The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-11-09

would have one way or the other. If
the voters of the city petition the
council to call an election to amend
the charter, under section OF the
law above mentioned, it would be-
come mandatory upon the council to
call the election, and the mayor could
not prevent it, nor could he call one
in the absence of the petition men
toned.
AS do not appreciate the so-called
tissue" nor understand how it could
be involved in the present campaign,
and as / do not understand the mean
ing of the so-ca1led Municipal Own
ership" theory, respectfully call
upon you to define the different lines
of business you would have the city
engage in, and tell me wherein it
could possibly be involved in this
campaign, at which time / will quick
ly advise you of my views.
Yours truly,
Fl. NJ. Hampton.
Mr.. H. M. Hampton:
Dear Sir: / appreciate your kind
and confidential communication, and
will endeavor to reply.
1t makes me worry to think of you
delving deeply into leading works
and the Standard dictionary in search
of the definition of municipal owner
ship. You remind me of another friend
who told me, some % or thirty years
ago, that he had seen in a book that
Alpha was in Ursa Major, and he had
worn out brand new geography in
looking for Ursa Major, but couldn't
find it and didn't believe there was
any such island.
would try to define what "muni-
cipal ownership" means, and what it
means in Ocala, to a child or any
foreigner; but between you and me,
any any other two citizens of Ocala
of ordinary intelligence, both the
question and the answer are super
fiuous. If you really need informa-
ton on the subject, you have paid
mighty little attention to the affairs
of your home city during the past
two years.
Neither do / care to answer your
inquiry as to whether I form my
opinions from street talk. / might
follow your example and ask you to
define "street talk" Sheltered, and
perhaps little blinded, behind the
walls of your law offices, dealing with
books and with men who may only
speak at so much per minute, men OF
your profession are naturally inclined
to hold 3street talk" as of little value
"Street talk" however, is the talk OF
the common people, and If they may
not be heard and needed, of what
use is popular government?
Perhaps, instead of "street talk,
you mean gossip. If you did, there
would be no use in my answering the
question. | had inferred from your
conversations with myself and others
} responsible for the utterances of this
paper that you did not think it was
influenced by idle gossip. The best
: way for you to obtain an effectua
answer to the question would be tt
start out, tomorrow morning, and &c
around the center of the city, asking
the responsible business men of the
town if they believe the Star forms
its opinions from what you cal
"street talk" and | call idle chatter.
Your next question, eff it is an is
sue, where and how does it arise,
would call for an amount of effort II
answering which would be very
fatiguing in view OF the fact that
know you are as well or better posted
on the subject as | am. If you hac
instead asked, "What has it caused tt
arise?" | could more compactly ane
conveniently reply, Several things
caused bunch of representative citi
zens of Ocala to arise In great haste
and hurry to Tallahassee to keel
something from being put in theil
charter that they didn't want there.
] You are vastly more competent t,
understand the city charter than
am, and all | have to say of your ex
PLANTATION of it is that I am glad i
has been so framed, in spite of pri
vate opposition, that the rights ant
!. property of the people cannot be law
fully taken from them without thei
knowledge and consent. Still, I bes
leave to remind the always forgetfu
people that good laws are of little ust
without good men to administer them
and that a council determined to mis-
use the peoples property could fine
excuses and ways and means to do so
This has been proven time and time
again in other cities and sometimes Il
our own.
| will also venture to refresh YOU
memory regarding this charter, which
You are so entirely competent to boil
understand and explain. The charter
was drawn by the friends and sup
porters of municipal ownership o.
public utilities 1t was published il
the papers of Ocala for sixty days
and evidently met with the approva
A A. n1o~la 49,. A