Sewickley Herald

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UUN
11    1*0*
Wetalb.
" Pear no man, and do justice to all men."
Vol. I.
SEWICKLEY, PA., SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1904.
No. 39
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FRANCHISE TURNED DOWN
Exciting Meeting of Council—The Club Rep-
resented—Several Petitions
Presented.
ARGUMENTS  MADE   BEFORE COUNCIL.
By a unanimous vote the Sewickley borough council stood by the
people last Tuesday evening against
the demands of a coterie of franchise jobbers who wanted to secure
a valuabe franchise for a mere
song.
The meeting was one that will
live in the memory of those who
were present. The council chamber was filled by a large number of
the residents of the borough who
were there to express their views
in regard to the street car ordinance
which was pending, or to hear the
arguments given for or against the
measure.
The meeting began at 8 o'clock
with President Miller in the chair
and all the members present.
Burgess Koch was conspicuous by
his absence, although several of the
speakers addressed President Miller as "Mr. Burgess" by mistake."
■The first order of business was a
request made by Mr. J. Sharpe McDonald that he be permitted to preserve two maple trees on his premises where new streets being opened in the Maple Grove plan will intersect. These two trees are 160
feet in height and are beautiful
specimens. Mr. McDonald's heart
was set on preserving them and
council granted him the desired
privilege.
The engineer in charge of the
plan asked to have the company
exempted from the laying of lateral
sewers to the curb line along the
streets of the plan,    Gouncil could
not see the feasibility of so doing,
and refused the request.
The important business of the
evening then came up—the consideration of the street railway
franchise ordinance. Mrs. M. B.
Brown, president of the Woman's
Glub of the Sewickley Valley; Miss
Elizabeth Anderson, secretary, and
Mrs. P. P. Knapp, chairman of the
civic committee, were present with
a petition signed by 200 women of
the valley protesting against the
passage of the ordinance. Mr.
George H. Anderson presented the
petition and made a" strong argument against the measure. He
made the following points, stated
briefly: The petition represents
all classes; it appeals to the best interests of the town; an overwhelming public sentiment against it. He
gave these objections to the measure: First, that the company is
capitalized at only $6,000; second,
that the owners of the charter are
not residents and have no interest
in preserving the esthetic features
of the town; third, thatthefranchise
is worth from $50,000 to $100,
000. He dwelt on the many attractive features of the place and
s.aid that if a trolley system were
introduced these would be largely
done away with. He placed special emphasis on the fact that the
borough, and not a few middlemen,
should receive the full benefit of the
franchise, were it to be grantel.
If $?S,COO or $100,000 were paid
for it, the boroug'i would be en ibled
to pay its debts, taxes could be
lowered and Sewickley would become a model borough.
Gharles A. Woods, Esq., then
presented seven petiotions signed
by over four hundred property owners. He stated that the property
valuation in Sewickley, under the
new triennial' assessment, was
about $4,600,000; deducting the
amount owned by women and nonresidents there was a net valuation
of about $5,800,000; and that the
signatures givenrepresent $2,800,-
000. Mr. Woods advanced some
strong arguments against the
measure.
Mr. George E. Tener replied to
the argument that the school children needed the street cars. He
gave his experience while a resident of the East End, Pittsburg,
and claimed that a very small fraction of the children would be inconvenienced by not having them.
Gaptain John B. Reno poured
some hot shot into the schemes of
the promoters. He said it was the
intention to have a through electric
line from Pittsburg to Cleveland,
and to run through Pullman and
freight cars at all hours of the day
and night, the effect of which can
be better imagined than described.
He spoke of the value of such a
franchise, saying that in the near
future, with the rapid growth of the
town, it would be worth three times
as much as at present. He instanced the waterworks property
which some years ago was consid-
sidered dear at $100,000, but is
now worth over $300,000. Mr.
Reno emphasized the fact that the
borough should receive full compensation for any concessions
granted.
O. S, Richardson, Esq., spoke of
the beneficial influence of the
womed in civic affairs. He quoted
the well known adage, "The hand
that rocks the cradle rules the
world," or something to that effect.
Being a bachelor, Mr. Richardson
said he did not speak by the card,
but only from observation. He
summed his argument up in one
question: "Why should we grant
it at any price?" and proceeded to
show some of the results that
would' follow. He said that the
local option law would likely be repealed; property values would fall
fifty per cent.; the floating population from Ambridge and other industrial towns along the valley
would drift here, and that drunkenness, debauchery and other vices
would prevail. He said that when
corporations wanted valuable privileges they often employed syndicates or "straw men" to secure
them, and he did not favor the
borough granting privileges in that
way.
Mr. Frank G. Paulson spoke
briefly on the question. He said he
had lived a good many years in
Pittsburg and Allegheny, and came
to Sewickley to get away from the
saloons and street cars. He spoke
of the advantages of Sewickley as
a place of residence, and the desirability of keeping it so.
Frank G. Osburn, Esq., made a
fervid appeal to the borough fathers to keep unsullied the fair name
of the town. The speaker took a
diametrically opposite view regarding the effect on land values to
that expressed by Mr. Richardson.
He said that, in his opinion, values
would go up, for the reason that
three or four times as many people
would come to Sewickley as at
present. But, he added, the reason is that the land would become
valuable because rows of tenement
houses would be built thereon. Sewickley would soon become a
Sharpsburg, Braddock, McKeesport, Sheraden, McKees Rocks or
Schcenville, or like some other one-
horse towns around here. Do you
want that? Mr. Osburn also
(Continued on page 7.)
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