Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-29
PE0PLEURGEDT tn
CAST THEIR VOTE
Men and Women Advised to
Visit Polls and Express
Preference
oAlo,saiiso Alo,siiH e,s,s -----.-..
FkA1ta41r,s N SCHOOL
SCENE OF MEETING
Both Sexes Represented at
Gathering; Dams and
Lighting Discussed

Between seventy-flve and one hun.
dred persons, many OF whom were
women gathered at the Franklin school
Tuesday night to listen to speeches on
the proposition of rebuilding the
power dams and lighting the streets of
the city. Several speakers discussed
the issues that are to be settled by the
special election next Monday. Almost
if not every phase of the proposition
as it will appeal to Ottumwans was
touched upon by those who did the
speaking.
The Railway & Light Co.. came in
for much criticism for the attitude the
company has assumed in the campaign
being waged for the bond issue The
Importance Of everyone voting who Is
eligible was urged by some of the
speakers, especially by Solicitor l.. l..
Duke and Fl. l.. Waterman. The crowd
was informed that the women who de-
sire to vote Monday will be called for
and returned home in suitable con-
veyance If they will make their wish
known as it Is desired to get every
woman in OttumWa who Is 21 years
and over to vote at this election.
The speakers were announced by
John Moffitt who was chairman of the
meeting. e. l.. Johnson, speaking on
the right of Ottumwa to own it's light
ing utility If 1t SO desired, touched up
on the actual and mortgaged value OF
the railway and light company's plant
and said that the people OF the city
were paying dividends on fictitious
value 1flerert than three times tie ST,eali
worth or the business. He said that
man born in the days Of Christ and
working every day at the salary Of $75
per month would have to work another
hundred years before he could earn the
difference between the actual and
mortgaged value of the railway and
light company plant
William Reece followed along somes
what similar lines treating the propi
osition in the same light as renter be4
ing given the option Of paying stip-S
ulated sum of rent monthly with the
right to have same apply as purchase
price and given eleven years to pay
out the contract, or the alternative OF
paying the same rent for the same
property without the privilege OF pur-
chase. The speaker compared the
present position of Ottumwa w h re-
gard to the lighting of the city, to the
TeuleT dUOVc Iio lllcu dt-
luded to the necessity Of concrete
dams and counteracted the assertions
that cement for this type Of construc-
tion is unsatisfactory. In support of
his contention he cited a number Of
the biggest engineering feats Of the
present age and even carried his hear
ers back to the pyramids of Egypt to
laud the lasting qualities and prac-
1; nT r~,, ,,I fr,t,
ton. The speaker likewise reviewed
some lighting history that he partici-
pated in as a member Of the city coun-
Gil more than twenty years ago. He
told of the council granting five year
lighting contract to one company and
charter to another competing firm.
The subsequent purchase Of the weak
er by the stronger company and the
resultant raise of the lighting cost
Continued on Page IT,