USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Lancaster > The story of Lancaster, old and new : being a narrative history of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, form 1730 to the centennial year 1918 > Part 17
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After the sale, Councils laid out another street and which they named "Market" with the Hager store as its western boundary. With this ends the long drawn-out litigation running from 1798 down through succeeding years.
That the members of Councils were sensitive to criticism of their duties, may be seen from the following. At a meeting hurriedly called during the year 1857, came a resolution in defence of the honesty and integrity of councilmen. It was offered in Select Councils. "Whereas, it has been very generally alleged against the integrity of city authori- ties, in the purchase of material, and in doing work for the city, strongly implicating the Councils and those acting under them of furnishing worthless material at exorbitant prices, and in doing the most worthless kind of work at extravagant rates, that a proper regard for the municipal character of the city, and a proper sense of self respect demand the adoption of such decided action as will at once remove the disgraceful imputation so frequently cast upon the integrity of the city authorities;
"Therefore be it resolved that, after the passage of this resolution, no member of either Councils, agent, employee of the city, shall purchase any kind of material, goods, wares, lumber, or other articles, or to contract to do, make, execute or perform any kind or description of work whatsoever for the city."
This resolution was adopted unanimously by a rising vote. So much impressed was one member with a sensitive conscience as to cause him to rise
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and offer the following, "Resolved, that the Rev. Shultze be invited to open the proceedings of both councils with prayer." Sent to Common Councils for concurrence, it was voted down unanimously, showing that this body had not as yet become conscience-stricken! Glancing over the returns of the following election, nowhere could be found the name of the mover of the resolution to "open Councils with prayer," indicating that the voters were not in sympathy with Select Council's course of procedure. And yet, no good reason can be given why all corporate bodies should not be opened with prayer.
During the month of July, 1857, it was announced in councils that "the second reservoir built beside the first was ready to be filled, owing to the great scarcity of water to supply the city." At the meet- ing of August, so alarming had conditions become, as to make it necessary for the Water Committee to "contract with the 'Lancaster Locomotive Com- pany' for the erection of a steam engine and boilers of sufficient capacity to pump daily 1,000,000 gallons, and of one hundred horse power, to be placed in the City Mill at a cost not exceeding $7,540." This resolution was concurred in by Common Councils.
Along about this time the Water Committee was floundering round like a ship in a turbulent sea of uncertainty, with a scanty supply one day, and little or none the next. Whether an extra engine was placed in the station pumping 1,000,000 daily, no mention is to be found in the minutes of councils.
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What is well known at the present day is that over six million gallons are either used or wasted every twenty-four hours. But as the Conestoga River water has always been considered both a necessity and a luxury, in this one article of consumption economy is seldom practiced. Think for a moment how much water, and filtered at that, costing $55,000 annually is wasted by the running of but one spigot nightly. Then multiply the wasted gallons by such number of dwellers you may have in mind, and a tolerably fair estimate can be reached of how much is used, how much wasted unnecessarily. They say a "penny saved is a penny earned." The chronicler can only emphasize this axiom by saying that if you want your water rent reduced, cut out all wastes. Do not allow the spigot to be running all winter to prevent the pipes from freezing, or all summer to keep a few "catties" alive.
Among the failures of the panic of 1857 came, the year following, the "Lancaster Locomotive and Machine Manufacturing Company." For several years prior it had been one of Lancaster's most thriving industries. Nor were failures to end; for, about this time, there was at least one bank failure, bringing distress to depositors, with a cloud of suspicion on directors and officers. However, this was the first failure since the branch bank of Penn- sylvania went into liquidation. But how fortunate have depositors since been with but two possible exceptions. Nowhere in the United States are banks more prosperous than in Lancaster City and County.
