Arizona republican., 1911-10-18
City Council Was Not Quite Ready Last Night to Grant a Franchise and it Will Investigate Some More.
FURMAN DENIES
 CURRENT REPORT
As One of Men Interested in the Company He Says Rumors of Weakness Are Entirely Without Found ation.

This city council these days has 1 more before it than any other un- l paid body of men in the world. it would seem. Last night a special ! session was held at which the pro 1 posed franchise of the Salt River Val | ley Electric railroad. or so-called ! White Line. was read and referred to l the committee of the whole: another ] proposed franchise for an electric | railway system. asked for by R. AL | lyn Lewis. was read and referred to 1 the committee of the whole. reso- | lUtiOn was passed initiating the ad- | vertising for bids for the building by | the city, of pavements in front of ! down town property in cases where | the owners have refused to build. the | cost to be charged to the property: ! the committee appoined to get the | competitive carnival companies to- sether. reported. and by a harmonious arrange ment the license granted Will | Hams was revoked. it was settled that there will be one down town carnival show during fair week and that will be the fair commissions enterprise. its grounds will be on the lot east
 of the Gold hotel. and the California carnival company will show at the fair grounds midway. The council adjourned to meet as committee of
 the whole Friday night at 7:30.
 It had been announced that final action would be taken on the White
 Line franchise last night and the of-
 ficers of the company were present. w <. Firman. general counsel. ad- dressing the council F. NJ Winter,
 president of the company and C. C.
 Lewis, secretary. Were also present. The officers state that they have
 nave made every asked amendment
 in their franchise ordinance. have
 complied with every request of the
 council resulting from its previous
 deliberations. have withdrawn from the
 streets objected to. and want fran
 chise badly that they may get to york
 on the railroad. They say further
 that it is peoples company strictly.
 one in which the public can secure
 an interest. that they have agreed not
 to sell to any one else pending con-
 struction and operation, and that non-
 compliance forfeits everything to the
 city; that they give a percentage of
 their revenues tO the city and that
 construction will surely begin within
 four monhs after the franchise is
 granted. They have learned also that
 their is a feeling that the company is
 F-roHaV afs41T I.IA
 project, in reply to which they say they have it amply financed and stand ready to do all they undertake. They are chafing somewhat at the coun- cirs delay, but the latter still desires to investigate further and passed the matter back to the committee of the whole. It is not improbable that the i pushing of the other pending fran i chise was the occasion of the coun- | cirs action. that it might consider | them together
 The other franchise, asked for by F. | Allyn Lewis, though in the councils | hands several days. was not read in | open session until last night This | MT. Lewis explained. is an applica- | tion made solely by himself. Denying l a charge in an afternoon paper that | he is a tool for the Pacific Gas and | Electric Co, Mir. Lewis says he has | no connection in this enterprise. with | that company or any other corpora tion, local or foreign. He wants a franchise for the construction of the necessary entering lines and termini to serve this city, as part of a general interurban line to run all over the Salt River valley. north south. east and west As soon as the franchise is granted he is prepared to begin work as he now has an option on 1000 tons of steel and 26.OOO ties.
 Mir Lewis says that in the event of his securing the franchise the line will be built exclusively by eastern capital and there will be no local on him, held by any corpora tion. He proposes to use the Beach Edison storage battery system. the most modern in construction and do- ing away entirely with poles. trolleys wires or other devices. All he wants is the right of way on which to do business and he will not entangle it with mechanical devices Mir. Lewis says he knows personally. Mir. Beach who invented the car and Mir Edison who invented the storage battery de- vice and that when he came from New York he had in his possession. the exclusive rights to use these i'm ventions in this county. having in mird his present undertaking when ne came here.
 Discussing the merits of the Beach