The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-09-06
Water Works..Why Not:

III brings HeaiIIl, coIuioftp cleahii-
ness, contentment and happiness to
the home Its absence-even its
scarcity-upsets the household and
disturbs the whole machinery of life.
Men hunt spring and build a
home by it. That spring determines
the location of the house, first and
foremost. 1t may he in hollow or
on a steep hillside, or in some other
odd place that will make the travellers
ask, What did that man build there
for?"-but the spring explains the
situation.
So towns and cities spring up
along the water-courses only. An
abundance of good water is the first
consideration and the highest recon-
mendation to a town. We might
as well attempt to have a harvest
without rain as population without
water.
Water works would add immensely
to the comfort and convenience of
life in Morgantown. They would be
a boon, which, if once possessed, the
population would value more than
all the other conveniences of the
home.
But, 1t will be said that we have
plenty of good water in Morgantown
every man has bis well from which
he pumps an abundant supply of pure,
cold water just as he needs it-what
more is wanted?
1t is all we'll enough to be satisfied
with what we have if we can't get
anything better. 1t is very easy for
man who has always been accus-
toned to an oil lamp to think it the
perfection of light. But the man who
has been accustomed TO gas, abom-
mates the oil lamp. So, too, the man
who has been accustomed to go into
any room of his house and turn on
hot and cold water, with finger and
thumb, in the first or the fourth
story, in the kitchen or the bedroom
to Jump into a bath-tub of soft water
of any temperature he likes, hot or
cold, at any hour of the day or night
to have these hot and cold streams
of soft water in the kitchen sink, in
the wash basin, in the bath tub, in
the garden, on the lawn, or at any
point in the house or about the
grounds-for man or woman, we
say, to be accustomed to these things
and them have to fall back on an
old pump whenever alter was wanted
would, to say the least, make fuss
in the family-Me aVomen couldn't
stand IT,
But how can we have this great
convenience in Morgantown?
Easy enough.
Set an iron tank, of sufficient ca
pacity, up on the hill above town,
lay mains to the river and through
two of the streets of town, pump the
tank full of water and then all will
have water who choose to tap the
mains.
That's easy enough but how much
will it cost?
About ten thousand dollars. And
that's easy enough, too.
Let the town issue it's bonds fol
ten thousand dollars, running ten
twenty, thirty, OF forty years. 1t is
not much matter when it pays them
or if never There will always be
plenty of persons who want the bonds
at four, five, or six per cent. interest
!, One thing is certain, this generation
need never pay anything more thar
, the interest. Subsequent generations
who reap the benefit of the works can
if they choose, when the population
has doubled or trebled, pay off thu
, principal and not feel it.
The only question for us to deter
mine Isl Would the water works b.
worth to us the interest ON ten thous
and dollars--say four, five, or sil
hundred dollars a year?
, Let taxpayers ask their wives
about this. We venture to say tber,
is not woman-a housekeepcr-il
Morgantown who would not be will
ing to save her husbands tax ont o
her own pin money for this grea
convenience. We would pay thi
o water-tax more cheerfully than an,
= other public demand.
1t is but mere picayune.
The people Of Morqantoaon pa.
more than the interest on ten thouS
! and dollars for haring water haule'
from the 7icef
This is no exaggeration. We cal
on John Edwards old blind horse t
verify the statement That old hors
4 earns, on an average, about SO pc
: day, from few householdcrs Of tn
town, or at the rate of 5000 veal