Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-05-09

Declaring that after a considera-
ton of the reports relating to the
purchase by the city, of the water
plant of the Salem Water company,
that he had reached the conclusion
that the price asked for the plant
was excessive, and that the plant in
its present condition was inadequate,
Mayor Lachmund last evening We
toed the ordinance passed at for
mer session of the council and hav-
ing for its object the purchase of the
plant and upon vote being taken
on the question of the veto being up
held it was sustained by a vote of
six to six.
Sounds Death KneIl.
Through all of the day rumor had
been prevalent that the mayor would
veto the ordinance and from the
start to the end of the session
when the veto was submitted, the ex-
element was intense. Despite the
prsistency of the rumor, however,
the councilmen who had labored for
the passage of the ordinance in the
first place declined to give credence
to 1t. When the ordinance was
passed week ago most of the coun-
cilmen favoring its passage, had
gone to the mayor and secured his
views and he had assured them that
If it came to tie vote he would vote
in favor of the ordinance. Having
implicit confidence in him, they
brushed aside all rumors, and it was
not until the clerk picked up the
veto message and began to read it
that they realized the truth of the
rumor-the full meaning of Coun-
Gilman Durbin's remark when he en-
tered the council room-that he "had
come to preach the city's funeral SER
mon or sing glory to God for the
mayor" and also realized that with
a single stroke of the pen the mayor
had sounded the death knell for
some time to come on the pure water
campaign in the city of Salem
Business Men Ignored.
M. o. Buren,, president of the Board
OF Trade, and Theodore Roth, presi-
dent of the Business Mems league,
fearing that the rumor would come
~ w publlllIlCd WIlIIGu
cation to the clerk of the council and
asked him to hand it to the mayor be-
fore the body convened They asked
in the communication that before the
mayor veto the ordinance that he give
the business men a hearing. The
clerk handed the communication to
the mayor just before the council
convened, and the next time it was
heard from was after he had vetoed
the ordinance when he asked if any
one representing either organization
was present and upon receiving no
answer proceeded to put the veto to
a vote.
The vote was taken without dis
cussion and was as follows Durbin,
Hill, Lafky, Mofitt, Eldridge and
Pennbaker, aye; Hatch, Huckstein,
Manning Sauter, White and Waring,
no; Lowe and Elliott being absent.
The Veto and Reasons For 1t.
To the Common Council of the City
of Salem.
'Gentlemen:-I herewith return
Ordinance SS2-930 with my veto, ad-
yancing the following reasons there
for:
"At the outset l desire to state
that l am an earnest advocate of
municipal ownership of waterworks,
but, after making a careful investiga-
ton of the reports covering the plant
now owned by the Salem Water COM
pany. l have come to the conclusion
that the price asked is excessive and
furthermore considering its present
condition and inadequacy, it is my
belief that the taking over of this
property by the city would not be
justified.
From Investigations and informa-
tlon derived from numerous sources
the company's present mains and
connections are totally inadequate
to furnish a sufficient supply of wa
ter during the summer months and
were the city to take over by pur-
chase the existing water works, the
first step would be the installation
OF pipes of sufficient size to meet the
requirements and demands of the en-
tire city. 1t would mean the prompt
construction OF a reservoir of triple
the capacity of the present one and
finally modern filtration plant.
A bond issue as contemplated Of
100000 would be but a beginning
and before the plant could be brought
up to date and sufficiently large to
meet the requirements of the present
and future, $1.00O,O00 or more would
be Invested, which investment would
then consist OF a plant about one-half
obsolete and one-half modern.
The responsibility for the passing
OF this ordinance seems to rest with