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We are now to reach a measure of considerable interest to the people engaged in solving the problem of the passenger station. If reference has already been made as to the location of the present depot, no harm can be done by a repetition. At the December meeting of councils, 1858, an ordinance was presented to the Select branch by Thomas H. Burrowes, the ninth mayor, who succeeded John Zimmerman. This ordinance was "relative to the grant of certain property and privileges by the city of Lancaster to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in two sections:
"Section 1, Grant in fee simple the piece of ground at the North East angle of North Queen and Chest- nut Streets, whenever by a resolution of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, they will erect a Passenger station on the ground, and which resolution by said company shall be presented to the Mayor, with a clause that the grant shall be void if such depot shall not be erected within one year from the passage of this ordinance-
"Section 2-Grants the Company for the use of the building the privilege to build over the public alley between North Queen and Duke streets, at a height of twelve feet or more, and to cross said alley and Prince street, with such additional track or tracks, and at such points, with such directions and grades as the Company may divise, so as not to prevent the ordinary travel along said street and alleys."
The title of the bill being read, "it was agreed by three fourths of members present." And so
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Common Councils was informed. "This body re- turned the ordinance as having been concurred in as passed by the Select branch."
We have no means of knowing what action was taken by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, but as the depot was started and completed a year or two later, there can be no doubt that the ordinance was accepted by the company.
The chronicler has made diligent search through the Council's proceedings, to find if the ordinance contained a clause that the passenger station was never to be removed from its present location. In this he has not been successful. Some claim that such a provision is somewhere on record, but as for the narrator, in his search and research, it is not anywhere to be found in the councilmanic records. According to the grant, it was given in fee-simple without any conditions as to whether the ground was to revert back to the city at any time the depot might be removed. By referring to chapter five, the reader's memory may be refreshed as to what occurred between the Canal Com- missioners and the city and, later, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. At all times the minutes of Councils have been the narrator's only guide, with no opinion pro nor con as to where the passenger depot should or should not be located. If, then, what has been set forth will aid the Chamber of Commerce in finding a solution for the vexed prob- lem, the chronicler's time has not been altogether wasted!
Between the years of fifty and sixty, as has been
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said, the inhabitants were in a constant state of alarm, owing to the many fires breaking out, with a scanty water supply. It was only natural that various opinions should find expression among councilmen as to the cause of these conflagrations. By one member of the Fire Committee, it was openly declared that the great majority of these incendiary acts were to be charged to "irresponsible members of companies for the 'fun' of engaging in a 'free fight.""' This was no overdrawn statement. The difficulty was to catch the perpetrator with sufficient evidence to bring about conviction. That there were "irresponsibles" connected with this or that company is made only too clear by the Councils' minutes. But, as has already been said, the great majority were law-abiding citizens. Not a few had dedicated their lives to the cause which the volunteer department represented. The hose-house was their place of rendezvous, where not a few lingered night and day, ready to respond to a "call."
Plenty of men can recall the intense excitement which prevailed in and out of Councils when it was proposed to substitute the "paid" for that of the volunteer system. Of course, the chief oppo- sition came from these organizations, all-powerful at the time as political factors. For over a century they were as stable as the laws of the Medes and Persians, composed as they were of the bone and sinew of the townstead. Nor were doctors, lawyers and even the clergy above lending their names and influence, usually distinguished as honorary mem- bers, and liberally disposed in giving financial sup-
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port in addition to what Councils ofttimes dealt out sparingly. Whether this or that member of the "cloth" had ever engaged in a "free fight," is not likely. His duty was to officiate over the remains of one who had either fallen at his post of duty or as the result of a scrimmage. All honor to the memory of those who in years gone by were ever active in a good cause! And as for the present, "paid department," costly as it would seem, re- quiring an appropriation of $30,000 yearly, the expenditure is but a mere bagatelle when safety of lives and property are considered. All that is needed to make this department at all times still more efficient is plenty of Conestoga water.
At an adjourned meeting in 1857, came a message from the mayor, "favoring the granting one of the upper rooms of city hall to certain societies for literary and scientific purposes free of charge." The third floor was granted to the School Board for their meetings, and there they held forth until they went their way to the Administration Building. Many still recall the Linnean Society under the auspices of the late S. S. Rathvon, John Kevinski and others. It is a pleasure to recall the names of departed friends, is it not?
