Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-11-01
And the People Answered Nay

The people Of Rock Island pre-
sented the strange incongruity of
being both positive and negative
! with one breath yesterday. In
the parlance of parliamentary
practice they were contrary mind
ed" and they were so with an en-
phasis that was as penetrating as it
was pronounced. All three propo-
sitions put up to them on the first
application of the initiative and ref
erendum requirements of the COM
mission form OF municipal govern
ment were buried beneath an ava
lanche OF noes Both telephone
ordinances, as well as the higher sa-
/. loon license measure we're rejected,
the latter, however, by a less pro-
nounced vote than the other two.
On the telephone proposition the
people seemed to have said very de-
terminedly that they have no time
for a third company, as they are hav-
ing troubles enough with two on
their hands, one OF which is prac-
tically worthless at that. and yet ike
the man with the bear by the tail
the people seem afraid 10 let go.
What the people did was not
surprise. What happened had been
in the air for weeks before the cleo
ton. All over town it was the
same, The manifest disposition was
10 defeat all three propositions.
While the liquor interests put up a
systematic fight to defeat the 5000
license and made some gain in re-
suits over the former election on the
same subject, the face of the returns
indicate quite conclusively that there
are considerably more high license
voters in the city of Rock Island than
there are prohibitionists, that is in
taking the records of past elections
on both subjects as d basis OF rea-
soning.
The election can hardly be taken
as criterion of how the people fee
on the telephone merger proposition.
when brought right down TO its fna.
analysis. There were Enthusiastically
three distinct influences that affected
the result on the first proposition on
the ballot. One was the generally
prevailing desire to give the munich
pal commission at least one Teal
hard slap on the wrist, a disposition
traceable by some TO certain of the
appointments last spring and to the
delay in getting down to business
principles and by others to the enforce
ment of the Sunday closing. An
other influence was the long time
antipathy, locally speaking. TO the
Bell telephone company, which while
not now as strongly apparent as in
former years, is still prevalent. and
a third influence was the lacking on
by the commission of the 81 900 ga
loon license proposition TO the bal
lot This action was little less than
an outrage upon the Union Electric
company which was paying for the
election both as far as its own prop
osition was concerned and that OF
the Home Automatic company,
which declined to contribute any
part of the expense. Under these
conditions the Union Electric was
entitled TO d fair election unham-
pered and unprejudiced by other is
sues, and yet the contrary result was
that when the commission placed the
saloon ordinance on the same ballot
it tossed into the campaign an issue
that overshadowed all else in so far
as arousing bitter animosity was
concerned. Fearful 70 take any
chances, the campaign leaders foI
the liquor interests sent out word &c
slaughter everything on the ticket
TO vote mo- on every proposition
and make no mistake.
These three things resulted in the
black eye that was given the mer-
ger proposition and left the Union
Electric company, which has been
struggling along in the three cities
for the past few years, neglected and
with steadily diminishing patronage,
little nearer absolute ruin.
Taken as a whole the election is
interesting in showing just what the
people will do, when the right that
is theirs by law. and should be
theirs. is put up 10 them. They have
spoken Let US hope they have
spoken wisely on all propositions and
that events will sustain the popular
EXPRESSION.