Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-03-01

meeting, protesting against the resolution be-
ing taken as expressing he views of the peo-
pie of ClarksviIle, ~ it was in no sense a pub
lie meeting. Nor was it. II was not called by
public notice OF any sort, but by private
written Invitations sent by tho original
promoters of the scheme. Our own invita-
ton did not specify what was the purpose
OF the meeting; and, when it was assembled,
il consisted mainly of the original promo
tiers, though it is true that a very few oppo-
nents ofthe scheme were present, who, like
ourselves, did not vote when the motion
was put. Ii they had, the vote would not
have been unanimous. We have no right
TO say why these gentlemen did not vote,
but presume that their reason was the same
as ours, that they did not consider che meet
ing authorized TO speak for the people OF
Cla ksville. As for our acting as secretary,
ssTax-payer" surely knows the usage of pub
lie meetings to appoint any members of the
press who may be present secretaries in or
der that the proc ceilings may appear in the
papers, and that such a procedure is never
taken as indicating the private opinion of
such secretaries. And here we must drop
Taxpayer at least until he drops his in
cognito. Declining, however to allow him
20 state our position for us, We now state il
ourselves.
We were, as we stated above, q measured
supporter OF the general proposition Of
water-works for GAINESVILLE until the con-
tract was published which was made with
Mr.. Daniel by the Board of Councilmen.
Since that no word has been published by
us In its favor, but we never openly opposed
il until we learned where it was pro-
posed to procure the water. Since then we
have been and shall be its infiexibie OPP
ponent so long as that location is adhered to.
We now come to the communication of
Mr.. Travers Daniel. We ind it necessary to
make a personal statement before examin-
ing il. 1t appears from n few words he adj
dressed 10 us yesterday that he considers
himself personally aggrieyed By our article.
We have only 10 state IN answer to that,
that we do not know Mr.. Daniel personally
in the matter at all. He comes here on bus
mess, as other business men do, to make
money here; in advancing this purpose he
makes with the Board as good a contract as
he can for himself and the stockholders and
yielding as little as possible TO the city. This
Is only what was to be expected, and If the
Board have made a bad trade for the city, as
We think they have, that is their fault and
not his. We deal, then, not with him, but
with the project, which, by the by, Is not a
private one but public one, for il can only
be carried out by means of powers granted
by public body, and it certainly affects the
public welfare in a very large degree. We
therefore deal with his project and not with
him, but if he suppoSes that we are bound
10 refrain from criticising that for fear Of
offending him, then he largely differs with
US as 10 the duties of public journalist.
He complains that we have criticised his
scheme without investigation, and 70 that
purpose says that he does not AnoY that we
have been to the spot since he began opera
lions, at least b fore we wrote the article he
objects to ; and why should we7 We were
informed that it was at the foot of Commerce
street, and that Is all we should have asccr-
tanned if We had gone there, and it was
enough to convince rs of the insalubrity Of
the arrangement. 1t Is true that we called
that part of the river the puhlic wharf,
which was, strictly speaking, G misnomer,
though Il is Il place frequently used as q
landing for boats, and in any case the mis-
homer, If il was one, has no bearing what
ever upon the sanitary aspect of the qUes-
ton.
We did, however, inadvertently mls-state
the distance from the saw-mill at so yards,
when it is probably over two hundred, or
as Mr.. T. says, over three hundred; a dis
lance which does not materially affect the
question, especially rs in stream as swift as
that OF the Cumberland the deposit of NOR
biflc matter would probably be more album
dant at that distance than at nearer point.
Besides, along the whole distance of the riv-
er bank where it skirts the city the stream
is constantly receiving the drainage from
Front street and those streets perpendicular
to 1t which descend through its VIII lie
length from all parts of the city and to con-
vince us that any part of the stream can be
exempt from the contamination of this
mass of filth would iequire more science
than Mr. Travers has SO far manifested in
his structures. The stream of Cumberland
river Is crossed and recrossed by currents in
every direction, varying in direction with
every stage of water; and the bottom of the
river is probably more permanently affected
than any other part by the organic deposit
in the form OF mud. But he takes Galiows
Hollow under his protection he says if this
is an objection then SO is every nill drain
ia the river from South Clarksyllle. Well,
so it is only We picked out G8llows Hollow
as furnishing the biggest end filthiest drain
of all. We viii reeapitulate the points in
which We compared it with the Bayou Gay
oso at Memphis: 1t is dry during cOnSid-
cradle portion Of the year, during which
large quantities OF filthy deposits are balk-
ing ia il during rains these are washed in
to the river az varying rates of velocity ac-
cordiug to the c0pioUsness of the rains and
again at overfiows It forms large, stagnant
lake in contact with the river for conside-
rable portion of its length, which allows
plenty of time for the whole river to ce con-
tarninated by It; and it is futile to say that
the current will keep this on the bank of
the river, for just at.the poiat where II en-
tiers the river the railroad bridge aBG the
slluvial accumulation just above 1t divides
its stream into an endless diversity Of cur
rents and nobody cen tell wl-rc the poliut-
ing substances are carried.
In conclusion We give Mr.. Daniel the adj
vantage Of his proposal:
The water company believe tibet their
present location Of thg pump house Is the
N,.ry- best thar is offered hut desiring to meet
more than half way the wishes OF the good
people Of tlaT5IsvliiC and especially prOspec-
tive consumers OF water The writer proposes,
outstanding the fact chat he ha, expeu-
ded 500 in work on the present location,
rhvt he will change the location oIthe pumps
10 kc!log-iS blUff, which II above ali drains,
and where the current comes directly across
from the other side of the river, provided
some assurance is given that such a change
OF location viii satisfy and set at rest the
unanSwerable prciudices against the works,
aud Ayonld be glad TO receive expressions
Of Opinion. ON the matter in person.
TKAvERs DANIEL.
In answer 10 this we caa 0aly speak fol
ourselves. that by such removal, site for
procuring water would be adopted, as little
Objectionable as any we know Of within
reach OF Clarllsy lille. Some of our medical
friends. however. differ with us upon this
point.
z. :. We omitted &C aasger the proposal
that we should analyze the water Gron The
river at the point in question this we de-
cline for several reasons of which we will
only state two: the present season is less
conducive to such pollutions than any 9TH
er the streaI,l is moderately fall and there
being bat little rain there is but little drain
age into it. The dangerous seasons we con.
ceive to be those when there Is an overflow,
placing the river in communication with
large expanse of hack water, and when it Is
very low, placing the surface quite near
mass ofdecompoaine mud. And for sec
mn r-fx- an. "a btfSfaag FNPT