Sewickley Herald

              UAN J 6   1904
Kemfk
" Pear no man, and do justice to all men.""
Vol. I.
SEWICKLEY, PA., SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1904.
No. 18
That Blueprint Safe.
Caustic Comment on Action of Council—The
Defense Made by a Member.
TWO   RATHER   NOVEL   PROPOSITIONS.
At the last meeting of Council a
resolution /was paissed, authorizing the
Borough Engineer to purchase a safe,
at a cost of $465, in which to keep Ms
records and other valuable papers.
Since that time, considerable unfavorable criticism has been expressed regarding that action. The most pointea
and severe was from one of our leading business men, who expressed himself in this way:
"Why don't the Herald rip Council
up for doing a thing like that? Tney
have gotten along, for years without
a safe, and what is the pressing necessity just now? W|e have safety vaults
in our banks that could be gotten for
a nominal sum. that would do just as
well. Why don't wie protest to Council
about it? Well, what, is the use? A
year or so ago a petition was signed
by nearly all of our business men anu
presented to Council, and they paid
no attention to it. The trouble is
that there has never been any one to
take a firm stand for the people, and
Council has done about as it pleased.
I hope the Herald will take this matter up thoroughly. It's a waste of the
people's money to buy a safe when
our property is left unprotected as it
is.    Our fire department is a disgrace
to the town. When we elected Mr.-	
from our ward we thought he would
be of some account but he seems to
be led around by the rest. The best
thing Council can do is to buy a safe
large enough to lock themselves up
in."
In order to give both sides of the
Question a fair hearing, a call was
made upoii a member of Council, who
made a lengthy statement regarding
the matter. We have not space to
print all of it, but will give the salient
points of his argument.    He said:
"I am in favor of buying a safe in
W'hxh to keep  the Borough records.
These records are worth from ten to
fifteen thousand dollars*. They are
the result of years of work and many
of them, if destroyed),, could never be
replaced. We should have had a place
in which to keep them many years
ago. If they should be destroyed, there
would be the biggest howl in Sewickley you ever heard.
"In regard to  the fire department,
that has nothing to do wiith this mat- j
ter.    If the people of Sewickley want
a fire engine with a paid department i
they  can  have it   provided! they are j
will.'ng  to  pay  for it.    It  would  re-;
quire about twenty or twenty-five thou-1
sand dollars to get a first class one, j
a.nd   we  would  not  wast' any  otheir j
kind.   I have not heard any one asking for a fire department."
The gentleman  -was informed   that j
we know of no pressing demand for a
paid  fire  department,  but that there |
was a very pressing one for some im-1
prove'ment in the present service, es-1
pecially in getting a new hose wagon,
with a team to haul it and a better
place in which to keep them.
After admitting he did not know
where the fire apparatus wns kept, lie
resumed:
"I have not heard of any request for
anything .like that. The firemen may
have been talking to some of the Coun- j
cilmen, but there has been no petition
presented to Council. If they want
any.thing, why don't they come to us
instead of going to the newsipapers?
Who is it that is doing all this kicking? You'll find, if you inquire, that
it is the riffraff and corner loafers of
the town, who don't own a cent's worth
of property. You don't find the property owners asking for it."
After expati sting a littl fimher \ lni g
this line of thought, the speaker came
to the meat of his. argument,, and
played his trump cards, with the fbl-
\
lowing result: It was the richest
thing which we.have heard for a long
time it shows to what extremes men
will go when they are cornered in an
argument. He stated two propositions
which are unique. The first was in
this way:
"What right' have the people who
have no property to demand more fire
protection? They pay no taxes, except a mere nominal sum? They have
no right to increase the indebtedness
of  the  Borough."
To this the writer replied that the
non-property holding citizens had the
same rights and were entitled to the
same privileges and benefits as those
who owned property. And furthermore, that it was. an, acknowledged
fact that the man who rents, property
pays the tax on. the same in his rent,
and is entitled to the same police and
fire protection and other advantages
as the land owner. To which the gentleman assented in part. The second
proposition was a masterpiece. It was
to this effect:
"There is no need of more fire pro-
tertion. We have protection now. The
property in Sewickley is all insured.
If your house burns you get the insurance, so what is the use of talking
about a paid fire department."
Well, this was a solar plexus, and
no mistake. We could not find words
suitable i.or framing an answer; in
fact, we have riot quite "come to" yet.
We had been imagining all the while
that the fire department service was
a protection to both the home and the
insurance companies; and now to have
this belief so rudely shattered was too
much, and so we gave up on this
point. We have since been wondering
how some father and mother would
view it,, if, on some winter night they,
with their dear ones, were suddenly
thrust out into the cold and compelled
to watch their home burn to the ground
for want of the facilities necessary to
ptifc the fire out. Would thev consider the
insurance to be adequate compensation for their financial loss and an-
coyance. We will pass the proposition,
up to the insurance companies.
After some desultory talk the gentleman said, in conclusion, that if the
firemen needed some improvement in
their equipment, and if the people
favored the expenditure, he stood
ready to accede to their wishes,   We
(Continued on page 12.)
OBITUARY.
•"'
Mrs. Eliza Jane Cunningham.
On Tuesday evening, January 12,
at 7:20 o'clock, there passed from
earth one of Sewickley's most prominent, useful and beloved women, Mrs.
Eliza Jane Cunningham. She was a
woman of the noblest type of Christian motherhood, and her friends, as
well as her children, bear for her the
deepest reverence and respect. Mrs.
Cunningham was distinctly a mother,
a loyal, faithful "house" mother,
whose chief interest laid in her children's welfare and comfort and whose
chief joy was their companionship.
Truly, a mother will be missed in that
happy family circle of eight sons and
daughters and a life that is a lesson
in its fidelity to the principles that
make for the stability of the nation in
the foundation of the home, wall sorely be missed, yet its' influence ever
felt and "she being dead yet speaketh"
in the homes established by her children.
Mrs. Cunningham was of Scotch
Irish descent, being the daughter of
Mrs. Mary Mcintosh, who left her
home in the north of Ireland, and settled in Birmingham on the South Side
before Carson street was put through.
At this home Mrs. Cunningham was
born and lived there until the time of
her marriage. She joined the Methodist church at 13 years of age, being a
member her whole life long. She was
taken into the church by the Rev.
Jeremiah Knox, who also officiated at
her marriage later on.
The late Captain William Cunningham, who died 26 years ago, was> one
of the pioneer men on the river. He
was connected with the S. Roberts
coal company, and was widely known,
After the marriage they moved to Elizabeth, later on to Pittsburg and finally to Sewickley, where the famiy has
been settled for 32 years.
Mrs. Cunningham was 78 years of
age and until about two years ago had
never had a serious illness, but since
then her health has been steadily failing and the end came Tuesday even-
in, when she succumbed to failure of
the heart.    .
She is survived by ejght' sons and
daughters: Captain George O. Robert   J.,     controller of Allegheny coun-
(Continued on page 12,)
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