Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-02-17
They GnaW q File.

VI OuI cSleCulcu AeCPuul1SoA SOAsOh'PHAeS
ries to meet the real issues of the present
city campaign. Neither of them has yet
ventured to explain how it is that while
Stauffer's administration in four years,
piled SlG9. 800 increase upon the bonded
city debt, and left floating obligations
of so, 900, Mayor MacGonigle'S admin
istration in four years paid that S3O,0 900
of floating debts, and decreased the in
s.-bearing debt over $4,000, besides
'' making such valuable and costly per.
u.u,,ent improvements as the laying OF
three squares and Centre square with
Belgian blocks, macadamiZing of many
squares, paying street damages, erection
of new WOrthington pump, thorough
and permanent repairs of the eastern re
servoir, laying of new E.ains and many
other improvements in the water works
department. This difference of about
$40 900 in favor of the city, effected by
Mayor MacGonigle'S honest, efficient
and economical administration is to them
u stumbling block. They can neither
remove it. Quite naturally then they
| seek to eva,le the real issue, and, after the
manner of ancient hypocrites, strain ut a
gnat and swallow Il camel. They refuse
to concede anything of credit to an adj
| ministration which ON IN average was
worth 10 the taxpayers .S,iD 900 per year
more than Stautfer's, but are mucil eXer-
cised and troubled ut the report of the
superintendent Of the water works that
| he required 81 ,io9.39 worth more of coal
| than Supt. Ilalbacii 10 pump 10y steam
iO,, 40 .031 more gallons OF water into
the reservoir. This conundrum. which
affects our contemporaries so seriously,
seems to carry its answer on its face, for
obviously if iO2. 40, ,O31 more gallons of
water were pumped up, it is not :;trange
that 81 1898 more of coal would be re-
Quired, especially when it is remembered
that the coal used by IIalbach WIS fur
nShed to the city by contract at 8, 24
per ton. while that used by kitch cost
Oh an average S:;.05--a difference for
which, of course, Nitch was in no de-
gree responsible, but which will go very
far to explain the increase in the total
price of coal used. and t. illustrate the
re,g mnci' 'hcorti $"rricc az Mr ,r0tc.
,co,'ks mater Hitch Maa HalJarh.
The Wee Era seems to admit that the
reported service was cheaper Int dis
credits the report of it and intimates
that not 80 many gallons We're pumped
into tie reservoirs as are reported 70:
lSy'. Concerning this we need only say
that the means employed By kitcil to
Compute the amount of water pumped
into :i!- basins are exactly tho-e by
which ilalhach made his measurements
1t has been some eight months since
Supt kitch. in his REPORT to councils
said
The average uaiiy CONSUMPTION ui water
during Icy term was 1908, .0G gallons
Cur population l.; oj.SlG, making oar pc,
capita consumption 112 gallons. This is
exceeded by but one city in the United
States that We have statistics oi--Pitts-
burgh. In New York. Philadelphia, Chi
cago, Cincinnati, Boston, st. Louis ard !.
dozen other large cities, it is but e. gal
Ions per capita, on an average. In 81
large foreign cities it is but % gallons per
capita. Providence, X. l., with four times
the population Of Lancaster, uses bat little
more than We do. and the small per cap
ita consumption is accounted for by the
meter system Of charges.
That report WAS published Il: i.s, time
i, was made and its accuracy was never
before questioned. That this amoun. of
water was used cannot he gains.,id. Il!
is computed by the revolutions o.! the
Birkcnl,inc wheels and the automatic
register "i the WOrthngton engine.
The people no ,l0nht cons,,.n.:;l it
freely because they had an abundant
supply. The superintendent has no con-
troll over their consumption of il. Il is
his business 10 Keep the reservoirs full,
and ii. t" do this. he had to pump nearly
> ier cent. more per day than IIalb,ch,
the people ;.rc grateful for having had
t:iia abundant supply 1T ali increased
cost OF only 81 ,4S3.?S for coal, especially
WHEN in other detail; Of rHnning the
water works, a, is shown below, much
larger :;:t>inga than this were effected.
H. undertaking to explain this increase
81 waller supply and consumption, the
So" FL" would have been measurably
aided by This item, found, too, in Water
Superintendent kitch's report for 1880
During the year l52 i-inch ferrules ana
l-incm ;errule have been inserted. and one
4-iEcii connection, being I. greater number
ofnew rcntcrs ia ole year than We ever
had
And, corresponding witt, this increase
ST consumers, we find that the receipts
from water rents under kitch were ST.
,4l - mere than under UalbacL--or
three times as much a. the increased
cCSt Of coal.
Our contemporaries; inquire why there
was SO lnuch greater Use of the Wor.
;hington engine under Kitch and re-
latively less use Of the water pumps.
They could have found a ready answer
in the report OF Water Superintendent
kitch for 1850. On page 6j of The city
reports they could have seen that durins,
September, October and November one
Birkenbine pump could not be- operated
at all, being under necessary repairs !;
and that all during the months of June,
July, August and September the water
was very low and little power could be
Olf iNp1 for tIn ,votar ,,mnc n,rinu