The chronicle=news. (Trinidad, Colo.) 1898-current, 1914-10-13
CITY COUNCIL IN
WRANGLE ,0vER
NEW WATER
EXTENSION
Hot Debate Oger Peti-
tion to Raise Wage
Scale of City
Laborers

into the city council chamber last
night at six minutes after nine
strokes Of the village clock, his fel.
low members drawn up about the
polished mahogany naturally looked
upon his tardiness as unavoidable
They believed that on his way down
he had been stalled at a railroad
crossing while nine hundred and
eleven freight cars joIted by, but
after the father from the fifth had
become seated and councilmen un-
derstood that there was no freight
train in the Conspiracy and that Mr..
Donahue had just come from the
timber country where in the solitude
of the October twilight he had been
I'practicfng speech to the lonesome
pines and pinons.
.. Mr.. Donahue was primcd with ora
tory last evening. Not since the day
when Bill Diamond invoked the
blessings of Heaven upon the de-
fenseless heads Of the high power
rifle boys months agone, has such
eloquence been heard in Trinidad.
First, Mr.. w. R. Lewis o the wa
ter works stood up like a little man
and was given lesson in mathe-
natfcs and put thron4ha course OF
sprouts. and next George Mason was
called up to discuss with the speaker
the problem of capital and labor.
The mayor was given a short course
in parliamentary procedure and ev-
erybody more or less was given
Poi IHyto h,,
Der of commerce secretary.
The first verbal settoo of the
evening came when report from
the water works superintendent was
read relative to petition formerly
submitted by property owners of a
school district Just outside the city
limits. asking for an extension of
water service to homes and to a
school building soon to be erected.
Mr.. Lewis recommended that the pc
',ltion be not granted. representing
that the expense of caring for per-
manent repairs to the city's pine
lines near Weston washed out in re-
cent floods would be great and that
the department was not in favor of
laying the extension as petitioned
for.
This precipitated lively discus
sion. J. NJ. Madrid was present to
represent the petitioners and ex-
planned that the new school was to
be built shortly and that water serv-
ice was essential for the school as
well as for the residents of the dis
trict. Tic petitioners had agreed
to make the excavation and do the
filling.
Mr. Lewis declared that the cost
of putting in the pipe would be in
the neiEhborhood Of 500. Alder
man Lunney wanted the council to
consider the petition favorably,
pointing out that the city would de-
rive in revenue IS per cent. Dora-
hue. however, rose as the champion
of the petitioners and remarked in
his argument that service had been
freely given up the river and de-
clared It was unjust to cut off this
district lying close to the city limits
simply because it was outside the
city.
The petitioners had specified
two-inch pipe. Mr.. Lewis contend
ed that two-inch pipe would do
no good and recommended four
inch pipe. Donahue took issue and
thought the water works superin-
tendent's position rntenable and
pIeasantries were exchanged. In the
meantime Lunney had made a mo-
tion that the superintendent be in
structed to lay four-inch pipe,
which lost, lacking one vote to au-
thorize the expenditure. After half
an hour or more of wrangling. Kahn
moved that the matter be laid on
the table until the next meeting,
which motion carried.
During the debate Alderman Kahn
sought to compromise the matter by
moving that the extension be put in
out of funds in the new appropria-
tion to be made. City Attorney Nc
Gashan advised that the council