Rocky Ford enterprise., 1909-03-26

supply While I appreciate the honor
of being suggested as the fellow who
should do the roasting, Cover his own
signature), felt that there ought to
be some critic who stood ready to
.tcp in and guarantee us plentiful
supply of water and the extinguish-
ment of municipal debt. But | was
asking too much. We have never had
a truly plentiful supply of water in
this part OF the Arkansas Valley. 1t
isn't in the nature OF things that we
should. A man once wrote Jack
Crowley, (when he was Our local
nurseryman, and did more grating
than he has done since), asking him
to tell the writer of somebody who
could make Strawberries grow sue
cessfully in the Arkansas Valley; and
Jack wrote back. briefly but peril
nently: Nobody but God Almighty.
That is about the situation with Our
water supply. But still. as literal,
demonstrable fact. we are getting
more and better pure, clear, straight
artesian water now than the town has
ever had before. And as to the flow
of ditch water. the signs are that the
Almighty is going to be kinder to us
this summer than He was last. He
was Just trying us last year to see 1t
we would revert to whiskey under
sore temptation.
Some OF the statements that were
given mic as basis for the roast
were these: "The town has srent
$4,000 on pumping plant and has
nothing to show for it" "The ma
chinery is all worn out "The build
ing is falling down" "The engine is
I:l,n1,, 60 tra,f, In,,, ,au ,,,;putaS
Now that certainly looked ALARMING
on the face of it. And yet. Come to
think of it, what engine is there that
NAV not break down any minute
None that human ingenuity has de
viscd. so far as | know. But the
more vague and general statement
is the better it serves to flutter the
unthinking individual or stampede the
crowd. As to the SI7o.ooo water
plant Indebtedness. inquiry brings out
the fact that of the Srooooo OF bonds
sold. over $4,000 went into the re-
dcmption of our old Indebtedness.
bill about onc-half on that sum. The
remaining $4,000 is not in the pump
ing plant alone but includes the lay
ing of new water mains and their re-
cent extensions into various parts OF
the town. The machinery proper of
the plant is doing the work it was de-
signed to do. and doing it on the ba-
sis of less fuel consumption than it
was guaranteed to do. The Woods
pump feature of the water works was
an admitted failure all round. includ-
ing thief allure of the concern manu-
featuring it. (Which was contributor
to the city's loss on iG. The air
compressor. to which the engineers
were compelled to have recourse. was
worn out by use and had to be re-
placed with 4 new one. As to the
buildinp. one corner OF it is badly set
tied. This comes OF sccnage from
the big well reservoir near by and not
from defective construction. But the
report that it is falling down is one
of those easy cxaggcrations for some
body who wants to make out dam
aging case. and is little short on
exact evidence.
That our town is heavily in debt.
and that the debt is growing apacc
nobody will deny. That the money
has been spent without careful and
serious thought on the part OF the
men who have sat at our council
board in the past term or recent
terms. or that it has been dishonesty
diverted into the private pockc.s of
anv individual. seems to me a sc
and malicious lie: one that reflects
unfairly upon both the men who have
served us and the community in
whicI. we live. and it ought to be
nailed as such.
There can be no objection to a new