The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-03-01
THE BOROUGH WATER
Tedious Progress of the Con-
struction of the Plant.
SOME STARTLING FACTS
The Actual Cost of Work Done Tenfold
Greater Than the Original Estimates
Facts which Prove That the Plant Car b
not be Completed for Less than seOO,OOO

1t is now nearly two.and.a.half yearssnce
the movement TO erect borough water
W orks was inaugurated and almost two years
since the creation of bonded debt Of $685.
900 for the purpose was authorized by the
taxpayers of the borough. and the work
the magnitude Of this enterprise must
necessarily consume time iu IT'S completion,
but the progress Of the woIk in this case has
been even more tedious and uncertain than
the most unreenting opponent Of the project
could desire. When the scheme was FIRST
projected its advocates declared, and honestly
believed, perhaps, that the plant would be
completed in much less time than has al
ready elapsed. They made little OF no
allowance of either time or money in their
estimates for the DELAYS that were certain to
result from causes then apparent to every
dspassionate ana impartial observer of tho
conditions under which the enterprise was
launched. One obstacle after another has
arisen in the path of the project and ore
law suit after another has resulted from the
alleged trespass of the borough upon the
vested rights Of others until today the pruiec
is entangled in
| APPARENTLY ENDLESS LITIGATION.
The promoters and hackers Of the onler
prise viii probably reply to this by saying
| that if they had not been restrained by the
| iniunctions OF the Shenandoah Water and
! Gas Company the borough plant would be
completed long ago. 1t may be admitted
| that the work would be farther advanced
than it is At present if the water IN q y
and the taxpayers opposed to the scheme had
! l,.Y'r huf fpr fhsf
will appear further on in this article, 10 vii
be seen that 1t could not have been COM
pleted The legal and moral right Of the
water company to cOntes every inch Of tt &
ground Is conceded by eve y fair-minded auu
| intel 'igent citizen of the borough, though il
may be denied by persons who advocate the
doc. riue that might makes right. On the
part of the Shenandoah Water Company th'
| contest has been one for the preservation q
vested rghts--a struggle fOr existence anc
the maintenance in t. ct of valuable prop
erty. They have done only what airy Othe
individual OF association of individual
would have been perfectly justified in doing
under the same circumstances The trOubh
seems to be that Council and the water com
mittee did not make the proper allowance tOi
the delays that were certain to be Occasoner
by these injunctions, ell Of which were for.
shadowcd before the work Of construction
was commenced or the increase Of deb
authorized.
But it is not the delay in the construction
of the plant that has
EXCITED PUBLIC COMMENT
so much as the discrepancies in the estimate
Of the cost of the plant, made by Council aut
the water committee and the difficulty will
which any information regarding the prOgres
OF the work ia obtained. For some reason o.
other neither Council nor the water com
mittee has seen fit atauy time since the com
meucement of the work to publish any sot
of statement OF its progress or in any othe
manner convey to the tie "vers an idea @
what is being done Their ---.Cl -. j.
formation has been the HERALD, and it ha'
been able to CLEAN but little from time t
time of the actual progress Of the work,
In Withholding from the taxpayers thi
information we believe both Council and thC
water committee have been actu8ted by
I worthy but mistaken motives OF public policy
The obstacles that have arisen 20 impede tn
progress of the work and the actual cost 0
work done in excess of the Ori ginal estimal es
have been deeply Encouraging to the manage
ment Of the enterprise. We can readily un
derstand how under these conditions, they
might defer TO later period the publication
of statement, in tho hope that sOmewher
| in the construction the actual cost will fal
bl W the estimate and furnish partial of
Z set to the bad showing thus far made. W
: are fully convinced by experience however
that this hope is unf0unded and that tn
{ longer the real facts in the case are conceale
1 the worse the showing will be when it
y finally made. It is this condition of thing
aud the f. quent inquiry which it has arouse
3 that has prompted the HERALD toinves igit
B the matter, and it is sense of public dut
Z that impels us now to lay before the tax
I payers Of the borough an impartial statemer
2 of the facts as they exist, so far as we hav
= been able to ascertain them.