Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-24

10 90 any considerable portion of it's work
unul an OF its parts are finished and in
pace. For Instance, We are now building
une Easny point high level intercepting
sewer; Wen, what good will it do us when
II Is done? 1t has a two-fold object: one is
10 Keep the storm water of the HIGHER
ground from flowing down into the area
ssu1eS. 70 oVernow, SO as to reduce the
amount OF work required of the sewage
pumps. Well, what do we care whether
this storm water flows one way or the
other as long as the pumps do not exist and
may not ior the next nifty years? The sec
ond function of this sewer is to intercept a
part OF the sewage that flows into the
street outlet canal and discharge it into the
b street trunk sewer, so that the canal can
be hlled up or at least abandoned as a sew
er. But what good does ii do us to inter-
cept this small amount of sewage as long
as the trunk sewer into which Ii is to dis
charge does not exist and may not for an
otner naif century? We cannot fill up the
canal, for II must still carry all the sewage
from the heart of the city. which is ulti-
mateiy to go into the trunk sewer; and
question very much whether the condition
OF this canal will not even be worse after
the completion of the Easily point sewer
than it is now, as this sewer Will cut off
large portion of the storm water which
now at least once in a while flushes out the
canal No, as the board of sanitary engi-
neers who made the plan aptly state them
selves, we were unable to devise a scheme
which would be economical and efficient
and at the same time give any large meas
ure of relief by building only one of its
parts; We therefore urge the importance of
providing at one time for the construction
of the entire work
The Finances of II.
Under these conditions to expend over
S4,0O0,Oo0 at the rate of $4,000 per annum
is just as unbusiness like as it would be to
build 100000 manufacturing plant the
same way. What would you think of
board OF directors who took forty-five
years to get the factory running while pay
ing out $4,000 per annum on equipment
I figure that the money lost in interest
alone would amount to over "a, GOO, 600 or
considerably more than the total value OF
the plant.
ION the other hand, IL we sold bonds to
the amount of $4,000 900, bearing 3 per
cent interest, we could establish the 1vs
tenn at once, and 1t would cost us for in
terest ana operating expenses both only
about $4,000 per annum, which is GER
tainly not extravagant when We remember
that our revenue from taxation for this
fiscal year amounts to $500 900 more than
our expenses, and for next year our sur
plus VIII be more than twice as great.
''Of course, We hear good deal about
hard times just now. but really hard times
are an argument on the other side, IL we
only realize it As the result of hard times
We have millions of money and thousands
OF men idle in the country today. AS a
result of the idle money We can sell a
per cent bond today probably more adj
vantageously than ever before in our his
tory, and a result of the idle men we
can today get labor and material more
cheaply than ever before. If we had au-
thority to sell bonds today, / am confident
that this whole sewer system could be
promptly established and in the very best
manner, with a saving of at least half a
million dollars on the estimates. / know
this because We are building sewers all
the time, and contractors are anxious TO
take work today at prices they would not
have thought of year or two ago.
There might be other reasons advanced
why II would be genuine economy to take
this opportunity to put our idle thousands
to work, but i won't discuss them-you
Coxey's thunder.
Ahead of the Schedule.
Finally" said Capt. Derby. referring to
another diagram or chart. II would ask
your attention to this chart. 1t was CON-
piled by the same board of sanitary en-
gfneers to which / have so often referred
To properly determine the size Of the
sewers We will want for the next forty
years 1t became necessary for the board
to form the best idea they could of tbs
probable future growth Of Washington
SO they had this chart prepared. which
shows the rate Of growth of all the large
cities Of the country Up to 1890 and also
the rate of growth of the United States In
general. Reasoning from this as best they
could and taking the fattering view that
we all share of. the advantages of Wash.
ington as the most attractive city home In
America, they ventured to prophesy tina,
the growth of Washington for the nexr
forty years would probably not be less
than that indicated by the curve A b mol
greater than that indicated by the curve
B c.
Well / wrote to the health officer the
other day for the closest estimate he
could make of the present population-you
know he needs these figures to enable him
to keep track of the vital statistics-well
he replied to me that by June 80 he viii
have to take as the basis of his tables
a population Of 100000. Now, IL you viii
refer to my chart, you will see that tht
board of sanitary engineers considering
this subject in 1890. only four years ago
did not expect that we could reach this
figure of growth earlier than 1901, and
perhaps not until 1903. So our necessity
for sewers today is as great as this board
thought IL would be by 1901-03, and as
the growth Of the population is certainly
the best measure of our general prosperity
we can say also that in ability to pay fol
what we need we are likewise from sever
to nine years ahead of the schedule. This
is certainly very gratifying, and il would
seem that a healthy growth like this is
something to be proud of and is well
worth fostering. 1t would be a pity to
take any risk of checking il by neglecting