Arizona republican., 1909-06-02
TICKLED BY GLEE CLUB
The Whole Town Assembled
at the City Hall Plaza Last
NightWhile ProminentBus-
iness Men Spoke For the
Bridge.

No public meeting that has been held
in recent years on the plaza of the
of people as the mass meeting held last
night in the interest of the Center
street bridge. No audience ever lis
tened more attentively than the crowd
of Phoenix citizens that applauded the
telling arguments of the spell-binders
for the Phoenix bridge.
The entire space between the city
hall and the band stand was filled
with benches. Every seat was taken
and in addition men and women
crowded about the platform where the
speakers sat
The speakers of the evening were
B. A Fowler, Eugene Brady O'Neill,
r. P Davie, c. F. Ainsworth, Frank
DeSOuza, L. H. Chalmers and ]. c. Ao-
ans. In addition there was plenty of
music by the Pioneer band and songs
that hit the crowd just right by the
Center Street Bridge Glee club. Aaron
Goldberg was chairman.
The arrangements for the mass
meeting. like the plans made for the
street parade in the afternoon, were
perfect One very thoughtful scheme
was the distributing of tubs of ice wa
ter about the grounds, and when the
meeting was over there was not drop
left The stand was draped with flags
and the speakers table covered with
one large American flag.
Every phase of the bridge question
was gone over by the different speak
ers The speeches were brimful of
logical argument with here and there
a story or flash of wit that kept the
audience interested and made the
points sink in all the deeper. When
the final speaker sat down it would
have been impossible to find a single
man in the audience who could ad-
vance a successful line of argument
for the Tempe bridge as against the
Center street site.
In all public meetings where there is
any difference Of opinion in regard to
the question at issue there is always
some individual in the audience who
insists on making known his unbelief,
but at last nights meeting the unan-
unity Of opinion was evidenced by the
fact that not a single sign Of skepti-
cism was exhibited.
The first speaker was B. A. Fowler
who gave a brief talk on Sensible
Reasons For Building the Center Street
Bridge" He gave a general resume of
the reasons that have been widely
circulated and are now familiar to
most people.
He was followed by J. C. Adams,
who recountsd the advantage that
comes to a community by the presence
Of men Of wealth in it. He said that
Mr.. Bartlett md Mr.. Heard would not
be in this country if they could not
see their way TO making money here.
You taxpayers and merchants" said
Mr.. Adams, have more money to
spend on your families, your property
is more valuable and your business
better. because Of the presence in this
valley of A c. Bartlett and Dwight B.
Heard"
The glee club was then announced
by Chairman Goldberg II consisted
of Jack Turner, H. L Madden. c. D.
Robinson, and Ben Massey at the
piano. The song was called when
the Rivers Up" and was sung 10 the
tune of Manhattan Isle" Turner car
ried the solo part. This song, as the
others sung by the glee club, were
written for the occasion at short not
ice, but they took the crowd by storm
Two of the verses and chorus are given
here:
parting tear,
My homes beyond the River Salt about
six miles from here,
Now on my life, just ask my wife,
she'll tell you how 1 pray.
And every time 1 come to town with
heavy heart I say.
Chorus.
Goodbye, sweet old homesteaders
ranch.
Goodbye old home, say
My heart belongs to you, old home
No matter where I stray
That I'll be true to you, to you
There's not the slightest doubt,
I'll make the trip to Phoenix town
BY two days camping out.
A better day win come they say, to
those who watch and wait
And we rejoice that Neighbor Heard
has come to pay the freight.
Wen add out mite to start it right,
and cross the stream awheel
Then join the crowd and sing aloud
this hal-le-lu-ja SPIEL
L. H. Chalmers spoke of the increas-
ed taxable valuation of the land across
the river which would be caused by
building the bridge at Center street.