Morning journal and courier., 1881-11-03
The Water Question.

evening to advocate the purchase of the rights and franchises of the New Haven | Water company by the city.
 At o'clock the main body of the hall was not more than one-quarter filled, while only gallery.
 The meeting was called to order by Ruel P. CowIes at 8:1O o'clock, who announced the following officers: President, Isaac Ander- son vice presidents, William B. DeForest, Lucien w. Sperry, John P. Futile, Johnson T. Platt Richard Peck, Edward Mccarthy, George H. Ford, Daniel c. Eaton, Edwin s. Wheeler, John G. Healy, John Ruff, $. B. Shoninger Herrick P. Frost, James P. Bar ker, James T. Mullen, William J. Atwater, Joel A. Sperry; secretaries, T. Attwater Barnes, Richard w. Meigs, Frank E Bush nell.
 Mir. Anderson, on taking the chair: called upon the vice presidents to take seatsaon the platform and two of the number responded. The secretaries were conspicuous by their absence.
 President Andersen, on taking the chair. made brief address, in which he spoke of the unanimity of the newspapers on this question and then proceeded to advocate the purchase, concluding by saying that he be- lieved in the purchase of the works, and also that he believed in paying the Water compa- ny all they were entitled to, and no more Professor Brewer was introduced. He said he was no public speaker, but he 1 thought he understood something about this stwater question" He then reviewed the formation of the present company and its advancement to the present time. He sad | that the present water company had secured all the rights and franchises to water sources ! within long distance of the city. He said he did not believe in the city controlling the bread of this city or the gas which lighted the stores and residences, as there was here a chance for competition; but on the question of water there was no chance. He believed that the city should own the water on principle. He did not know sin gle argument that could be advanced in favor of a Water company that could not be ap- piled to paving of streets and every other branch of improvement now under the city government. He did not believe, ,and did not I like to hear 1t thrown out, that a private cor | poration was more honest than city under republican form of government. If city could not be trusted then let the old system of toll gates and toll bridges be restored, l which everybody knows are not for the pros perity of the city or town. Wherever the | speaker said there was candid competition | then the people were benefited, but when a close corporation had the control l then the people suffered. He. had | nS fault to find with the present Water com pany, but what he feared was the future There was no reason while the stock IS in \ the market that it should not pass entirely | out of the hands of the citizens of New Haven While you find many cities out of debt, yet | hat | not the most prosperous and enterpr1slng. l | have found them without sewers, without ! good roads and otherwise showing dislike ! to material improvements. He said he advo- | cated this purchase because he honestly be- lieved in it, and if time was given there ! would be an overwhelming majority for the \ purchase. The professor paid his atten- \ tion to the newspapers and said he had no
 discussion with them although he had been \ nisrepresented by them. In conclusion he
 said that if the city of New Haven was too
 poor to buy the waterworks he felt very, | very sorry for them.
 | Judge Joseph Sheldon was the next speak
 CT. In opening his address he said there was good deal of talk about saddling grea
 debt on the city. Yet if the debt was to be- | come & source of revenue to the city, what ! was to become of the debt? We have been ' told that this debt was to be enormous on the \ start, but the committee of the Superior |
 company is supposed to do a shrewd thing, I and all I ask is that the shrewdness should | not be all on their side but part of 1t shall ! be on our side. They say we cannot manage ! the works economically Well I presume ! that the company can manage their owI \ affairs more economically for themselves, but
 cannot the city manage 1t more economically | for themselves? The School Board or any \ other board connected with this city has nev | CT been badly managed and why cannot the
 waterworks be judiciously managed?They talk
 about batch of office holders with the tax | payers to foot the bills. He read from a cir
 cular which he said had been freely distribu ted, intending to show the enormous expense ! to the city for running the waterworks, and
 said it ought to be pasted up alongside o1 ' other statements issued by the Water compa ny. The speaker then referred to another
 circular which had been issued in the inter ! est of the company, in which he said there | was a whole nest of 'woodchucks. J
 Judge Sheldon then considered the sum that ! private corporations would be willing to pay | for the franchise to sell goods of any and ev. | cry kind, and quoted Wheeler IE Wilson. ' | ''The Winchester Arms Co.," or many dry | goods houses. Proceeding, he said the only ! way for the city to make money from the purchase was to keep the company of oul
 backs. What is the difference whether you ! pay water rates to the company or pay inter. ! est on money? There never was
 a time when these waterworks could be | bought so cheaply. We can now | buy the works and borrow the money at
 per cent. and immediately have an income oi per cent. on our investment. What then k'is the of talking about debt under such \ circumstances? You can have this franchise
 for the asking, and they are terribly afraid
 that you will say, ''Well, guess we had bet
 ter have it." The judge then referred to the | danger of monopoIes in water or anything | else, and said it was not impossible that this | company might not in the future come into the hands of those who would seriously op-
 press the people with excessive water rates.
 Concluding he said the purchase by the city
 would be good trade, and the city ought to ! own them for their own benefit. It would ! tend to invite manufacturers to our city. | You are called upon to vote on this question | of purchase, and the only question is wheth-
 CT you will throw away the opportunity now
 afforded you. The judge dwelt at length up.
 on the disaster which would result from Van | derbilt or Jay Gould getting control of the
 works, although he took particular pains to say that the present board of directors were all honorable men. He thought the offer
 made by the Water company was so open
 that cart and oxen could be driven through
 it anywhere.
 I MT. Edwin F. Mersick presented the fol
 lowing resolutions, which were adopted:
 Whereas, In the year 1862, during the msyoralty
 Harmanus M Welch, the authorities of the city o
 New Haven, foreseeipg that public sentiment. wei
 public policy, would ultimately require that the
 ownership of the water supply should vest in the city
 did enter into contract with the New Haven Watel
 company whereby, for considerations isfactory tc
 the said Water company it gave to the citizens tho
 right to purchase all of its property franchises and | assets at basis of value then agreed upon and Whereas, That right is about to expire, and ths ! commissioners appointed by the Superior Court tc
 fix the valuation of the property, franchises and
 sets of the Water company under the terms of the
 contract have reported that the price be paid
 the city for them, if taken after deducting the
 water rates due payable Nov is about ST. 900
 which is less than one half the claimed by the ! Water company; and
 Whereas, We believe that cheap water rates are of paramount importance toward encouraging manu T featuring in city, and that nothing should be | levied from any class of the community to pay tt
 capitalists profit distributing water supply; | and
 Whereas, The present time offers chance to buy
 the waterworks without increasing taxation but with ! every prospect of reducing itsnow therefore
 Resolved, That in the firm conviction of the truth
 of these statements, appeal to fellow citizens
 of all denominations to seriously consider them and to unite together and work until the close of the polls on November Sth to secure vote in favor o | the purchase now of the waterworks.
 J. D. Plunkett was then called for and
 made brief address, in the same tenor as
 the preceding remarks On the conclusion of
 MT. Plunkett's address the meeting was ad- ! jourAed.