The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-01-01
HOELLER SAYS
WATER CO. Lied
TO COUNCILMEN
Lawmaker Declares Officials
of Plant Said Water Didn't
Come from Sewer.
LATE INVESTIGATION
SHOWS CLAIMS FALSE
Mr.. H0eller Declares Water COM
pany Must Explain to People
or Forfeit Franchise.

'The water works people have de
ceived the members of the City Coun
Gil all summer by deliberately lying,
declared Councilman Hoeller, in {
conversation with a representative Of
The Tribune last night. 81 spent {
part of this afternoon at the water
plant, and / found conditions to be ir
deplorable shape. 1t is simply an out.
rage. The people of this city are buy
ing water that is not fit to wash
clothes in.
at looks to me like the Missouri
Public Utilities Company will forfeit
their franchise. They have violated
it I'M the most fragrant manner, but
theyJcannot escape longer When
conn tlained last summer, we were
takeR to the plant and assured tha
water was only being pumped from
the river north of Sloan's creek.
'Since the river has fallen, I
every evidence that the company W,
drawing water from the Sloan's crt
cesspool at the same time the officials
of the company assured the council
that the water was being taken from
the river above this sewer.
"When the river was as high as, it
was during the summer, it was impos-
sible 10 His sole who were not familiar
nth the Wv ssa1ery to discover ]
where the 70 Plwas being pumped
from. But today's Investigation co,
vinced me that the council was i'm
posed upon last summer. -
81 am not in favor of giving in
inch to these people. They have treat
ed the public in vile manner and
hen lied about it. They have already
forfeited their franchise, and it is
only necessary for the Mayor and City
Council to so declare it forfeited.
During my services in the City
Council l have never prosecuted ar
business, and it was in this spirit tina
l considered the complaints agains'
the water company. I wanted to con-
vince myself that the company was
keeping its contract, and after my j
vestigations then I was certain t.
the complaints were not well founded
81 had every reason to believe tina:
the water works people were candle
with me, but l know that they deliber-
ately lied to deceive US. 1t is now u,
t othe company to make an explana-
ton. l am absolutely opposed to such
conditions as prevail just now and
am going to do everything in my pow
er to see that the people get all
they are entitled to.
"The situation now is a crime. We
are getting water from a sewer and
the people are compelled to pay for
it. This condition cannot continue"
1t was predicted by city official
yesterday that the next meeting of
the City Council would be an impor-
tant one. Mayor Kage is determined
that the Utilities Company must make
a full explanation. If it cannot give
a good excuse for its past conduct, he
is going to force a forfeiture of its
franchise. Mayor Kage has been in
conference with a number of the
Councilmen, and they are in thorough
accord with each other.
The water that was forced through
the city main yesterday was as vile
as i. has been at anytime since the
crisis was reached. For several hours
the supply was cut off in the west end,
but the pressure returned early last
night.
The water company succeeded yes
terday in completing its canal across
the sandbar and at about noon the
gasoline pump was installed and set
to work pumping water from the
channel of the river across the sand
bar to the intake connection that ex-
tends out from the plant.
The pumping has continued for sew
eral hours, but considerable difficulty
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