In the preface, written before the volume was started, reference was made to Lancaster's social life, its liberality in financing every charitable enter- prise, but when, or at any time in the town's history, has a grander outpouring been known than that which has crowned the efforts of the workers for the Red Cross Fund?
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From all classes, the rich and from others less well to do, has come a most generous response! And after this and the taking of the "Liberty Loan," who can say that the name Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is not on the map with a big "M"?
And as to Lancaster's commercial, industrial and financial enterprises, the great majority of our manufacturing establishments are only partly known to our people who seldom get further than along the four principal thoroughfares. If you want to see "New Lancaster" at its best, apart from its social life, enter the hundreds of workshops during the busy part of the day. In these industries you will find the bone and sinew of our town's prosperity!
Then watch the trolley cars as they unload their hundreds from every part of a great county! And not to forget the Automobile Association! The only objection the chronicler has against the auto owners is that they do not pay half as much tax as they should for stirring up the dust and wearing out the streets. But let us be patient, all-forgiving even to the "horn," the greatest nerve-destroyer that Lancaster has ever seen or heard! With love for all and malice toward none, this chapter closes.
CENTRE SQUARE AS IT APPEARS TO-DAY
CHAPTER XXII
NINE YEARS OF MUNICIPAL RULE OF THE MUCH- RESPECTED GEORGE SANDERSON
FOLLOWING Mayor Thomas H. Burrowes, who resigned to accept the position of president of State College, came George Sanderson, a most worthy elderly gentleman, well and favorably known for his conservatism in following the trend of many of his predecessors in letting well enough alone. He was elected in 1859, and held the office until succeeded by William Augustus Atlee in 1868 and who served two years under the new charter dividing the four wards into nine.
As a singular coincidence worthy of political note, during the nearly thirty years following from 1868 to 1900, when a change was made, it was from a Republican to a Democrat and vice versa. It was only after Mayor Shissler's term ended that a Re- publican was followed by a Republican down to the present year, 1917. These three decades, politically speaking, were the most exciting through which the city had ever passed. Following the conflict, with the return of the soldiers, the war-feeling which it had engendered became the more pronounced, lead- ing to a bitterness of feeling never since equaled.
Mayor Sanderson, the tenth in line, was sworn into office by I. Franklin Reigart, City Recorder, after
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he himself had taken the oath of office. As the manuscript from which the inaugural was delivered is quite lengthy, full of promises as to how the city ought to be governed, it might find place in the vol- ume had it differed from other state papers from the time of John Passmore down through succeeding years. Each seemed to be patterned after that of the preceding mayor's-the less the promises ful- filled, the greater the chance of a reelection.
For nine yearly consecutive terms, Mayor Sander- son had done the best he knew how at a salary of not over five hundred dollars per annum. But as the city, financially speaking, was as poor as himself, what he lacked in compensation was offset by the honor the office carried with it.
It would be untimely to measure all mayors by the same yardstick. Each in turn was subject to conditions over which he had no control. There have been years when little except a certain routine of duty was required. To pay an hour's visit to the station house, and then possibly go about his private business, seemed to be all the public service required. But within a few short years all has changed; the mayor has his duties to perform, and one of these is to be always on hand to meet those with grievances, or solicitors for help. And, as a rule, the mayor of every city is among the first to be called upon for help, help, help.
We cannot recall our present mayor's salary, but whatever it may be, it ought to be doubled. And as for the multiplicity of co-workers in the various departments of the public service, sometimes re-
NINE YEARS' RULE BY GEORGE SANDERSON 273
ferred to as "hangers-on to the public crib," there is not one who is not earning his salary.
Tax-payers are the most relentless people in the world. If given to smiling, this is suppressed on entering the treasurer's office. A good many will use the city water, or waste it with impunity, and all for about five cents a thousand gallons, and then growl at the exorbitant charge for the same!
