The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-07-31
ECONOMY" Answered--The Water
Mesers not Just the Thing After
ali. ~ ,o-o
WHEELING, July 20, 1876.

Editors Of the Register.
A correspondent in your issue of the
18th seriously advocates the introdue
ton of we'll arranged system of measur-
ing the water which is used in our city.
He expects to arrive Al a perfect system
through the means Of water meters, es-
tablished in every house and mauufac.
tory, or wherever their is hydrant, l
suppose, SO that all alike, "pays their
money and takes their choice" OF either
much or little as the exigencies of the
case demands. The writer claims much
for this new scheme, to the people here
about that is good on paper. but when
you get down to its practical working 1t
might pan out something like the old
mans plan, who satisfactorily demon
strated to himself that there were mil.
lions in vast henery, on the very plaus-
ible theory that if one hen lays so many
eggs q month, three or four hundred
thousand would lay as many more. But
in the experiment he made the important
discovery long before the first thousand
hens were ready for business, that tho ratio
of eggs did not hold out, and SO after
much trial and vexatlon of spirit, with
out counting the loss of time and dollars
invested, he abandoned the project.
l take it, that the use of the water
meter is but an experiment yet, and has
far from proven the great cure.all and
save-all in tho few cities which have at
tempted its utilization. l have heard
some gentlemen say that il, so far, has
been a failure. That the frequent and
sudden checks in the waters mo-
ton. under the heavy pressure
that must always exist, soon
inju res the recording machinery to such
an extent that it becomes entirely unre-
liable and worthless for the purpose in
tended. If this great difficulty could be
surmounted beyond all doubt, then your
correspondents prediction that every
man would only pay for what he used,
and economy would ensue," would likely
be verified, particularly the economical
part OF it, which / cannot but think is
the very Objectionable part, after all. For
with an abundance of good clean water
we are more apt to keep the body clean,
to keep the system clean, to keep every
thing clean, in fact that valuable scrip
tural INDUCTION, that cleanliness is next
to Goodness will be the more scrupu
lousy remembered and obeyed. Unfor-
tunately there are some persons WHO do
not always remember the INDUCTION when
they should, even with the present facill-
ties for doing so, what then
would be the probable state of
affairs with this class, who would
be restricted by the fear OF having TO pay
for every drop of water they used.
Might their not stencil arise that would
even cause the man IN the moon rs he
he passed over the city, to hold his nose,
because of the wonderful economy OBJ
served in the use OF water. But serious.
ly, might not the health Of the city be
impaired; tho death rate frightfully in
creased, or dozen other evils, any one
of which might be in6Ritely worse
than the extrsvagant use of water?
/ think, your correspondent to the
contrary notwithstanding, and so proba-
bly, will most citizens think vino give
tho matter any consideration, it would be
far preferable, if the alternative ever ar
rives, Of less water or moro expense, to
freely give our consent TO extra cost and
pitch the water meters To the dogs.
HEALTH.