Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-10-08
American Improvement" or
Ke|Sey's White Elephants
A Few Items That Have Been Paid For by Taxpayers
Under the Improvement Policy of the American"
Administration of Them is Any Benefit-Some
OF Them Never Will Be-

., ,,,vor Bransford was to establish
l,-i,hcrs' day" here like tho mayor
:, cincinnati has. what grouchy at
snbcro would peryade the city and
n.,v bulldingl with all the protests
ana iustihable protests, too-against
,se had bargains" heaped upon the
.,,vors BY the incompetent Amer
,e.ns officials poured into his ears, he
,,ould undoubtedly be hopeless sub
,,ot cor the insane asylum, but mar
49,, IA his cause In order to handle
,so crowd. four lines would have TO be
s,,,,ed al the north. south. east and
west entrances Of the city and county
bnndine merging into single Ale at the
,,svor's door The entire police force
would have to be engaged to keep the
reople on the grass.
In the FIRST place there Is the inter-
cont,ng sewer which heads the list OF
md bargains which has caused null
,i,pde of grievances. The contract
Us let I'M october. 1905, and Il is stil
,,rgrisbed Under the original con
tr,ct the price was Sl50,U00, but since
II was let the plans have been changed
a dozen times at the cost Of an addi-
tonal Sl25,OOO.
Now II is learned upon investigation
,bat several sections OF the sewer have
sunk into the quicksand and several
,boIsand dollars viii have 10 be spent
81 repair IL. The sewer has filled with
sand ANA this will also have TO be
me mistakes in the plans Of the
sewer have cost the taxpayers SIPS 900.
and the bill viii be considerably larger
before the sewer can be placed IN SER
Nice These mistakes are laid at the
door OF city Engineer Louis 9. Kelsey
who resigned yesterday after being
branded as incompetent by his own
nsrtv associates. The board of public
works Is responsible for some Of them
I'm prosecuting the work. A gang of
incompetent inspectors sWarmed along
tbe trenches and the result of their
work is now in evidence.
SEWERS THAT WON'T WORK.
IN the meantime. the administration
has been laying lateral sewers. Thirty
miles Of these sewers have been COM
pleted but the property owners have
been unable TO connect with them be-
cause the intercepting sewer cannot be
used. The taxpayers are charged in
terest ON these extensions and the city
IS getting the benefit of several hun
dred thousand dollars which has been
paid into the treasury on these i'm
provements.
For instance, IN sewer extension Noise
the assessment was $3.50 a front foot
One property owner paid his assess
ment Of S6i About a year later he
receiped a notice that the assessment
had been raised to s2.25 q front foot and
interest of $50 was charged against
HIN.
IN protesting against it. he said that
the city used his s64 for more
than a year and he figured that the in
terest Of il amounted to 81. He did
not object to paying the $40 providing
the city would allow him interest on his
money The communication is still
buried In the pouch Of the finance COM
mlttec
OUTLET SEWER A FIZzLE.
Then there is the outlet sower which
has proved a f2zle and viii never be
Of any service 70 the city. but will cost
the taxpayers about S3S. 200 when an
me bills Incurred up 10 date have been
paid.
The sewer was constructed of wooden
Wpe That was the first mistake CITY
Ahslneer Kelsey made. and the council
approved of H. The pipe was 20 carry
waller up ana incline under pressure ana
ho an vents We're Included IN the speci-
hgauons 20 relieve the air pressure AZ
result the pipe would not stand I'm
oei me pressure. when the Campbell
building company threw up the con
"'e' before il was completed Pat