The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-03-06
Evening Herald.
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1894.
A CONDITION, NOT A THEORY

A CONDITION, NOT A THEORY.
The exhaustive account OF the progress
ofthe new water works project, published
in Thursday evenings issue OF the HER
AID, contained a revelation for the tax
payers Of the borough, including many of
The most ardent supporters of the scheme,
and has set a good many interested per
spns to thinking on the subject
The information contained in the re
port was obtained with some difficulty,
hut it is accurate and thoroughly reliable
as far as it goes. 1t is incomplete, but it
proves conclusively that the scheme is
doomed to utter failure.
While we state this fact with perhaps
brutal candor, we are not proclaiming it
in boastful spirit. The HERALD opposed
the undertaking from the start, firmly
and consistently, in the honest belief that
it could never be made a paying enter
prise and that no public advantage would
result from it. The vindicaton of ii .
position taken by the paper when the
enterprise was started, and maintained
ever since, would be a great satisfaction
under ordinary circumstances but the
prospect Of seeing the borough burdened
with debt Of $2OO,OOJ or more for the
completion Of water works that will
uever pay the interest on the debt would
he little qualification to any person hav-
lng the welfare oi the town or the pros
perity of the people at heart.
The scheme had its origin in a burst of
purposcly inhamed public passion, and
perhaps the strongest incentive behind it
at any time was personal prejudice
Under these circumstances it is not sur
prising that the estimate of the probable
cost Of the undertaking furnished by its
promoters, now make them appear ridic-
ulous, when comparison is made with
the actual cost, as far as the work ha,
been done
That hundreds Of honest and well
meaning citizens were won over to the
support Of the project by the false repre-
seutations of its advocates, the indigna
tion aroused by the publication of the
facts in the case amply demonstrates
Instead of $4,000, it has been clearly
shown that the plant, if it shall ever bt
completed, will cost at least 5000, 900, anc
insteadlof paying 81, 600 year interest tn,
borough will have to pay $1,000 year tc
satisfy the whim and preiudices of tn,
nen who originated the scheme.
II impossible, within the narrow Limits
o. an ordinary newspaper article to treat
the question in all its phases or even tC
sompare the original estimates anC
actual cost OF all the items in the under
taking. IL has been so clearly shown
however, that the estimates Of Council anC
the water committee are wholly unreli
able that no intelligent person will dis
pute the assertion now made that the COS
Of the plant complete will exceed 5000, OOO
Neither will it be claimed that the waite
committees estimate OF the operating ex
gouses Of the plant is any more reliable
ssan the estimate Of the cost of construo
tion. The item Of fuel alone, which tn
committee estimates at 81, 800 year, will
reach at least five times that figure, anC
AL the other items will be increaed pro
gOrtionately
But what is the use OF arguing'
All this ground has been gone over be
fore, and the developments so far hav,
indicated the position OF the HERALl
Khd the taxpayers who have maintainet
that instead of public blessing the pro
Pssed water works would prove publ
turden.
II Is condition, not theory, that con
rtnts us now. The time for theorizin
and making unreliable estimates is past
What is wanted now is prompt and dc
'isiVe action A single chance to saw
thS scheme from disastrous and humiliat
nE failure remains. We believe it
possible yet to abandon the project with
cut serious loss to the borough If thos
entrusted with the management of tn
peoples affairs have proper compreher
sion Of their duties and the danger OF tn
situation.
Win they sieze this opportunity, {
will they blindly persist in pushing I
templetion this scheme already doome
ts failure, and fasten upon the people a
unnecessary incubus of debt that will sa
the life blood out of the town and pr,
siBitate its premature decay'