Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-11
Price Four Cents
The Water Question.
What Some of the Prominent Citizens of New Haven Think About It.
 From the Sunday Register.1

| What Some of the Prominent Citizens of
 New Haven Think About It.
 l From the Sunday Register.l
 Hon. James E. English is opposed to the 1 purchase of the waterworks by the city. To | purchase would compel the city to go into l debt and many hundreds of thousands of dollars of bonds would have to be issued. ] Individually he does not believe in getting l into debt. In his own private affairs he ] avoids debts, and he thinks contracting debts l is a bad practice as an individual He thinks the proposition brought forward by the Wa ter company and laid before the Board of Aldermen Friday evening very fair and &C., ceptable one. Even without that proposition l he would have opposed the purchase, but now the reasons against purchase are great l ly strengthened. To show how city owner | ship of waterworks may be carried on, he l tells of two houses owned by him in Brook | lyn, N. Y. During the past year the houses l have been unoccupied, but nevertheless the
 Governor was compelled to pay $57 ooGter rent on the two unoccupled houses. Brook l lyn collects water rents even from vacant l lots, but then it owns the works l A. 0. Wilcox, the well known merchant on
 Chapel street, is teetotally opposed to the purchase of the waterworks. He thinks the l proposal of the Water company a concession
 that covers and silences all causes of com l plaint. He owns real estate in Washington, | D. C., and has had to pay water rents on un- | tenanted houses. Washington owns it's wa l terworks. Mir. Wilcox is of the opinion thai | in the event of a purchase by the city the l waterworks would be run by political ring | appointed by the Legislature and instead of being self sustaining they would become 8 I burden on the taxpayers. Instead of going l voluntarily to the water office to pay dues as now, MT. Wilcox thinks that the poorer
 classes would find the water tax collector coming after them for taxes before great while elapsed after the purchase by the city. Colonel A. H. Robertson said: There are three things contained in the proposition of the company which satisfies me that the city ought not to vote for the purchase. They agree not to raise the rates, and the opportu- nifty for the city to buy at fair valuation is left entirely open. In my opinion that set
 ties the question as to how the city will
 vote. Of course they will vote against the
 purchase
 The Triumph of Cats.
 [From the New York Timss.l The world has been slow in learning the
 uses of cats. The ancient Egyptians used
 them implements of religion; but, like
 other people, they never put them to any
 practical use except in connection with
 mice. Of course, cats have occasionally
 been made to do service in the shape of al
 legged stewed rabbit and veal pie, but 1t can-
 not be properly said that the cat is a useful
 table animal. Few people, if asked What
 is the cat good for ?' would return any intel igent and serious answer. It has been re- served for an American scientific person ifs the present year of grace to discover that cats may be made of inestimable value in protecting buildings from lightning and that this is undoubtedly the true object of the cats existence.
 It cannot have escaped notice that cats are never struck by lightning. All other animals are liable to death from this cause A large number of horses, COWS and sheep are annual ly killed by lightning. Dogs, pigs birds and even fish are sometimes struck by the cleo trio bolt, but no one has ever seen a cat that died from stroke of lightning. It is as we'll established as any scientific fact can be that the cat enjoys unique and total immunity from lightning, and times without number when the electric fluid has struck house and prostrated room full of people, the family cat lying on the heart-rug has not had 8 hair of her tail injured. It is also well es- tablished that lightning never strikes the back fences of city houses. It may strike steeples and chimneys, it may fall upon horse carriages and dog-kennels, but 1t never touches back fence. There must be req versity of West Virginia, has discovered the reason.
 The fact that neither cats nor back fences are struck by lightning indicates a close rela- tion between the two. It suggests that eith- CT the fence protects the cats or that the cats protect the fence Prof. Schmidt, in inves- tigating this matter, demonstrated to his com plete satisfaction that there is no self-pro- tecting power inherent in back fences. He found that a spark from Leyden jar could be passed directly through any back fence, and on one occasion, having placed a section of back fence on the top of a house, he &C., tually saw it struck and totally destroyed by a thunder-bolt. It was thus made reasonably certain that the immunity from lightning enjoyed by back fences is due to the cats which constantly infest them, and cats never struck by lightning 1t follows that there must be something peculiar in their electrical condition.
 Now; everyone knows that cat is simply full of the very best quality of positive cleo tricity If she is rubbed little ln the dark, the electricity streams from her in a shower of sparks In this respect she differs widely from all other domestic animals. You may take pig or horse or COW into the din ing room closet and rub it for hours but it will not give out spark. The electricity of the cat being positive, it is of the same quail ty as the electricity of the clouds Electricians assure us that electricity of one kind is never attracted by any object charged with the same kind of electricity. Thus, house, 1n order to be struck by the positive electricity of the clouds, must be charged with negative electricity, and if by any chance it is full of positive electricity it is perfectly safe. It is the positive electricity of the cat which ren- ders that able animal safe in the severest thunder storm. The positive electricity Of the thunder-bolt slides off the cat as easily and safely as rain from the back of duck. The liehtning of the clouds may aim at a cat all day. but it cannot hit her, and wherever the cat may be she will protect her lm1nedl- ate neighborhood from lightning not only as well as, but far better than any lightning rod.
 This is the reason why back fences are never stuck by lightning. AS a rule they are hardly ever free from cats. Prof. Schmidt has made calculation showing that every cat protects surface, the square root of which is equal to three times the length of the cat including the tail As average full grown cat measures IS inches from tip to tip, she protects surface of ?, 91G square inches, or a section of back fence 54 inches in length Thus, three cats and small kit ten, arranged at equal intervals from one another, are ample sufficient to protect the back fence of an ordinary city lot from light ming, and as an average of twelve cats to back fence is always to be found, we need not wonder that our back fences are safe.
 If we substitute for the lightning rods which are supposed to protect our houses, but which rarely do protect them, a quantity of cats disasters from lightning will be un- known This work of protecting houses is the true mission of the cat. The animal at whom we aim boot jacks and bad language when we find her perched on our roof IS really rendering an important service for which we owe her a heavy debt of gratitude. Since Prof. Schmidt has made his grand dis covery of the protective power of cats we may expect to see complete change of pub lie sentiment in relation to them Our in surance companies will insure no houses which are not well provided with cats. On the roof of every house will be placed cat kennels with constant supplies of milk and tender mice, so as to make home attractive to the cats. The aim of every householder will be to have his roof fairly blossom with cats, and the more he can induce to reside on his roof the safer he will feel and the lower will be his insurance pre- mium The day of triumph for cats has been long delayed, but it has come at last. Here after whenever a thunder storm is in prog ress we shall find men and women sitting with their arms full of cats, and invoking blessings on the only. sure protection against the bolts that laugh at hghtning-rods and mock at feather beds.