The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-08-09
who Is Kcnt2

who Is Kcnt2
The more one studies Expert" Kent
| and his report, the more utterly shallow
and ~inconclusive 1t appears. Indeed the
wonder grows apace, first. that the
Journal" should ever nave employed
| this man, and, second. that it should
| ever nave laid any stress upon his find-
ings.
From the journal itself we gain the
most convincing proof of his utter in
competence to handle the question.
Yesterday it raised, itself, the question,
''Who is Kent?" and it answered. = by
| printing a sketch of the gentleman from
the Engineering News and American
Railway Journal The bearing of his
| sketch on the general question would be
ludicrous if it were not painful to see
| the public interest imperilled. in such
wanton fashion.
And who is Kent?
We quote from the Journals" quota
ton
our re readers sa5s pif thaf Mr.. 7RhHans'nf Kent
becomes. with the present issue; q
journal. and will have special charge
Of matters pertaining to mechanical
s Rents m eafendsd repu fassassf both as a an
engineer, and as an able and lucid
writer on engineering topics, is such that
stevens Institute in 1876, the second class
that ever graduated from the the full
and has been a members of its board of
trustees. His engineering experience
has covered a variety of fields, and the
well attested by the numerous and valu-
able contributions he has made to
t eeehInes II lfter stnIes ,es speidf;ayy tq n the 1. pro-
Mechanical Engineers which has just
breadth of his engineering study and ex-
| perience.
And this is the man-this mechanical
| and metallurgical editor, this author of
a "Pocketbook for Mechanical Engi-
| neers.' who ventures to pose as an
expert on sanitary water supply and to
mislead the city authorities from the
depths of his ignorance of the subject.
1t is as if one should employ Lebbeus
B. Ward to build locomotives or Artchi-
tect Broome to draw plans for an ocean
steamship. 1T is like calling in a spec
ialist on throat diseases to set a broken
leg, or hiring a real estate agent to ap-
praise a consignment of silk.
1t will be observed that in his s're-
port" Expert" Kent does not say that
he has any personal knowledge Of the
quality of Rockaway River water. He
port. The journal" announced his en-
ployment on Monday and published the
document on Saturday. Assuredly in the
five intervening lays he could not have
made any examination of the compara
tive qualities of the water offered by
the three competitors. This is element
No. /. in the study of the subject, of
which he seems to know nothing.
There are others:-
2. He does not seem to know that the
rights of the Morris Canal are indefeasi-
BILE and that no power can dispossess
its owners of the right to so much of
the Rockaway River as is necessary for
their use as a canal. Why did he not
tell US how much water the Morris
Canal Company is entitled to. 1t is
we'll known by others, if not by him.
that at certain periods they use the en-
tire flow of the Rockaway River.
3. He does not seem to know that the
Montville reservoir, which Is one of the
most essential features in the proposed
syst~n of the Rockaway and Hudson
Company is the property of the Mont
clair Water Company. which enjoys tbs
rights of eminent domain and which,
therefore, cannot be dispossessed by
another water company or even by a
municipality.
4. He does not seem to know that the
route of their pipe line through the
Great Notch also involves the appropria-
ton of other property owned for the
purpose of a reservoir by the same Mont
clair Water Company aid that such pipe
line cannot be laid without the con.
sent Of the Montclair Company.
Thus it appears that he does not know
that the Rockaway and Hudson Com
pany will encounter insuperable obstacles
from start to l~inisn--frst in the diversion
Of water which they canno set control
Of: then in their chief reservoir, which
they cannot acquire; then II their pro