The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-12-22
Municipal improvements by Private
tnterprISe


The building of public works 10y pri-
vate enterprise has become so extensive
of late as TO call for some comment.
Within the last two years the number of
private corporations organized for the
purpose of constructing works for sup
plying water to towns. and in some in
stances for providing sewerage also. has
been extraordinary. Many az these com
panies claim To have an exclusive right To
some arrangement of detail or special
form of machine which they call the
Smith or Brown or what-Lot system"
Others again are simply contractors
ready To build any kind of works. All
are alike in one thing: they want TO fur
nish their own plans and do the work
without interference or dIctatIJn from
the property owners or officials of the
town they select for their operations,
and without being subjected to the Crit-
cism of an expert acting in the interest
of the public. In the case of a water
works they demand the exclusive privi-
lege OF laying pipes and furnishing
water and of collecting rents for the
same, and also a public rental for fire
hydrauts. There is a good deal to be said
in favor of this way of getting a water
supply or system of sewers. There are
a great many towns where water and
sewers are needed. bus sufficient capital
W OtltiNt WI NJ NdilAAON bC 10 CltAtL
into the operation. and the taxpayers
cannot he persuaded to vote in favor of
issuing bonds for the purpose. In such
cases an euterprlSing business man can
do both himself and the town a great
benefit by working up a scheme which
will assure supply of water to the town,
AZ small annual outlay of public funds,
for fire protection, the protector taking
the risk of remuneration 10y the sale OF
water to Individuals.
The danger lies in the tiimsy ana in
sufficient character of most OF the works
constructed in this way. One may be
pretty sure when man or firm calls the
particular speciality system" that
everything else v i'll be done IN the cheap
est possible manner, To insure the bulk of
profit Falling 10 the proprietor of the
specially. whether 1t be nip-, pump
a hydraut. or "A Stup-COC6. Ghe engineers
employed TO lay out the work tIf there be
any engineers at ALI are frequently
Young graduates, or even undergradu-
ates, of some school OF science. who lack
the Judgment and knowledge acquired
only by experience.
We have heard of several cases where
seekers for a privilege of erecting works
I have objected StrenuOusly TO having any
surveys on plans made 10y the town. ar
/ suing that IL was u useless expense, and
that they could do all that sort of thing
. cheaper and better than the town could.
This is all wrong. There never was
and never viii be contractor who
should be trusted 10 fulfill his obligations
without supervision from the other party
to the contract. The only safe and sure
plan for a municipality which has a
water supply under advisement, is To
either have plans prepared 10y an expert
enced engineer, OF - al least have all
plans submitted to such a one for hIs
criticism, and to have all work done
under the supervision Of an impartial eX-
pert. Even where works are not owned
by the town, but a frauch Sc merely Is
granted, the construction of the works
ought to he after specifications and under
supervision of an expert designated by
the public authorities. Leaks and bursts
in main pipes are a public nuisance, and
the insuring of the durability of the
works for water or sewerage for a long
time in the future Is of interest To the
public, who will he dependent on those
works long after the original projectors
have stepped down and ouJ.-Ncr l"h
.SGHitpTV Eu,tiRCeF.