Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-03-03

To the Editor Of THE EVENING STAR.
In The STAR Of last Saturday there appeared
communication from capitol Hill" upon the
water question and In criticism Of previous
article signed Plumber. Capitol Hill should re-
member that abuse and vituperation are not
usually considered good arguments, and to
wlfully misquote the language of a writer
whom he is abusing does not look we'll for the
owner Of six ten thousand dollar houses.
Plumber did not make the statement that rs
per cent of all the supply is wantonly wasted
through defective water Closets" as Capitol
Hill misquOted but Plumber put it this way
ut is our opinion that Is per cent of all the
supply is want0nly wasted and Of this rs Der
cent Is wasted through defective water
closets" Now Is per cent Of Is per cent is GIG
OF the whole. and we are of the same opinion
still. Capitol Hill knows that Average houses
90 not cost ten thousand dollars each, and that
the average citizen does not live in ten
thousand dollar house with all the water pipes
protected from tine frost The average house is
one In which. in cold weather, the water
pipes will freeze unless the water is
Withdrawn or permitted to run to waste
Yet 1t is not so much the fear of freezing that
ruption through the dog days as well. Now we
are not surprised that the owner of so
many valuable houses. which may possibly be
situated on Capitol Hill and haven't seen drop
OF water on the first chamber floors since they
were built, should feel very sensitive about this
water question. Pumping water by hand or
taking it up stairs in buckets is not conducive
to amiability of disposition. Yet he should not
abuse those, who. in friendly spirit. are trying
To nave this wicked waste prevented. chiefly
for the benefit of Capitol Hill. If capitol Hill
will lend his energetic pen for the suppression
OF waste OF Potomac water In private dwellings,,
instead of abusing his friends, he NAV be able
TO take bath next summer without pumping
capitol Hilf' says, OF his six $40 600 houses,
THAT in not one of them Is there or ever mas
there been drop of water wasted, either
oy the Closets open faucets or leaky pipes" If
his houses are situated somwhere in the country
and the water service is by hand buckets, his
statement Is reasonable. If, however, the
houses are connected with Potomac water I'M
der pressure, he should have signed himself
"Anantas and Sapphira," after such q state
ment. Plumber did not say that we have $50
gallons per capita, as capitol Hir quoted him,
but Plumber did say we have about $50 gallons
per capita. Capitol Hill' takes the volume IN
the conduit for one day. and divides it BY $780,
600, with the result 143 gallons now this shows
our statement sufficiently accurate Yet If
Capitol Hili' had used as divisor number
representing only the population of the city he
would have shown a larger per capita use. or
waste. We do not see why he did not include
the population of the adjacent counties OfMary-
land. When Col Casey measured the flow in
June the river was low and the conduit was not
running it. fun average-and 1t is sufficiently
accurate to estimate that we have $50 gallons
per capita Capitol Hill' says there has been
loose talk about the largest water supply in
the world. etc. We do not know what loose
people he has been talking with but it looked
to us like an excuse for his dragging in the Ro-
man empire-it sounds so well. YOU know.
to add bit of ancient history. We do not own
six ten-thOusand-dollar houses. but we do know
somewhat about this waste of water. and we
know many instances of defective water closets
IN the yard or basement, which for wears had
prevented flow Of water TO the upper stories.
and recently. upon complaint by the owner of a
large house. that no water had flowed to the
second story since he had occupied it, we found
defective fittings ON lower floors, through
which thousands of gallons were running to
waste every day: the defects being remedied.
there was an abundant supply on second floor.
and similar cases are the frequent experience of
plumbers. Yet We cannot venture q modest
opinion without slandering and libeling the citi-
zens with our nonsense, as capitol Hill" sub
stantially puts it. For the walls of wrath sent
by Capitol Hill" we hope to give him fun
measures of water by preventing domestic waste
thereof and leave the larger theme Of the new
conduit or tnnnel with the engineers, who know
more about such things than either capitol
hill or A PLUMBER.