The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1893-11-17
WATER WORKS FOR SCRANTON.

tanning water works for the town o
Scranton will be submitted to n vot,
of tie people on the second Monda,
in December. The town has gone {,
expense OF sinking an a~rtesian well
and 1t is now proposed to lay pipe
and 10 operate a regular system o
water supply works, utilizing sale
well as the source of supply. Now il
this proposition there are to be con
sidcred several points: LIST, the legal
ity of the whole proceeding: I'd, tn,
expense Of the undertaking and it.
practical advantages or disadvantage.
and the merits of the artesian well
The new code defines that the con
struction OF water works and the lay
ing OF the pipes, ETC., shall be sub
mittcd to a vote of the people and de.
cidcd by a majority Of the votes east
The artesian well in question was
constructed with a view Of having II
form the water works :" it was con
tracted for and the towns money paid
out for this purpose, when the law
says "a contract for the erection, pur-
chase or maintainance Of water works
shall not be entered into until sub
mltted to a vote of the qualified cleo
tors, and approved by IA majority OF
them" So in the present situation
the whole proceeding would be illegal
even If the proposition should carry
for water works.
1t Is estimated that to construct the
water works it will cost not less than
$4,000, and to carry on the works and
meet the other necessary expenses OF
the corporation, Il heavy tax would
have to be levied. The flow of the
.artcsian well is considered a failure.
and to rely on that would be a risky
business. In the placing Of plugs, ow-
ing to the many streets and the gen.
eral scattered" condition Of the town
added to the ~ineficiency Of the fire
department. of the town. would make
the scheme not only expensive, but
impracticable to utilize the works
for fife purposes an to lay such nee.
essary pipes to accommodate the citi-
ems OF the town would be out of the
question, and besides there would en-
ter into competition the works and
pipes already operated here. Unless
the town vas more compactly built
and our fire companies more thorough
ly equipped, the water works as pro
posed would be a dead expense.
We think the town authorities have
been quite too rapid from the start.
When the question was first discussed
a proposition was made them that if
they would erect their tanks they
would be supplied with water for 800
IA year; but they refused this PROPOSE
tion, and illegally expended about
500 to sink a well, with the %ostensi-
BILE purpose Of only supplying tanks.
The 500 is spent; the town has a
well of doubtful merit, and in order to
utilize 1t enough money will have to
be expended to deplete the treasury
and make deep threads in the taxpay-
ers' pockets, in the way Of extra tax
leyies, and after all shall have been
accomplished, in order to derive any
benefits therefrom, the additional ex-
pense OF equipping Il respectable fire
service would amount to as much as
the cost of the water works. Then
when all this shall have been accom-
plished the subject of decent streets
and sidewalks and lights may come
up for consideration. We think the
best thing for the town to do is to let
the 500 elephant they now have die
stop its food supply, so to speak, and
charge the loss to our town dads bad
judgmcnt-and Try to profit by past
errors. We Go need decent streets
and sidewalks and the absence of
street lights on the main avenues is
sorcly felt and, indeed, marks disgrace
on the progressive clements that
should characterize a town.