Evening journal., 1913-04-30


acquire possession of her river front
and therefore 10 the city Of Whining
ton it is not question Of experiment
as IL would be TO private individ-
ual who must pay for the filling in
and the making OF the fast land.
feel that the present littoral owners
are graspng after a bubble. and un-
less they are able to sell this land to
the city of Wilmington, who can take
advantage of the offer Of the United
States Government, that they are
doomed 10 sink their investment Of
several thousand dollars In the Cherry
Island marsh for many, many years to
come, because unless the city of VIII
mington, which is their only possible
customer for this land, purchases the
land they Will be unable to develop IL
themselves or to sell it to any one
else, and thereby they will be unable
TO make Of their investment a single
cent of profit This is their only OPP
portunity, and I believe that when
they come to realize that they will be
willing to sell the land to the CITY
Of Wilmington az very reasonable
profit to them and an advantage to
the city of Wilmington. ] would not
take the land away from the littoral
owners by violent hands believe
that they should receive a moderate
profit on the Investment of their
money but | do not believe that they
are entitled TO a fortune because Of
the fact tliat they chanced TO purchase
this land when they knew the gov
crnment of the United States was con-
templating the building of the bulk
head.
Believes City Can Condemn Land.
81 have no doubt under the law that
the city of Wilmington has right TO
condemn this land for public use. and
l. for one, am thoroughly in favor of
the city of Wilmington doing so il the
present owners are not willing to sell
to the city of Wilmington at a reason
able figure believe that all citi-
zens OF this city, including the owners
of this water front, arc vitality inter-
ested in the development OF the city
OF Wilmington, and do not believe
that the private interests OF few
men should be allowed TO stand in
The way ef the progress and growth
of the city OF Wilmington. and | am
therefore in favor of the question pre-
scented by initiative at the coming city
election. asking Council to form some
plan either OF purchasing or condemn
ing our river front
There Is no doubt In my mind,
after investigating the law on the sub
icct. that the land constructed be-
tween the bulkhead and low water
mark on the Delaware river. without
the hullkhead law. would not belong TO
the ittoral owners If the land we're
added little by little by act of nature
to the land already owned by the lit
toral owners. there would then be no
doubt under the law OF accretion that
the new made land would accrue to
the benefit OF the littoral owners, but
this land is not made by act OF God,
but by act Of man and while we
would have no right TO cut these lit
toral owners off from the Delaware
river without compensation to them.
nevertheless the land which is made
is made upon the land which belongs
TO the State OF Delaware. being under
the Delaware river and not on the
land which belongs TO the littoral
owners, who own only to the low
water mark of the Delaware river.
There is no doubt whatever In my
mind concerning this question. and
evidently there was no doubt I'm tho
minds of the men who owned this
land. because in order TO clear the
title and TO give them a good fee sim
pie title TO this newly made land. they
felt IL necessary 10 have the legisla-
ture pass the hullIhead law. which di-
rcctcd the attorney general of the
State. of Delaware to COVE the littoral
owners q decd for this land which
belonged TO the State of Delaware.
I'VE have in this question a splen-
did illustration of the power of the
initiative and the referendum In the
irst place. the littoral owners would
have heen unable to have passed the
hulkhead law, and thereby have given
TO them the right to obtain the advan-
tage OF the work done by the United
States Government in building a bulk
head and in creating for the state of
Delaware about 500 acres of land ad-
jacent to the city of Wilmington which
ought TO be land of very great value.
! say that with referendum measure
on the statute books of the State of
Delaware IL would not have been pos
siblo for an individual to have passed
before the legislature law which
would give to him such l. large
bulk of valuable land, because that
would have been referred back to the
people, and the people would un-
doubtedly defeat a measure which
places so much profit in the pockets
of private citizens
The initiative and referendum are
powerful instruments in the hands of
people in obtaining what they want
and In preventing what they do not
want, and !. for one, am glad that
this opportunity has been afforded to
demonstrate to the people of the city
OF Wilmington the power and eff
cheney of government by the people
through the initiative and referen-
dunn"
Following the address. Francis l.
dupont, president OF the organization,
announced that fifteen minutes would
be devoted by Mr.. Burchenal to an
swering questions on the subject
Several questions we're asked. one of
them being Would not the voters
have to fight the railroad interests as
we'll as the Wilmington Terminal
Company and its associates for the
river front?'
Mr. Burchenal stated that was the
supposition and that the people were
ready to fight Another question
brought up was whether Council
would ignore the recent petition for
an initiative vote on the subject.
Mr.. Burchenal answered this by
saying there was a penalty for fail
ing to provide for the measure when
petition had been taken as requir-
ed by law. One member said he un-
derstood that was to be City Coun-
cil'e attitude in the nnaffar A vote