Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-25
SAN PEDRO WATER
CO. IS JUBILANT
New Rates Fixed by City Council
on Report of Utilities Commits
sion Increases Revenue
LUSK DENIES WAS POPULIST
City Fathers Thank Attorney
Goudge for Clear Statement
of the Company's Case
LUSK DENIES WAS P0PULIST

Stockholders Of the San Pedro Water
company were made happy yesterday
afternoon when the city council passed
the ordinance fixing the water rates for
San Pedro, Terminal Island and Will
mington. The ordinance provides a Sc
ries of fiat rates, and these rates give
this company a substantial Increase in
revenue over the rates under which 1t
has been operating and which were
fixed by the San Pedro city council be-
fore consolidation.
Under the new rates the small con-
sumer pays less and the large consumer
pays more, which is as it should be,
according to the board of public utili-
ties, which recommended the increased
rates. The new rates will give the
San Pedro Water company several
thousands of dollars more year than
1t has been receiving.
The council believes this increase
justified, as the evidence produced at
the hearing showed the San Pedro
company was making only about ~
per cent on its investment, and this
neither the board of public utilities nor
the council considered fair return.
THE BOUQUETS
After the ordinance passed, the coun-
Gil and H. J. Goudge, attorney for the
San Pedro Water company, exchanged
bouquets. Councilman Andrews thanked
Mr. Goudge for the clear, concise and
eminently fair way in which he had
presented the case of the water COM
pany, and Mr.. Goudge was profuse in
his thanks and laudations of the coun-
eli for the settlement it had made.
Meyer Lissner, president of the board
of public utilities, in discussing the
matter denied a story published yester-
day morning concerning the water
I,o ct that
had submitted q supplemental report in
which he had confessed his errors and
mistakes. MT Lissned declared that he
had done nothing of the kind-that he
had taken figures submitted by the
company itself, and the board had
based It's first report on these figures,
but that evidence submitted on the
stand, which the board had not been
able to get before, had brought about
the supplemental report. He declared
that the policy OF the board OF public
utilities In the future would be, as it
has in the past, to pay no attention to
criticism from this source, as it was
prejudiced and unfair, but that any fair
criticism would be gladly welcomed by
himself and his colleagues on the
board.
LUSK SPEAKS
But what Iissner said was mild and
innocuous in connection with what
President Lusk said. When the rate
question had been settled Judge Lusk
referred to a newspaper editorial in
which he was spoken of as a "Popu-
list Democrat and hater of Abraham
Lincoln" In denouncing this editorial
he spoke with SO much feeling that
several times his voice broke, and he
appeared on the verge of breaking
down. He said:
"a newspaper referred to me this
morning as the successor of Judge
Works, as being a southern Democrat, |
q populistic Democrat, hater of Abra- |
ham Lincoln. That's the way it puts
1t. l want to say, in the first place, |
that I was small at the time the Civil |
War began. My people were Union, |
all Union, and Union throughout the
war Our people were so loyal, my
people, my grandfather, with whom 1
lived-my father had died in the mean
time-that they chased him all over
the country; they shot at him. He had |
to hide out at nights to keep away |
from them. They burned his home. A |
crowd of them came and took shovels |
Rnd went to the fireplace and dumped |
live fire Goals into every bed in the |
house, and burned it. Every particle
of property that had in the world was |
burned because my family was loyal. I
II required courage to be loyal where
lived. II was worth a man. 8 lie TO be |
loyal where l lived, and my family |
were loyal.
s my father had three brothers in the |
Federal army, as brave soldiers as ever
5houldered a musket. They would have |
been conscripted into the Confederate
army, but they fled through the lines
and Joined the Federal army. That is
my record Of loyalty. AS to being a
populistic Democrat, never was. 1 |
fought the Populist party campaigned |
against it all through its days OF popu-
larity. I was a Cleveland Democrat,
was what was known as a sound |
money Democrat, a gold standard DEM
ocrat I lost my prestige somewhat in
the state where I lived by reason of the
fact that I was"