The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1913-05-23

ARE YOU
GOING TOOO?
1 taxpayers of Hammond Can
Either go Forward or
Backward; the Time Has
Come Arrived to Start One
Way Or the Other.

With the taxpayers of Hammond di-
vided into three camps those who are
opposed to the proposed deep sewer.
those who signed it, and that larger
majority by far which by it's silence
apparently Is giving approval to the
Improvement, Mayor Smalley and his
administration. seeing a campaign and
a big issue ahead. are up the proverbial
tree The administration is to give its
decision next week or soon after.
There is no mystery and secrecy about
1t any longer, for John L, Rohde, presi-
dent of the board of public works, an
nounced this morning that the faction
having the most signatures would car
ry the day. That means that the antis
will be victorious. for their signatures
outnumber those of the petitioners for
the sewer 10 to l.
The antis have between 900 and / 900
and to the best knowledge of THE
TIMES the ten petition circulators for
the deep sewer have less than 100.
Justifies His Stand.
John Rohde excused the board by
blaming the silent citizens who in turn
will blame the board. That those in IA
vor of the deep sewer have not signed
is explained by the fact that the i'm
preston went out that silence gave
consent. that the board would use the
power invested in it by the law and put
the improvement through unless
great majority of the property owners
signed against It That many of the
signatures are not the names of proper
ty owners. but those buying places on
contract will probably not make any
difference.
Several Petitions Out.
Mac Turner, the architect. is the only
one THE TIMES could land this morning
who had seen the necessity of action
Mr.. Turner stated that he has secured
seventy five names on petitions for the
sewer. The next highest in number Of
names is Hal Young. who has twenty
! Three. four and five names adorn most
of the other petitions. As the deep
sewer ASSOCIATIONS have not had a
meeting since the one In Lincoln school
some weeks ago it is impossible to tell
whether they have many in reserve.
Evidently they haven't
| Agitated for years the deep sewer
proposition was taken up by the city
administration with reluctance. it is
being dropped with regret 1t must be
admitted. But nobody regrets it as
much as the people
| The Schlesinger company bought its
| site with the understanding that IL
would be given deep sewer. The
| engineers were here and THE TIMES
printed an interview That the vice
president. as has been reported. said
| that he knew nothing of the deep
sewer. didn't want one and inferred
| that he would't build IL it does go
| through does not seem true in the light
of the inquiries the engineers made
here The officials of the company are
fully Informed
To Decide Next Thursday
! Less than a week remains or action
The board has pledged itself. it can
| back up IL it sees AT. but probably
won't. Saturday. Sunday, Monday, Tues
day, Wednesday-then comes the ulti-
matum-for on Thursday the commit
tee from the Anti-Deep Sewer associa.
tion will wait on the board with Pc
| titions signed by from /, 900 to 1900
John Rohde expressed himself in this
manner, "If the people of Hammond
are not interested enough in the deer
| sewer to get out and work for 1t the
city officials ought not to take It upon
| themselves to put it through over the
heads of the majority"
Do the anti-deep sewer crowd with
their battle cry of I'VE don't want nc
sewer and we amt going to have
none" represent the majority of the
people? 1t is a fact that some of their
canvassers have grossly misrepresent-
ed in order to get names. They have
said that the cost would be anywhere
from 5000 and up CIT depended on the
scope of their imagination) that tn,
Schle singer Steel company is not in IA
vor of the sewer that sewage will b.
going down the Mississippi in few
years and that the estimate of the cit,
engineer is way too high. These argu
ments have been answered again anc
again.