Mention having been made of the city poor in years gone by is not intended as a reflection. Fi- nancially speaking, down to the close of the Civil War, the closest economy was practiced in all cities. And the city of Lancaster as a municipality was no exception. It will seem surprising when shown that at no time from 1855 down to 1868 did the receipts and expenditures from all sources wherewith to run the town government exceed fifty-one thousand dollars annually.
At the March meeting of 1865, the Finance Com- mittee presented the report for the present fiscal year as follows:
RECEIPTS
Tax of 90 cents per 100 on property value of $3,500,000. $31,500.00
Water Rent from Duplicate. 10,650.00
Water Rent from Pennsylvania R. R. Co. 600.00
From licenses, fines and forfeits 200.00
From Market Rents including arrearages 2,300.00
Rent of city property .
375.00
Additional tax in default of payment.
300.00
Refunded quota from County for bridges and road damages.
113.62
Balance in the treasury at close of year
1,682.79
Total amount of revenue. $47,721.41
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EXPENDITURES
1. To pay interest on Corporation Loans $20,443.72
2. To pay temporary loans .. 6,700.00
3. To pay for grading and repair of streets. 1,000.00
4. To pay lighting streets in winter and dark nights. . 3,100.00
5. To pay Fire Companies 950.00
6. To pay salaries .
5,297.00
7. To pay sum due Sinking Fund 600.00
8. To pay Water Works expenses 3,000.00
9. To pay abatement for prompt payment of city taxes. 1,250.00
10. To pay abatement water rent 350.00
11. To pay for collection of taxes 400.00
12. To pay night watchmen during three winter months for ninety days at $1.50 each night. 1,620.00
13. To pay contingences 3,010.69
Whole amount of expenditures during the
year 1865 was $47,721.41
Accompanying the report was the following: "Resolved that believing in and wishing to adhere strictly to the policy of limiting the expenditures to the appropriations in order that no deficiences may be created in any year to be provided for in the next, and at the same time deeming it but a measure of justice that the compensation of the city officials should be proportionate to the value of their services and the cost of the necessaries of life, it is considered proper that now at the com- mencement of the fiscal year, their salaries be perma- nently fixed.
"High Constable $500 per annum. Each of the four city constables, $400; Street Commissioner, $500; Superintendent of the Water Works, $600;
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Machinist, $500; Market Master, $200; Principal Regulator when employed, $2.50 per day, Assistants, $1.75; Lockup Keeper, $84 per annum; Night Watchman, $1.50 per night." Fortunately, no change was recommended for city officials, the total amount appropriated for these being $4,000. And yet, for positions there were then as now, plenty of applicants.
The whole corporate debt was $348,612.02
Sinking Fund . 49,367.06
Outstanding debt $299,244.96
A half century later, or in this year 1917, the receipts and expenditures for running the city government amounts to over $470,000, with a permanent debt of something like $700,000, the greater portion of which is to be charged to water and street improvements.
By the census of 1860 the population was, in round numbers, 17,000; today it is over 50,000. What, it may be asked, has caused this tremendous yearly increase of expenditures? Up to the close of the war, the city was at a standstill; as the report shows, few streets were opened. What are known as the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth wards were partially lying vacant. Since the sixties, forty or more miles of streets have been opened and macada- mized or paved either with belgian block, brick or stone. As all will remember who have kept in touch with the city's extension, a hundred thousand dollars had to be paid the county for the opening of streets, whether in justice, we cannot say. Then, a
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broken reservoir, too, added another hundred thou- sand.
But the greater amount of money expended since the year 1837 has been for water works improve- ments. To mention the amount annually voted during the past eighty years, would not serve any good purpose. However, startling as the sum may be if set forth in one item, we do not believe the people of Lancaster have ever regretted owning their own water works, nor will the time ever come when they will part with it to a private company. They will continue to bear their ills patiently so long as they feel they are getting the worth of their money, partly in filtered water, partly for industrial enter- prises. That mistakes have been made by experi- menting; others through bad management by councilmen without a thorough knowledge of re- quirements, all know.
