Arizona republican., 1908-06-02
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, JUNE 2, 1908,
THE SHILLING OF THE TEMPEST

''The teapot tempest" by which MT. L. c. Hill so laconically characterized the fury of the attack upon the con- tract between the reclamation service and the Pacific Gas and Electric com pany. will perhaps subside after yes terday's meeting of the board of gov ernors to which the controversy had been referred by Director Newell Tor final action so far as the reclamation service was concerned.
 There can be no doubt that many of the gentlemen who thought the city had not been fairly dealt with-we may say most of them, in fact, nearly all of them were honest in their op- position to the contract. It is plain though that this opposition was arous- ed by those who had only selfish pur- poses to serve and who had no real in terest in the welfare of the city and the valley. Though the contract had been executed nearly a year and though due publicity had been given to it, the af- fair was adroitly brought up at time when NIT. Hill was absent from the city and when there was no one else here who could at once allay, by req sonable explanation a popular senti- ment which could very easily be excit- ed. There was the monopolistic fea- ture of the contract which could be relied upon by demagogues to arouse the populace and bring about a forget fulness of all that the officers of the reclamation service had done for the Salt River valley and had yet to do for it.
 The Republican had lost none of its faith either in the wisdom or the integ- rity of MT. Hill and MT. Fowler or in the watchfulness over our interests of the reclamation service and the in terior department. It seemed to The Re- publican preposterous to assert, or even to suspect that the officers of the service had been either corrupted or hoodwinked by the Pacific Gas and Electric company.
 There were two objections to the contract: one went against its legality and the other against its morality. The first was ably disposed of yester- day in the opinion of Governor Kib- bey, and the other has been dissipated by the remarks of MT. Hill who ar gues entirely from the side of the people. He refrains from strehgthen- ing his argument by introducing the rights of the light and gas company which it must be admitted had some rights under its old contract with the Arizona Water company whose obli- gations have descended to the govern ment.
 NIT. Hill contents himself with show ing that no advantage to the city has been sacrificed by the new contract; that the revenues to be derived from it for the benefit of the valley will at the least, be eight times as much as they would have been if the company had been held to it's old contract. It is also pointed out by MT. Hill that the l old contract would have been an ob- l stacle to a complete execution of the | plans of the service.
 So it appears that the valley has | suffered nothing, but that on the con- | trary, the burden of its indebtedness for the Roosevelt dam and its appurte- nances by which the value of property | has already been more than doubled, has been made lighter
 This showing ought to bring the | teapot tempest" to a state of com plete subsistence.