The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-11-04
MUNICIPAL MATTERS.
A Chat with His Honor.
Mayor Jennings Remarks ON the
Water Mains, Sewers and Street
Cleaning.

Mayor Jennings Remarks on the
| Water Mains, Sewers and Street
Cleaning.
A HERALD interloper was on the
point of crossing the City Hall
threshold, yesterday, as is his wont,
when our worthy Mayor alighted
from pb8ton in front of the build
ing and walked briskly in the direc
ton of Office No 2, on the ground
floor. An unusually pleasant ex-
preston upon the Mayors coun-
tenance as he said good morning
at once suggested to the astute re-
porter the possibility Of an inter
view, and realizing that to catch a
live business man when he is in
good humOr to talk. one must strike
while the irons hot, so to speak, he
precipitately followed His Honor's
retreatlng form and ere he was
aware sprung upon the unsuspect-
ing executive the following obserV-
alton as starter:
You have presumably, not failed
20 notice, Mr.. Mayor, that great
deal is being said at present in the
newspapers and elsewhere, concerns
ing the apparent necessity of our
extension of water mains as a sanl~
tary precauciOn; what is your idea
in regard TO that"
Il believe it to be one OF the best
sanitary measures that can be
adopted at the same expense, cir"
the Mayor replied. ALREADY we
have over twelve miles of piping
This is enough to supply the inhab-
itants of almost any Otner city in
the country Of the population of
this. but here we have ninety>twO
miles of streets, and it is big un>
dertaking to attempt to increase an
expenditure of $250,0O0, or there
abouts, which the works have al
ready cost, seven-fold. which would
be necessary to extend the mains
wherever needed. The work must
be done gradually, and my idea has
always been that a Special tax
should be levied on property i'm
mediately benefited - the funds
arising therefrom in one district
could be devoted to extending the
mains in another. AMI so
on. But no considerable
amount of this work can
be done with the general funds Of
the city, unless greater revenue Is
acquired, and there is no question
in my mind Of the injustice to tax
payers not Immediately benefited if
the general fund is used for local
improvements. There is one thing
in connection with this subject,
however, that is not generally
known. It is generally supposed
that all inhabitants on streets where
the mains are now laid take the
water in their houses, but tits is
not correct. Venture to say that
one-third of the residents on water
lines do not avail themselves of the
benefits of the City Greek water.
Some think they are too poor, and
few with whom have talked pre-
fer their old well water. So, you
see, a good many more could realize
its advantages with no more cost to
the city, if they Only would
"Will there be any further exteE-
sions of the mains this season."
"No, I am afraid not. Several
more were ordered by the City
Council, but it was afterwards
found that no pipe could be OBJ
tanned from the works where we
usually get our piping, before win
ter, and as the laying cannot DE
done proftably in cold weather, the
Council decided to countermand its
former order and 10 work will be
done before spring. After the rail.
roads began cutting freights, l was
ioath to let the opportunity slip OF
getting in a good supply of piping
at cheap rates, and telegraphed to
several other pipe companies, but
the answer came back that they
were all crowded with orders and
could not furnish any before Deem
Der or January. So that settled the
matter
"Mr. Mayor, you are credited with
being in favor of a system of sew
erage for this city. Is that correct -
queried the scribe.
Eyes, sir, / ana" smilingly re-
sponded His Honor. sat least, for
the thickly populated districts; but
it may be the people are not yet
prepared for the expense. In this
ease, the same as water. the expense
of the Improvement should be met
by a special tax upon property benz
Gifted; but I understand this can
not be enforced until increased
powers are given the city by legis j.
Iative enactment. I think a special
effort should be made to obtain the
needed legislation at the coming
session. So far as sewerage is con-
cerned, my views on that subject are
fully set forth in paper which l
prepared and presented to the City
Council last June. This paper is
now in the hands Of our sanitary
committee, together with other
documents relating to cost of Varl
Gus systems and benefits to health
that have been experienced in their
adoption. { think the general i'm
preston here of the cost CT sewerage
is greatly exaggerated. l am cred
ibly informed that the Waning