The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-06-07
RECENTLY ENTERED INTO BY
CITY DISCUSSED FRIDAY NIGHT
A COMMISSION GOVERNMENT
And New Railroads Also talked About
at Meeting-Some Action
Taken by Appoint
ing Comittees.

\ large number OF the city met |
in mass meefing IN tho district |
court room Friday night for the
purpose of discussing matters with !
| reference to municipal government. |
Tom Norman presided. The chair |
called the attention OF the mass meet |
1 ing to the election call issued by |
! the mayor calling for the election |
| Of freeholders to draft a charter
/ for the city. He said the election
| should be held in 30 days dating
/ from the day the proclamation was
issued.
Mayor Dick stated that he had at
/ tended a conference of lawyers in
] Guthrie who discussed that proposl-
] tion and that no one knew how the
election should be called. He asked
that committee OF lawyers be ap.
pointed to investigate the question.
On this committee the chair ap-
pointed \. G. Cruce, Clinton o. Bum
and Richard NJ. Lester. BY motion
Tom Norman was made q member
of the committee.
\. c. Cruce made good speech
in which he urged the people to get
together and build a city.
j. r.. Pennington, a member Of the
city council, was called for and made
a speech i'm which he discussed the
pumping contract, commission govern
mcnt. the bonds. taxation. and how
10 build greater Ardmore. He stat
ed that before the first of the year
Ardmore would have two more rail
roads. He said he had pretty good
4..H . t.. a. h..
Rock Island would build west of
: here this summer. This line will
conenct with the main line of the
same road at Waurika and will de-
velop n large area Of rich country
west OF Ardmore. II is road that
will be worth a great deal TO this
town Mr.. Pennington could not 20
, into detail concerning the other pro
posed road without a breach OF con
fidence and he did not do so. These
announcements by Mr.. Pennington
| were really the most important fea-
! lures Of the mass meeting. Mr. Pen-
nington stated that he would vote
Y for the bonds and would vote for
1 a commission form of government
v II i'm his opinion the charter was
pre- perlv drawn. In discussing rtc
y pumping contract he stated that in
his opinion the city had made 4
good deal. but that ne felt that he
was a reprcscnnti"e Cf the people
ID. b. Lester stated that the OPP
ana that if som" GOOD, int'h gc"t
n,cl would 20 through the "h'l'
matter with the waterwOrks COM
m'ttee and then say that the con
tract was not a good one for the
city. he would do what he could
: toward resembling It.
, Nayor Dick followed with a speecl
I of some length, in which he declared
s he is for municipal ownership and
. said II the present company did not
. build the street car system that he
' wanted 10 see the town own its
own street cars.
= TO lack of water pressure.
position TO tho pumping contract
grew out of the tendency Of the
times toward municipal control of
public utilities.
Alderman Cruce made a very prac-
tica, speech in which he told why
he favored the pumping contract and
dealt the opposition some good com
mon sense blows that they could
not recover from.
Alderman shelton favored the con-
tract for the reason that il furnishes
the town with better facilities for
fire fighting and said the loss of
. Iargrovc College was due directly
by Dick. BrodnaX and Sass, and al
Lee Cucc followed with speech
of some length. lie gave the coun-
D ell credit for being sincere, but
g said they had made a mistake. He
stated that the loyalty of the people
/ 10 him when he was in the race for
governor had brought him under OBJ
Legations 10 them and that he had
resolved to spend his time for the
best interests of the people of Ard
, more. lie quoted from figures made
i by Dick, BrOduaN and Sass, and al
legged that neither of them could
guess within 10000 gallons of the
water that is being pumped each
day. He said that the city was pay
ing the electric light company a suf-
ficient sum of money now TO pay
the interest on Sl4i,0O0 worth OF
bonds which would build better
plant than the company owns.
by motion of 4. c. Cruce, the
, chair was instructed 10 appoint a
] committee of three men from each
ward 10 meet with the waterworks
committee and investigate the con.
tract and TO make their report 10
mass meeting 10 be held next Friday
night. The members OF this commit
tee have their names published In
Mr., Norman's open letter, published