Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-08-28

not exactly to the point of my pur-
pose here today, wish to call your
careful attention to the fact that
what T'regard as a very vicious law
was passed five or six years ago
in 1914-and has since been a con-
| slant stumbling block to munich
palities.
Il refer to that law which
created the Illinois public utilities
commission.
This perhicious law was passed
| for the purpose of controlling and
! systems, and like public utilities.
! The effect has been to take the con-
| troll of these systems out of the
| hands of the municipalities. which
are directly affected, and to put it
! into the hands of a half-doZen dis
| interested men sitting in Chicago.
! Several years ago this commun-
| ity entered into a binding contract
with the local street car company,
| agreeing to pay a maximum cent
fare for car service. Then profits
were knocked off a bit from the
company, they appealed to the COM
mission, and 10 and behold a wave
:
imum fare clause was decreed
liquidated and was stricken from
the contract, the municipality
having no appeal in the matter"
He also raped the commission
about its allowing phone rates to
be raised and for the new raise
which seems inevitable since its
presentation to the body a short
time ago
The mayor then went on to en-
large upon the statement that the
municipality should control the af-
fairs which directly affect it, con
Guiding with the words:
1T is up to you to help eliminate
the public utilities. When a can
didate to an elective Office, state or
local or national, applies for your
votes-put him on the pan and find
out if he will knock this commits
sion for all he is worth.
Character Sketch.
Charles a. Drury, of the Wood
men offices, gave an fmpersonation
and character sketch of a prairie
farmer which was very pleasing.
He had a long tale to relate, which
had many surprising twists and
turns, concerning his courtship of
a widow and how he came to swap
girls with the beau of the widows
daughter He pleased the audience
immensely.
The response and address by
State Deputy c. S. Townley, was
a great boost to the organization
of Woodmen. He Iauded the club
and said among his statements
that wherever the WOOdmeu were
great the Royal NeighbOrs, an al
lied organization, was always
little better. His talk was illus
trated with many amusing stories
and was full of good humor.
Three of the ukelele octette failed
to appear, but the remaining five
girls gave a fine concert in two
groups. Though the maidens were
dressed in American fashiOn-c
your eyes and presto you were on
one of the Hawaiian islands, lOlling
in the sands and listening to the
nearby strains from the instru-
ments ofHawaiian girls, their sweet
voices mingIing with the music of
ed more of a group of collegiates,
Money Goes" and HAS Anybody
Seen My Cat?" Popular music
m Forever Blowing Bubbles"
and Where the Morning Glories
Grow" featured their first group, !
and a medley of Hawaiian songs
composed the second.
Summing it all up, the Woodmen
count yesterday a very successful
time, and the picnic as one of the
biggest in many years. There were
about 1000 people present in the
afternoon, and probably that many
more early in the evening. The
dance floor was crowded, and con-
cessions operated at capacity dur |
ing every minute of the time. The
historic ground of the Watch Tow |
er, which was played up in all of
the speeches, yesterday saw as big
a crowd having as fine a time as
few previous have been. /
The success is partly attributed |
to the fact that there were a large |
number of committees, formed by |
an cimmitteemen. These |
We -fficient and showed abil- !
ity both in their preparation and in /
the masterful manner in which they |
conducted the program at the
grounds.
An especially pleasing feature
of the evening program at the
band she'll was the singing of Mrs.
Martin-HansOn, who
gave delightful vocal selections to
the accompaniment of Whites or
chestra, which came to the plat
form from the dance hall for that
purpose. Mrs. Martin-Hanson is a
sister Of Mrs. Hada NJ. Carlson, SUI Il
preme recorder of the Royal 4
of Ameria and is widely l
known in musical circles for her
rich and clear soprano voice. Her
singing was greatly appreciated by
the large crowd in front of the