Evening journal., 1912-06-14
FRIDAY, JUNE IA, 1912
no TnE TAxpAYERs or WILMINGTON.

- ITY SOLICITOR DANIEL O. HASTINGS sub
- mttod to City Council at its request last nlsnt'
an opinion relative to the ownership OF 'ne ovo OF
more acres of Delaware river waterfront land between
low water mark and the proposed bulknead he "oln
the mouth of the Christiana river to Edge Moor IL
is an admirable public document which shows that
YOU in common with other Delaware taxpayers own
every foot of that valuable land, and that the winning
ton Terminal Company and its associates Wnlch nave
been claiming It and endeavoring to exploit IT, ana
to use it as the basis for selfish dcker with
your CITY Councimen, do not now and never nave
owned so much as foot of It, For your enlighen-
ment we print that opinion in full in another part OF
our paper That property will be worth when the
Federal Government has built the bulkhead and made
the au from s1OOOOOO to $3OOO0OO II belongs to
you and you should read that opinion with PAINS
taking care and acquain yourself fully with its pro-
visions 1t viii show you what terrible mistake your
Councilmen came near making, and would have made
had you not insisted upon full publicity and upon legal
advice relative to the ownership of that land Now,
IN view Of the City Solicitors full and admirable
opinion It is your duty insist that the city Council
men take steps to the constitutionaity Of the
bulkhead law our courts and to obtain from the
Legislature its next session the repeal oil that law
IT they manifest "a dsinclination to do IT, serve no.
tce upon them that they must do IT, They have shown
disinclnadon to do anything You have desired to
have done in relation this important question, ana
yet YOU thus far have forced them to- do everything
you desired TO have done from the breaking up OF
the Star Chamber meetings with the cNpoucrS ana
the dragging public light Of the propose6
mont down TO obtaining the City solicitors opinion.
They will not dare deny your demand for settling
the question for all time by a test OF that Bulkhead
law aud It's repeal by the Legislature. If they do
you viii know how to deal with them and also what
stops 10 take ascertain with effective dehnitoness
what hold the waterfront expoitcrs have upon them
that they refuse 10 heed your demand
The opinion of City Solicitor Hastings was not the
result of snap judgment lie spent almost three
weeks in looking up his authorities and formulating
the document Prominent lawyers who examined it
today say e is sound in all respects. Il shows that
prior tue passage Of the Bulhead act Of 1901 the
state OF Delaware owned that land That under the
Bulkhcad act OF 1901 conditional grant of that land
made TO tho marsh owners The underlying thing
that was to make that grant effective that tho
owners of the marsh land out TO the low water mark
should build a bulkhead-not the Federal Government
build ~ for them, That such bukhead has
been built; that the State has given no deed con-
yeyins that land from the State to the marsh land
owners and that therefore. the title to the land still
in the State the benefit people the
Stats He further expresses the opinion that the
Bulkhs~d act is unconstitutional and that, # II
were constitutional the Legislature has right tC
repeal it, In other words, that the City Councilmer
have been dickering with waterfront exploiters fol
the Improvement of land that they do not own anG
never have owned
Surely that is enough Of a victory for you taxpay
ers for one week It shows thing conclusivoly
That is, that if certain OF the City Councilmen arr
shackled 10 the Wilmington Terminal Company. Tin
City Solicitor is not and that he is independent enough
TO give an honest and intelligent opinion in conserva
ton of your interests We hear today the old threa
that on next Thursday night certain Councilman
clique will jam the deal through in spite Of pro
tests and the City Solicitors opinion Don't you be
lieve it, Those Councilmen who were willing to d
anything at any time for the waterfront exploiter
before you took hand in the fight last have dis
covered the fire that is burning under them They hav
begun to feel the heat of public Indignation The
radical opponents of the scheme have discussed IN
edyisabilty Of asking for Grand Jury investigator
Of the entire waterfront deal That will not be ne
cessary. You may rest assured there will be no jam
ming through of the deal Thursday night or an
other Thursday night until the courts or the Iegsla
tnre have had chance 10 act The Councilmen a
last have come TO realize that they are your servant
and not your masters and that you have called hal
upon this dealins with the Wilmington Terminal Com
pany and associates.