The Morning Tulsa daily world., July 09, 1919, FINAL EDITION 4 o'Clock A.M., Page 11, Image 11

About The Morning Tulsa daily world. (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927

Image provided by: Oklahoma Historical Society

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TULSA DAILY WORLD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 0, 1010.
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Misrepresentation
Has been the one weapon which the enemies of good water for Tulsa have wielded tirelessly, re
lentlessly, savagely, unscriipuously desperately in an attempt to prevent Tulsa going o the
Spavinaw river for a permanent, plenteous supply of pure w ater.
No trickery, no falsehood, has been too low for those who are placing private greed above public
good to stoop to providing they thought it could cloud the issue and bring about defeat of the
water bonds. One by one the camouflage has been stripped from their lies and they stand con
victed of treason to the city of Tulsa.
They said Shell crock coulrl supply Tulsa with
a sufficiency of water but .still maintain that
Spavinaw is insufficient.
Yet Shell creek has a drainage area of lcs
than 28 square miles and a maximum average
rainfall of 36 inches, while the Spavinaw has a
drainage of 402 square miles and an average
normal rainfall of 44 inches.
They said Shell creek could supply Tulsa with
pure water while Spavinaw was contaminated
by sulphur spring.
Yet 50 Tulsa high school boys came near los
ing their lives from typhoid contracted while on
a camping trip on Shell creek; chemists have
found upon examination that Shell creek water
is literally alive with typhoid fever germs, pol
luted otherwise and wholly unsafe to drink,
while every authority, from the state board of
health down to the lowly native who has lived
along the banks of the Spavinaw for half a cen
tury, pronounce the waters of the Spavinaw the
purest and best that are to be found anywhere in
the entire southwest far superior to anything
else in Oklahoma.
They said the tax rale, in case the Spavinaw
water bonds carry, will be confiscatory, will
bankrupt the city and rob the laboring man of
his home.
Yet it has been proven by indisputable evi
dence that even with the addition of the amount
needed to carry the water bonds, taxes will foe
less than they are now. Addition of millions of
dollars of taxable property and the increased
value of many other properties will reduce the
present rate. It also has been shown that in
five years the city will save more from bottled
water, excessive plumbing bills, corroded boil
ers and other wastage because of impure water,
than will be spent in 25 years for the Spavinaw
project.
They said Spavinaw water will cost 7f cents
per 1,000 gallons.
Yet the cost estimate of the Engineers' club
was 12.76 cents per 1,000 gallons on a basis of
10,000,000 gallons a day. The present average
rate is 14 cents per 1,000 gallons. Spavinaw
water then will be a saving of 1 .24 cents on every
1,000 gallons or $15,000 a year after paying all
costs, including the interest and sinking fund on
the bond issue.
They said that the Spavinaw went dry.
Yet 37 residents of the village of Spavinaw
who have lived there for periods ranging up to
50 years have signed a statement saying not one
of them ever had known the Spavinaw to go dry.
No engineer has denied that the Spavinaw will
furnish water enough for a city of a quarter of
a million population.
They quoted Sam Mays of Pryor as stating
that the Spavinaw goes dry and is polluted with
salt springs.
Yet it has been developed that this statement
was written by a young attorney of Pryor who
was paid for his services by opponents of the
bond issue.
They sent to St. Louis for one Hiram Phillips,
engineer, to come to Tuba and issue a statement
discrediting the report of Henry A. Pressey,
upon which Tulsa is voting on the Water bond
question. They quoted him in outlandish state
ments intended to discredit the Pressey report.
Yet he admitted he never had checked over
the Pressey report, and Mayor Hubbard has
made public information that Hiram Phillips
was promised $1,000 by H. Y. McFarland to
come to Tulsa and make an adverse report.
They exhibited a sample of sulphur water
which they id L. Y. McFarland had dipped
from the Spavinaw.
Yet he later admitted it came out of a spring
and not out of the river and that it could not pos
sibly affect the tas'e.or quality of the water in
the stream.
Tluv say it is folly to go to the Spavinaw for
water when it is necessary to cross Grand river,
which, they say, is just as good or better and 25
miles nearer.
Yet the Grand river is only three miles nearer
at the point where the pipeline crosses and at the
airline is only 14 miles nearer. Moreover, the
airline is not a practical route for a pipeline on
account of the topography, which would necessi
tate crossing a number of hills and would re
quire more reservoirs and more pumping than
the Spavinaw project.
They said the bonds will rai.-e rents.
Yet John O. Mitchell, one of the leading real
estate men of the city, has said that he will not
raise the rent of a one of his forty tenants and
will also pay whatever additional tax may de
volve upon his tenants by reason of the bond
issue. R. T. Daniel, one of the leading opponents
of the bond issue in January, 1919, raised the
rent on the Puritan cafe from $150 to $200 a
month and has informed his tenant that he will
not renew the lease for anything less than $400
after January 1, 1920 and this regardless of
whether the bond issue carries. It isn't the bond
issue but the greed of landlords of the type of
R. T. Daniel that will raise rents.
Xhey said the towns in the Spavinaw area
would pollute the stream.
Yet only two of the towns have sewer systems
and neither of these empties into the Spavinaw
and half of the towns named are mere postof
fice stations and have no population.
They paid Grand river water is as good as
Spavinaw
Yet Grand river is muddy ten months of the
year.
They ridiculed the moving pictures of Spav
inaw. Yet they were afraid to show pictures of Shell
creek, although there is a reel of Shell creek pic
tures in the city today. Neither would they en
courage roters to go to see Shell creek, while the
Spavinaw boosters took nearly 100 citizens of
Tulsa up to Spavinaw and they became Spavi
naw boosters,
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They chided citizens about their tax pay
ments. Yet Page refused to show his upon public
challenge to do so to learn whether he pays taxes
on his property or evades it through the pseudo
charitable institution the Sand Springs home.
They assault the character of men in favor of
the bond issue when the issue m whether or not
there is sufficient good water at Spavinaw.
They started out to advocate Shell creek, de
serted this for Grand river, then came back to the
Arkansas, indicating that their purpose is not to
get good water for tfie city but to c re-ate a multi
plicity of issues to confuse the voter.
Tomorrow is the clay they had hoped to realize on their campaign of deceit. You, Mr. Voter,
are the one who is to decide whether they have succeeded.
'Will you vote "no" on the water bonds, for private greed instead of public good, to throttle
Tulsa's life; or will you vote "YES", for good water and a Greater Tulsa?
Remember Tulsa's slogan: "Tulsa Will" and Vote " YES" for the Water Bonds.
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