinced
that it was a progressive company
which had actually built hundreds of
miles of railroad and he withdrew his
objection to a postponment
There was a large crowd of inter-
ested citizens present at the meeting
and one of the things which puzzled
them was the friendliness of the city
attorney to the proposition to give
away the streets Of the city.
Thought He Was Company's Lawyer.
There was hardly a point raised that
he did not explain from the standpoint
of the Chicago and Interurban company
and there were several strangers pres
ent who labored under the impression.
during the whole meeting, that the
city attorney was the attorney for the
franchise seeking company
The meeting was orderly, compared
to the old days of the Max regeime
when 1t was necessary to threaten a
lynching to whip the board into line,
and all the citizens had to do was TO
express their opinion and their desires
were followed by the board.
There were some strong speeches
made in opposition to the granting OF
the franchise Henry Ahlborn spoke.
E. A. Kinkade made strong speech
against the measure, August Meyer
gave voice to his disapproval Fpf
the franchise and John Brehm indicated
in no uncertain manner that he was op-
posed to the passage of the grant as it
stood.
Pick Many TIans.
|. AS the franchise was read for the
third time flaws were picked in It
in nearly every paragraph. The OBJ
jections were the ones that have caused
such an upheaval in West Hammond
ever since the giEt of the franchise was
published in THE LAKE COUNTY TIMES
last Friday.
In fact, the people of the village
across the line are determined that
d the Chicago and Interurban company
must do all of the following things
before they will be given franchise:
y They must furnish a $4,000 bond as
n a guarantee that they will build the
:, line.
They must agree to have the road
g constructed and in operation within
o is months instead of 80.
D If so year franchise is given there
k must be an agreement for compensat-
a ing the city after the road becomes
e a paying proposition.
d And There Are Other Matters.
: There are several other less import
n ant matters that will be insisted upon
3 and the property owners will never
consent to the granting of the franchise
until 1t is materially amended.
: Today Attorney F. ]. Lewis Meyer