Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-06-14


Asheville, N. c., in q few days.
Mr.. Crane and the Water Department.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
TIE STAR Of the It'll instant contains what
purports TO be a report from Capt. Lusk and
Mr.. Hayden on the business Of my claim of
$4,000 for services rendered the District and
United States by exposing errors in street
sweepieg vouchers and overcharges in the cost
Of laying water mains, in which those gen.
tlemen are reported as saying that they
are not aware that 1 ever rendered
the District any service, or that anything I
water mains ever did any good. am not sur
prised that said gentlemen should talk as they
do, se q report favorable. to the undersigned
would be reflection upon themselves.
What puzzles me is why the Commissioners
should have submitted the matter to them at
all / cannot conceive Of any greater farce
than referring charges to the parties implicated
and taking their opinions against official rec
ords as evidence.
Both gentlemen remain silent concerning nv
charge that it cost four times as much for the
labor expenses Of laying six-inch water mains
in 1887 as 1t should cost. Mr.. Hayden, by his
own admission, had charge of the laying Of
water mains at that time. viii he please in
form the public why he made it cost, as shown
by his own report. $50 cents per Lineal foot
for the labor expenses of laying six-inch
water mains during the year ending June
same expenses during the year ending
June 80, 1890? The people are q good deal more
concerned about that than about his opinion as
to whether what l have written upon the sub
ject ever did any good. Will he answer that
simple question? II he does not. then we
have right to infer that he cannot
answer it. At the time I commenced writ
ing articles upon the water department
which we're published and widely read in
The STAR, that department had been steadily
running in debt every year. The water rents
we're taken to pay for expenses Of laying water
mains in violation Of law, which requires each
fund to be kept separate. Every year for
several years those in charge Of the water de-
partment urged that water main taxes
should be raised TO ~ cents per
square foot. While contended that
instead Of being raised. said taxes should be put
back to the old rate Of q of q cent per square
foot. stated that would enter into bond to
lay them for that price, and am ready today
to do ths same. In this am supported by the
very t.st plumbers in the city.
1t iaay be that the discussion of this question
IN The STAR did no good, but it will be difficult
to make people believe it. The fact stands I'M
disputed that while this discussion was going on
the cost for labor of laying 6-inch mains was
reduced nearly three-fourths, making a differ
ence in labor expenses alone of over $4,000 per
year.
Will Mr.. Hayden please explain why he was
able to lay 6-inch mains in 1890 for about one
fourth what he made it cost to lay the came
mains in 1887? Both years cannot be correct
Viii he explain why it was that as soon as those
outrageous expenditures were exposed through
the columns Of THx STAR the expense of laying
water mains began to be reduced?
The water takers and the taxpayers generally
would like to hear his answer VIII he please
explain? 1t may be that Capt. Lusk and Mr..
Hayden are unable TO see that the system of
bookkeeping in the water Office that got up
twenty-five years ago and which is still in use
am entitled done to ss So. sSSd Sa. thu that
ting up Of those books cost me, l having
been swindled out of the amount because /
would not prostitute my position by aiding to
force upon this city worthless water meter
sent here by the Tweed ring from New York
That IL - righteous q claim a. any man ever
had on earth. Put at compound interest 1t
would amount at this time to just about o., 600
the amount of my claim. That Is what
it cost me twenty-five years ago to do
my duty; and it Il not creditable to the
people Of this District or to New York city that
! have been kept out Of this money, for BY de-
and that city was saved from being swindled
out Of "a, 0O0, 900 for worthless meter, $lO 900
OF which lay rustng in the Croton pipe yard,
the last heard Of them, they having been con-
demned to be sold for old iron.
This water question is not exhausted by any
means neither can 1t be brushed aside as Of tri-
fling consequence. 4 day Of reckoning may yet
come to those who have squandered the public
money While laying water mains as well as to those
who are responsible for the fraudulent four
mile tunnel, the cost Of which has caused the
raiaing of water rents fully 30 per cent for q
| whole generation.
Mr.. Hayden may have few more questions
put to him for explanation before we gel
through with this subject. J. II. CRANE.