The Jersey City News

THE
Jersey City News.
JAMES LUBY.
EDITOR
PUBLISHED EVERY
AFTERNOON
-BY-
THE CITY PUBLISHING COMPANY.
OFFICE. NO. 251 WASHINGTON STREET.
"THE NEWS" BUILDING.
Telephone Call. Jersey City 212.
THE JERSEY CITY NEWS, THE ONLY DEMOCRATIC
Daily Paper Published IN
Jersey City-Single
copies, two cents; subscriptions six dollars per year
postage paid.
Entered in the postoffice at Jersey City as second
class matter.
All business communications should be addressed
to the City Publishing Company; all letters for pub
lication, to the Managing Editor.
TUESDAY. APRIL 30, 1895.
This paper is Democratic in principles
and is independent in its views on all
local
questions.
The Water Contract Award.
Notwithstanding the qualifications surrounding it, the action of the Street and
Water Board upon the water bids is a
distinct, forward step. We have got further
than ever towards the solution of
the problem of a supply. We have
brushed away a mass of obstructions,
we stand on precise and definite ground
and we have shown that we are unmistakably
in earnest in our dealings with
projectors of water enterprises. We have
good hopes that the Board of Finance
will approve the award made by the
Street and Water Board; but even if it
does not, we consider that the latter
body has done its duty, and has done the
public a high service in advancing the
matter towards a conclusion.
The Board of Finance will certainly not
act hastily upon the award. It is not in
the temper of that body to behave precipitately,
and at any rate the appeal
of the Street and Water Commissioners,
for further investigation would make it
impossible for the concurrent body to act
without compliance. The Financiers
should and no doubt will act carefully
and deliberately. If there is found any
overwhelming reason against the award,
presumably they will not ratify it; but
If it is shown that it offers the city a sufficient
supply of pure water at any sort
of a fair price, they should unhesitatingly
confirm the contract and urge the execution
of the work as rapidly as possible.
And just here it should be remembered
that the Jersey City Company has been
generally understood to offer certain supplementary
advantages to the city over
and above the terms of its formal bid.
The Street and Water Board has not seen
its way to making these conditions of
the award. We believe the Finance Board
can insist upon them being included in
the contract as finally drafted, either
by bonuses to the city or by some other
legal device. The city should not let anything
get away which the contractors are
willing to concede, and the formal bid in
accordance with the specifications being
fairly satisfactory, there can be no law
to prevent the contractors from giving or
the city from accepting additional benefits,
nor to hinder the parties from agreeing
to include these additional benefits
in the terms of the contract as finally
signed, sealed and delivered.
WHILE proceeding with proper deliberation,
it is to be hoped the Finance
Board will indulge in no unnecessary
delay. Already the water has shown sign
of returning to its last summer condition.
Last week, it was full of the old brown
mud, the old disgusting shreds of decaying
organic matter. The old characteristic
smell floated over it, too; it never lost
the sickening taste even in the depth
of winter, though, of course, it was not
as pronounced in the icy water of January
as in the tepid mud of July.
It is true, the Jersey City Water Company
may not be able to afford us any
relief this summer: but it will be some
consolation to know that relief is near
at hand, even when the water is at its
worst.
The action of the people in the last
election may fairly be taken as an endorsement
of the current efforts to procure
a water supply. Indeed, it can have
no other meaning, considering the prominence
that was given to the water question
as an issue. If the present opportunities
are wasted and a return of last
summer's drought should come upon us,
the people would rise up in their might
against the city officials, and somebody
would be very badly hurt.