NEW PLANT FOR ATLANTA.

NEW PLANT FOR ATLANTA.

Atlanta, Ga., recently faced a serious situation when a bond issue intended to finance needed improvements to the water works plant went down in defeat, not through any desire of the voters, but as the result of the city charter section, which specifies that two-thirds of the registered voters is necessary for success. Only 127 votes were cast against the issue, while 8,757 ballots favored the bonds, but the absent voters decided the contest and blocked the improvement. The people were at a loss to know how to carry out the much needed extension. The holding up of the proposed work meant a serious loss to the city. Brigadier General William M. Sage, commander of Camp Gordon, near the city, reported the failure of the bond issue to Washington and recommended that the contemplated enlargement of the camp be set aside until positive assurance was given by the city authorities that the camp would be provided with the water it required. This was the condition that existed when Mayor Asa G. Candler, City Attorney J. L, Mayson, Councilman A. J. Orme, who had fathered the bond issue, and Superintendent Zode Smith, of the water department, took the matter under advisement. The provision of a coagulating basin and purification plant, they decided, could be met by a special tax of one-eighth of one per cent, but the real problem that seemed to defy solution was where to get the $250,000 that the two additional pumping engines absolutely needed would cost. As the bond issue had failed, there were no funds available that could be diverted lor this purpose, and without extra pumping capacity the improvements in Camp Gordon could not be made. As sufficient water could not be guaranteed with the existing equipment of the water works plant. Mayor Candler stepped into the breach and offered to underwrite the immediate purchase of the two pumps, the only proviso being that the city council pledge itself to see that the money be refunded next year, and so the difficulty was overcome. This patriotic offer of the mayor, which the council has unanimously accepted, saved the city of Atlanta from an unpleasant situation.

Atlanta, Ga., recently faced a serious situation when a bond issue intended to finance needed improvements to the water works plant went down in defeat, not through any desire of the voters, but as the result of the city charter section, which specifies that two-thirds of the registered voters is necessary for success. Only 127 votes were cast against the issue, while 8,757 ballots favored the bonds, but the absent voters decided the contest and blocked the improvement. The people were at a loss to know how to carry out the much needed extension. The holding up of the proposed work meant a serious loss to the city. Brigadier General William M. Sage, commander of Camp Gordon, near the city, reported the failure of the bond issue to Washington and recommended that the contemplated enlargement of the camp be set aside until positive assurance was given by the city authorities that the camp would be provided with the water it required. This was the condition that existed when Mayor Asa G. Candler, City Attorney J. L, Mayson, Councilman A. J. Orme, who had fathered the bond issue, and Superintendent Zode Smith, of the water department, took the matter under advisement. The provision of a coagulating basin and purification plant, they decided, could be met by a special tax of one-eighth of one per cent, but the real problem that seemed to defy solution was where to get the $250,000 that the two additional pumping engines absolutely needed would cost. As the bond issue had failed, there were no funds available that could be diverted lor this purpose, and without extra pumping capacity the improvements in Camp Gordon could not be made. As sufficient water could not be guaranteed with the existing equipment of the water works plant. Mayor Candler stepped into the breach and offered to underwrite the immediate purchase of the two pumps, the only proviso being that the city council pledge itself to see that the money be refunded next year, and so the difficulty was overcome. This patriotic offer of the mayor, which the council has unanimously accepted, saved the city of Atlanta from an unpleasant situation.