The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-03-16
A., TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH Is, 1915.

are lit By the police, IL seems best to l0dg
this power in the hands ef this officer as
matter Of convenience. The revenue fTor
this department has been already stated q
$4,000. OF this sum S34,S03 were paid ini
the public treasury, and the residue, is &C
counted for by the gratuitious supply to th
tpubiic officers, buildings, and Streets No
She least gratifying feature of thc. ADMINISTERS
tfon Of this department is the faithfBlness will
which the collection of the bills Is enforced
DnFiDg the yerr 90, 440 bills, calling fe
Sfs5,S1S, were made out. The unco!lectet
portion amounts to but S4l2y or abou
twcniy-four cents ID every hundred dollars
The. delinquency has been reduced Oye]
eighty per cent iE four years. H,1
The, following tsble will show tie chic
| Items Of interest In the statistics Of this de
partment for the past two years: -1,3
-ss. 1873. 1STln.
Coal. capbontzed (bush- ii. =
Gas produced q reij..... sE35GsOO s2.39o, 500
Public consumption ift) R7,30R77S 15. .929,4S4
PrlYate' consumption
Paid for coal. ........... f75g74 45S, i 90
Paid for other expenses 81 ,529 SS.6l
Received from coke, &c. 11,433 9,04a
Received from'gas...... 161721 16737S
This table is chiefly Interesting, as show.
ing that the improved financial condition OF
the works is, not owing to increased con-
sumption, bug 10 economy in management.
Excluding construction accounts and inter-
I est on capital, each thousand feet OF gas pro-
duced in 1879 cost S1.9S, each thousand in
1874 cost SLIP to manufactupe-a gain Of 26
cents per thousand. .s......l.-,
The propositioa still furtheRto reduce the
price of gas because the city is at least getting
fair interest on her investment. will, pre-
sumo, receive litse favor at the hands of the
Council. If the record Of the works from
their introduction were examined it would
be fouEd that so far from the city being in
debt to the gas consumers, the latter were
under heavy obligation to the public at
large, from whose united contributions the
works were built aud maintained. ~
Moreover, if the principle is just one it
should be extended to the water supply, and
the result would be that the wal con-
sumers, who are in the main the gascon-
sumers, would lose a dollar on their water
rates for every dime they would save on their
Sas-bills. The revenae lights the streets and
public buildings, which are used by all and
the surplus Iightens the burden of general
taxation borne by ALL
WATER.
No branch of the city service demands at
this time more consideration at the hands OF
the Council than the matter Of water sup
ply; and ! beg to call your attention to a
few Escts which the official report and my
own experience, in common with that Of the
citizens generally, furnish:
In the first place, the superintendent re-
ports that the consumption of 1874 exceeds
that Of 1878 nearly hrenty Jfre per cent :;
nevertheless it will be observed that the iu-
crease of rents was less than SeUen per ceDt.
In the next place the waste OF water is so
fa,t-grow wing an evil that while the pumping
in August, when the use and evaporation
are 1T their maximum, was Ill ,G00,O00 gal-
Ions, the pumping in January, when they are
at the minimum, was 1lGSl4. 900.
Furthermore, it is unhappIy within the
experience of hundreds Of our citizens, that
even with this large distribution, amounting
to an average per day of siXty-lve gallons for
every man. woman, aud child in the city,
whether waler-takerS Or not, it is often im-
possible TO get anything like an adequate
supply from their bydrants, especially lnte-
rior ones, and often times for long periods
impossible to get sny supply at all.
A resulting and, in my judgment, very
serious evil is this. The policy of this city
for years has tended to compel the construc-
ton of water-ciosets within the houses.
Wherever this is the case, and an abundant
supply Of water is not furnished. pest
house is erected in the midst Of the family,
the most fatal (as modern medical theories
declare) oil all sources of disease-one to
which the feebler constitutions are espe-
cialy susceptible. (Does this tend to ex.
plain the extreme inflntle dcath-rate in
Rchmondt)
Again, attention is called to the very ex-
travagant waste Of water as illustrated by a
simple but conclusive experiment, although
the result is out uu approximation. On the
10Th Of October, the reservoir being full, he
pumps were stopped, and the consumption
from f 4. NJ. to 7. NJ. measured 2,lG4,932
gallons. The consumption for the following
twelve hours of night measured 1,S03,077
gallons in other word., the night cOnsump-
ton was eighty-four per cent. Of the day con.
sumption. The draught was nearly Is great
when the people were asleep and the factories
closed as when the consumption was at its
height. Finally, the Superintendent cuter-
tains great doubt whether the pumping
mower. reinforced as it has been during the
past year Dy large steam pump and tur-
biue-w heel. will ill the new reservoir rs well
Us the old.
Omittiug the last as conjectural difficulty,
the others resolve themselves into two ques-
tions-one OF supply, The other OF profit. l
think an examination will show that the
main cause of inefficient supply is not the
lack of head in the reservoir, but the made
quate capacity Of the pipes.
oir 0eGer-
mined the use of even larger pipes in Rich
mond than are usual: First, the frequent
almost constant, impurities in the water,
which could not but result in large internal
coating to the pipes, and consequent dimi-
mutton of their capacity; and secondly, the
necuIiar conieuration of our city. When q
water.pipe with o sharp descent joins one
nearly horizontal the greater velocity I'D the
inclined arm when it is opened by a
running hydrant drains the more nearly
level norton faster than it can I'LL.
Neither consideration seems TO nave
influenced those Who originally l3ld Tue
pipes; and to-day, after many changes suo.
stitutiug large for small pipes have oeeh
made, Of the 240, ,272 feet of Wa'er-pipe ID
Richmond. ranging in diameter from Il 10 -
inches, 11S $40 leet are OF four incneS ana
under, and about 10000 feet, or one-twen'y'
fourth of the whole, of one and bait lncheS'
Unfortunately, some Of the smallest pipes
are found in localities where the larses'
should have been placed.
A systematic substitution of larger pipes
in proper places should, think, be carried
on as rapidly a. the means at the control o.
the committee will permit.
There remains the question of income
from the works. l endeavored to obtnr
some statistics from other cities in respect Il
the matter of changes and the scale OF prices
lut haye not information enough to y1arYan