Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-02-18
STATES HIS VIEWS
J. K. Scott Makes Public to Republi-
can Voters His Platform for
the Campaign.
NOT AN EXTREMIST
Declares He Will Remove Present City
Engineer-ls Not Arbitrary on
Saloon Questions.

John K. Scott, candidate for the re-
publican nomination for mayor, today |
made public platform to the repub
lican voters. in which he discussed |
the public questions of the city. His
platform as given out is as follows:
IF nominated and elected mayor of |
this city l pledge myself to carry out !,
the following platform:
To Remove Engineer.
a. | shall remove the present city /
engineer and appoint new one. b
shall recommend comprehensive !
electrical ordinance, the duty of its en-
forcement to fall upon the engineer,
who shall have under him competent
inspector who shall as part of his
duty at proper intervals inspect free
F., Of charge, all private gas and electric
| meters so as to protect the private
consumer from unjust charge.
As to saloon Limitation.
So The question of the thousand
dollar saloon license fee may be
eliminated, as that proposition is ia
be submitted to the people at the
coming election. The limiting of the
number of saloons to fixed number
of inhabitants is desirable However,
in view of local conditions, if arbitrar-
lilly applied here. it would result in the
practical monopoly of the saloon bust
ness for many years to come. by the
corporations which now control four-
fifths of the saloons in this city. This
proposition should have careful con-
sideration.
Against Saloon Abuses.
"3 AS long as we continue to Ii
cense the saloon and receive the
license fee, just so long are we bound
to give the decently conducted saloon
fair treatment The odium of a few
dives attaches unjustly to all saloons.
saloonkeepers would willingly unite
, with the city to eliminate the vile and
: obnoxious features that are sometimes
tolerated | am emphatically opposed
to fallen women, or any other form OF
lawlessness, being tolerated in the
, saloon. The same rule of strictness
: should be applied to all saloons. there
should be no favorites as is the prac
tice. l have never been of the opinion
that failure to make arrests showed
that there was no crime in a com
munity.
Regarding Filter Plant.
"a | believe that We should secur,
filtered water as soon as possible, ye
| am opposed to costly experiments
t with filters that have not been shown
to have filtered Mississippi rive
water effectively. Water filtered fron
lakes or small streams affords IL;
comparison. We have two good filta
:. plants near home, at Moline and DaS
Ienport. that do filter Mississippi rive
water. the one in the latter city ampl.
/, supplying a population of double on
= own. / am opposed to costly expert
g ments along this line
e Departments Out Of Politics.
"a "5. I am in favor of establishing
: a non-partisan fire and police commits
:, sion, and the removal of the fire an
~ lpolice departments from the realm u
l. politics.
- Public improvements.
"a &c. l am in favor of all public in
# provements commensurate with tn
D. growth of the city, but l believe tha
20 the majority of the property owne;
in who will have to pay the bill, hay
~ the sole right to inaugurate an in
OF provement.
81 am in favor of the retention [
our present efficient park board, an
believe that every effort should b
made to secure the desired park fo
the east end of the city.
:. Certain sections of the city are no
without adequate fire protection, in
mediate steps should be taken to giy
% it them.
81. l favor complete reorganiz
III ton of the water works department
having in view especially the securir
er of ample pressure in cases of lars
fires.
or Not nm Extremist.
on 49, l am not an extremist. Will
at nominated and elected endeavor
represent all the people fairly al
his honestly, and will not allow myself
i'll be influenced by passion or prejudi
DIS to do other than that to which l fe
obligated by my oath of Office.
OIL! Il am prepared to openly discu
act the correctness of these principl
he IN every WARD oi .he Guy anu
debate them if necessary. Respe
.elfully yours,
forI -.
at ,,enn,un ornmce m aonce