In the olden days, as has been shown, men entered councils to keep down the assessed valuation as well as the rate to the minimum. Another word for those who usually vote "straight" and do the kicking on their way home from the poles! The great majority of all parties thrust aside their con- viction if they have any concerning municipal affairs on the flimsy pretext that their party organi- zation must be held together for state and national elections to follow.
Men enter councils for various reasons. Some consider it an honor, and an honor it should be to- day as in times gone by. Others use the office as a boost to something higher, and yet others to be
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able to say "I am one of the city fathers!" But why enlarge on what everybody knows. After all, the people of Lancaster should feel thankful that their city is governed as well as it is, considering that the life of a councilman is no earthly paradise, not- withstanding a few think it is and strive so hard for a reelection. In this also the chronicler knows whereof he writes.
As has been said, it is a "Department of Instruc- tion" all cities need. If teachers need be examined before elected to teach the young idea how to shoot "straight," why overlook candidates charged with the making of the laws for the welfare of a town's citizenship?
However, when the matter is summed up, and a reply from this or that councilman is solicited, his response is, "I have taken my cue from repre- sentatives and senators of the United States who will vote for every blessed measure conceived by mortal man, provided by so doing he can have in- cluded one of his own pet measures, a postoffice or maybe the widening of a stream in no way com- parable with our own Conestoga."
Our Congressman, the best Lancaster County has ever had, has done wonders; and the only thing he has not yet undertaken is to have our Conestoga widened and made navigable clear through to the Chesapeake. But during these war times, it may be best that this important project be deferred, and for the reason that it would not be conducive to one's peace of mind to see a German submarine landing at Reigart's Landing! So, let us be thank-
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ful for such blessings as we have, clear water with all the germs removed.
Again, what is lacking in our councils is closer relationship between the legislative and the ad- ministrative. It was Mayor Carpenter who, in a message to councils, complained of how little influ- ence he had with councils.
Apart from the same views expressed by a later mayor, for a good many years the chronicler has been looking forward to the time when the Suffra- gettes would enter the halls of councils to take up the work of good local government, but seeing what a mess the "Lady from Montana" has been making in the Lower House at Washington, it may after all be well to let matters rest instead of running the risk of going further and faring worse!
Glancing thoughtfully back over the assessed valuation of 1865 we find it to have been but $3,500,000, with the tax-rate 90 cents on the hundred dollars, the highest ever known. But think of only a $3,500,000 property valuation! Evidently the assessor was abroad. In glancing over the list of assessments the minutes show that properties in the business parts of the city were assessed so low, compared with what they are today, as to cause one to wonder why such a condition should ever have been tolerated. It is not so many years ago, how- ever, since Lancaster had its Board of Assessors under an act of the Legislature. But mark the result! An examination brought out the glaring fact that this Commission, while putting almost every- body's up to the top notch, had accidentally for- gotten to raise the valuation of their own properties.
NINE YEARS' RULE BY GEORGE SANDERSON 279
But what, it may be asked, is the remedy? There is only one town in Pennsylvania in which the people do not have to bother themselves over property valuation or the tax rate! They live along in their own quiet way, leaving the town's owner do for them what the voters of Lancaster cannot do for their own best interests.
The town to which the chronicler refers is Hershey, better known as the "Chocolate" town, in which the dwellers bask in the sunshine of contentment, and, what is to them a blessing, they do not have to worry over either the tax collector or the ward assessor. It is a great pity that, when James Hamilton laid out our town in 1730, he had not the foresight to become sole owner of the town himself instead of turning it over to his paid agents to have town lots sold either for ready cash or on the ground- land plan to every "squatter" that might happen to come along with a few pounds, shillings and pence! Oh, it is dreadful, isn't it, my poor, over- charged taxpayer?
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