The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-09-06
Water Supply.
To the Editors of the Dispatch

At the late meeting or the council, on the
3lst ultimo, little more light was thrown
on the report of the Water Committee.
With two members of the Council the
opinion expressed by the committee, that
our water supply can only be improved by
a new reservoir, seems to have been fore
gone conclusion. Fortunately for the city
many other members thought otherwise.
The reasons given in advocating the reser-
voir scheme by the two members of the
Council were somewhat novel, and equally
applicable to any other public undertakings.
We are told that on this reservoir we shall
be able to employ the numerous able-bodied
men who have been, during the last few
winters, supported by the city gratuitously
ut the public expense, or sent to the chain
gang by the Mayor. It is q new phase of
political economy to incur great public
debt in order to find work for able-bodied
beggars 1t would, methinks, be much
| wiser provision to see that those bands Of
able bodied beggars were not allowed to
burden the city another winter. 1t is well
known that the demand for labor in the
country exceeds the supply, and it is only
| in the city where surplus labor can be
| found. 1t would be much more behtting a
wise and just Government to give employ
ment to the many honest and Woodworking
men in our midst whom misfortune, and
| not idleness, have reduced to penury. BY
employing and feeding the former we offer
| Il reward to idlencss and crime; whereas,
| by employing the latter, We aid those who
are striving to get an honest living and to
obey the laws of their country. Napoleon
| has been quoted as high authority for en-
ploying able-bodied heggars on public
works. Nothing is more erroneous. Ma
polcon furnished work for the honest and
| industrious who were bvmislortune thrown
out of employment, and not for the idle
and dishonest. There is no character more
utterly vcontcmptible in the eyes of French
man than q beggar. There are poor men
in every country, but even in the lowest
classes Of France traveller will scarcely
ever see beggar or an able-bodied man will.
ING to live on charity. Nothing is more
striking than this in the French people
While England, Italy, and Spain, may
swarm with beggars, the traveller will fnt
scarcely one in France. 1t is absurd t.
suppose that Napoleon has found occupa'
ton for them. Honest pride keeps thu
Frenchman from begging, not Napoleon o1
the municipal government. To elevate {
people we must reward honesty and indus
try, not crime and sloth. Work done by
those who prefer the latter to the former
will always in the end be found most costly
and most inefficient.
If the Council wish to employ those able
bodied bcggars they will find abundant la
Dor in grading, paving, and repairing th'
streets, making and cleansing sewers, clean
inr out theriver, etc, etc. Why have the.
not been already thus employed? ? There il
abundant work in these for them.
The learned councilman proposes that tn
city itself superintcnds the construction o
the proposed reservoir. BY the city l sup
pose he means the Council, as the city cal
only oct through its officers. Judging from
the numerous changes made Of late in TIL
Council, if this work is to be subject 10 al
its different moods, and to be changed wit
every changing Council, it will be Il motle.
patchwork indeed, totally unfit for the en-
proposed, and will require second DaniC
to tell the Interpretation of the dream. Th
want of safety and efficiency in the multi
tude of councillors has been proVcrbia
from the days of King Solomon.
To conceal as much as possible the cost O
80 great an undertaking it is proposed tina
the thirty-twO acres which the city no.
holds near the present reservoir be mad
into a cemetery, and sold cut in small lotf
as they may be required, for the intcrmen
of the dead. The money thus realized wi
he sufficient, we are informed, to purchas
sixty-four acres where we could erect tn
new reservoir and have n park.
We cannot too strongly deprccate thi
scheme. Like all other American cities
Richmond will extend westward, and in
few years we may expect our prlncipG
streets to be built continuously out to Holly
wood. 1t will then be deeply regrette
that that beautiful cemetery is situated a
it is. Why, then, wish to extend it
Do we wish to circumscribc the cit
of the living by city Of the dead? Th
thirty-two acres will always be rs valuabl
as they are now, and to sell them to invcF
the money in other land does not increas
the wealth of the city. Those thirty-tw
acres hereafter will be far more valuabl
for mill sites than for sepulchres.
As to the sixty-four acres of which il
proposed to make park, it is ridiculous
speak of them as Il pcrh: If we are
have park at all worthy Of the nafncj le
the city purchase several hundred acres
Almost any quantity of land, for betwee
500 and 5000 per acre, can be purchase
within mile from the present reservoir
When the city railroad is extended so far
which it is expected to be before Christ
mas-thcre will be little difficulty for a
classes to reach 4. It is, indeed, to b
hoped that the City Council will neve
allow itself to be misled into such extrava
gance by such fallacious arguments as hay
been hitherto used by the advocates of til
great reservoir scheme. Our people are a
ready suffering too severely from thci
present burdens. There will be time enoug
10 build reservoirs and purchase park
when the necessities Of life are more easil
obtained Recent improvements in waite
works at home and abroad teach us thG
there is no necessity for the former; an
the larger the city becomes the easier wi
be the purchase of q park worthy of th
name. Until further, I am, sir,
Yours truly, RIcHMoSD.
! n nr-r ~ IN