The San Francisco call., 1909-11-13
OFFER NICELY TIMED TO
PRECEDE BOND ELECTION
Action of Mayor-Elect McCarthy's Building
Trades Councilin in Protesting Lake Eleanor
Work Deemed Significant

OF the city. under the terms of the
charter. 10 bind itself to an arbitrated
price. II is stated. however. that q
way may be found to reach the same
result. At any rate the supervisors
can do no more than recommend the
purchase. The consummation of such a
deal lies with the people. The issue
must eventually be decided at a bond
election.
Another significant movement bear
ing on the water situation has been re-
hected in the action Of the building
trades council. of which Mayor elect
p H. Mccarthy is president. At its
meeting Thursday night the council
authorized the appointment Of COM
mittee to Investigate the proposed
Hetch Hetchy bond issue. Tt is under
stood that the committee was appoint
ed 10 protest against the plans now
under consideration.
Protest Is Significant
The committee consists OF o. A.
Tveitmoe. ally of Mccarthy; ". A. Cole
and Supervisor elect c. A Nelson. II
is stated that the protest will be made
on the grounds that the bond issue
calls for the development at this time
Of only Lake Eleanor and not Hetch
Hetchy. Under the Garfield grant the
city must develop Lake Eleanor first.
-0L. ,,1ao or 40 -eo,,,,,of++aa it fS re
ported, will be that Lake. Eleanor viii
not bring sufficient water and that
Hetch Hetchy should be insisted upon
Immediately.
AS the immediate development OF
Hetch Hetchy is prohibited by the Car
field agreement, it appears to some
Of the members Of the city government
that the movement Is aimed merely in
the interest of Spring VALLEY as a blow
~ the entire Hetch Hetchy project. In
view OF P. H. McCarthy's COM
mandfng position in the building trades
council its action is taken as an indi-
cation OF the water policy of the in
coming administration.
The members of the city government
made a quick study yesterday of the
Spring Valley letter. Here, briefly, are
the two propositions as submitted by
the water company:
Substance of Offers
FIrst-The company TO sell 10 the
city all teh distributing system within
the limits of the municipality, includ-
ing reservoirs, pumping stations, pipe
lines and 500 acres of the Nerced
ranch, for the sum OF S1e,42o,T50. the
company to contract TO deliver to the
city water as needed for Is years. be
ginning with a daily supply of 10000
600 gallons at Is cents per 1e0O gal
Ions, and increasing the quantity to
IO0.OOO,00O gallons daily IN 1917 at IL
cents per l.000. After 1925 the COM
pany agrees to supply T5,000,o00 gal
Ions daily as long as desired.
Second-The company TO sell its
complete plant at a price to be fixed
by II arbitrators, TO be composed as
follows: The chief justice of the su-
preme court of California, two TO be
appointed by the president of the
United States, two TO be appointed by
the governor of the state for one each
by Judge Morrow and Judge Ross)
three by the board Of supervisors ano
three by the Spring Valley If the
board OF supervisors does not approve
Of this manner of selecting the arbi-
traitors, the company offers TO con-
slider some other method that the SUI
pervisors may favor
Must Precede Hetch Hetchy
The offers were made in reply to tho
solicitations of the board of super
visors The Spring Valley company
was given until November is In which
70 act. In return it leaves it's offer:
open for 80 days. Under this stipula-
tion the board must pass upon the of
fers just before the time set for the
Hetch Hetchy election.
BY some the move OF Spring Valley
is regarded as insincere and a tricky
device to head off the Hetch Hetchy
election, set for the last week of De-
cember. It lies with the supervisors
either to reject the offers onhand
which hardly seems probable. or to ac.
cept some method OF arbitration. II
the latter case the effect on the Hetcf
Hetchy plans is at this time problem
atical This IS one of the important
considerations that will be threshed
out today.
BY most of the members of the board
OF supervisors and Mayor Taylor the
attitude of the company was rega rdet
with favor. The overtures We're vel
coined as a big step in advance.
This is the first definite tangible
step the company has taken" said
Mayor Taylor. The city desires 10
secure the Spring Valleys facilities al
a reasonable figure. Today's com
nunication shows a disposition to ne
sotiate toward that end upon the part
Of the company, and as such marks a
change which is welcome"
Supervisor James A. Johnston, chair
man Of the public utilities committee
OF the board, spoke of the Importance
OF the matter, but did not care to ex-
press an opinion on the merits of the
offer until deeper study.
Manson Looks ASkance
City Engineer Marsden Manson re-
garded the offer askance, interpreting
It as a new attack on the Hetch Hetchy
project Supervisor Allan Pollok well
coined the proposals OF the water com
pany as a fair means to a satisfactory
solution.
The letter Of Spring Valley is a COM
prehensive document. 1t contains a
promise to elaborate those points that
need further elucidation. There is the
customary fling at the supervisors, the
unadorned charge that they never seri-
ously intended to acquire the Spring
Valley.
The change in Spring Valleys atti-