Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-09-05
LOCAL PEOPLE MAY
Be ASKED To BUY
WATERWORKS BONDS
No Bids Are Received for $3.50, 900
Issue-Council Laughs
About It.
MONEY MARKET IS BLAMED
Bond Houses Reject Securities
Because Municipal Plant Not
a Monopoly.

Aren't you going to open the bids
on the water bonds?" spoke up Coun-
Gilman Taylor
"Nope-there aren't any" was the
response from City Clerk l. N. Holmes.
And then everybody laughed and
thereby strung temporary curtain
across one epoch of Olympia's recent
history, an epoch that was to lead the
city out of perdition, demnition and a
few other things like as the children
of Israel were led out of Egypt, an
epoch that-stopped when nobody ap-
peared to grease the wheels" Just
how long the exodus is to be delayed
neither city councilmen nor city clerk
could vouchsafe and until the oracle
speaketh, no man can tell"
You would have thought it was any
thing but council meeting, if you
had been there Wednesday night Some
of the fathers" got all tangled up
over some streets or sewers or side
walks. little Scotch broom and few
other things and while the city engi-
neer, the city attorney, the city clerk.
the mayor and four of the four coun-
cilmen present tried to straighten
them out, little levity crept into the
conversation, one or two jokes were
cracked, few others died naturally.
and Councilman Taylor directed this
more or less impertinent question at
the city clerk. right in the midst Of
the fracas.
All it did was to add to the joculari-
ty. Nobody seemed to care, least Of all
the mayor; Councilman Taylor sub
sided gracefully upon receipt Of the
city clerks answer; nobody said
nothin' no more" about the water
bonds during the rest of the meeting.
Nobody said why they were not sold.
nobody said whether some effort might
again be made to unload them, no
body said anything about reducing the
series issue from $1,000 to 800 or $3.50
or $500 for popular local consumption
or subscription. Councilmen sat in q
mental darkness like unto the Stygian
depths concerning plans. prospects.
possibilities or intentions involved in
or incident to Olympia's municipal
project.
And this-this was the end, for the
time being anyhow, of that which cost
so much mental labor and moral ex-
pansion during the early part of the
summer, of that which dipped into the
taxpayers pockets to the extent Of $3.50
or $1,OO0-perhaps more-of that
which won some 1900 or 1900 or 1,40O
votes in the recent special election.
Councilmen laughed, actually laughed
at that "Nope-there aren't any,"
Isn't it funny? Laughed-at the
thwarted will of the people!
For, be 1t repeated, Wednesday night
was the date fixed for the presentation
of bids for the $15O,000 bond issue for
the municipal water plant. Publica-
tion of the offer was made in various
newspapers and financial publications
throughout the country; letters were
written to many bonding houses; PAM
phlets were printed setting forth the
project in more or less detail. Came
no response other than: 1--WE do not
care to purchase the issue" followed
by various reasons, chief among which
was that the city's project would be
competing plant. This, you may re-
member, was an argument advanced
by THE WASHINGTON STANDARD during
the campaign.
One or two bonding houses are said
to have added the proviso that If the
city were to take over the present
plant they might finance the issue, but
none of the communications were read
at the council meeting and so the re-
port is more or less hearsay.
What is to become of the project?
Guess-you can, as well as anybody
else. After the meeting. the mayor
expressed himself as not being dis
couraged over the turn of affairs, NAM
ing the present condition of the money
market as the cause of the failure to
sell the bonds and expressing the be-
CONTINUED on page A.