The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-05
4 PULL WITH THE CITY
THE WATER COMPANY EVIDENTLY
TRYING TO WORK ONE.
President Morrison Writes n Tart
Letter to Vice President Davis-He
Was Personally Attacked.

Yesterday at noon President Morrison, of
the Board of Health, received letter, de-
livered by messenger to his office and ad-
dressed to him personally, from F. A. W.
Davis, of the water company, the contents
of which he would not make public, but
sufficient idea of 1t may be cleaned from
the answer. which is copied in the letter
book of the board. BY dint of much in
quiry it was learned that the letter was en-
tireIy confined to personal attack on DIR.
Morrison account of the action of the
Board of Health on the water question.
The answer is given in full below:
Permit me to express my surprise that
you have seen fit, in personal communica-
ton addressed 10 me, to attack me IN
manner quite uncalled for by the elrcum-
stances. In a personal communication
am warranted in assuming the pronoun
you to refer to me personally. In this
light l compelled TO indignantly deny
your wholesale charges and to inform you
that anyone Of any one did so inform you)
who says that | have had any interview
with Colonel Maynard or any other person,
and jokingly otherwise made such state
ment as you wish to attribute to me, tells
an unqualified falsehood, and further, you
know Mr.. Maynard personlly nor by sight;
further, the Board of Health. so far as L
have talked with its members 90 cone not com
pany fit to be used at all times. we are
compelled to rely upon the analyses OF Ine
gentlemans reports show the water to be
occasionally fair, some days bad, others IN
different There never has been thought
on the part of the Board of Health of in
dorsing any water supply that does not
maintain standard Of constant purity or
potability.
Your reference to me as being too cow
ardly to express an opinion favorable to the
without comment. Until the water COM
pany does something to warrant the express
sion of such favorable opinion the question
of what / might do under such circum-
stances must still be left sub judice-
II take it that the exertion put forward
by your company to secure the freedom OF
the water from the pollution of the straw
board works is in itself, an admission that
you have thrown no safeguards around
the supply of water derived from the river;
and If further evidence were needed it is
to be found in the apology for a filter main
Coupled with this is your endeavor to Sc
sure pure water from driven wes n SO dnar
may be cut off. 1t is useless for me to dis
cuss this proposition. l have no doubt that
some members of your company are fully
cognizant of these facts.
lit may interest you to know that the
president of your company called upon Mr..
Hurry and in the presence of Dr. Fergu-
son, produced a bottle of water from his
own we'll requesting an analysis to deter
that he was afraid to use the water fur
nished by his own company. This alone
lie especially as this was the time you
told Mr.. Maynard the water was good
Your whole charge against DR.. Ferguson
that the first time Mr.. Maynard called up
on Drs. Hurry and Ferguson was at the
broken and there was question of pollu-
ton, even by yourself SO far as / know,
ena the time me Of y M p he
WIS., he said when he was told that the
water that day would pass as a potable
water. but that the doctor would not in
dorse any water taken from river which
was receptacle for the sewage from the
cities above the water works intake.
SOiicitu0e standing this
community. as evidenced by your conclud-
ing paragraphs is touching l agree with
you that the matter is no joke the ply
sicians of the city and the sections of the
cemeteries can testify. Probably we would
solicitude for the public welfare if officials
of your company would refrain from going
to certain city officials and urging their
influence to prevent further movement in
this matter.
and for ALL that will fight this matter TO
a finish, and when / feel unable unwil-
ling to continue the contest for pure water
supply shall vacate the place held by me
so that one with more determination may
fill it.
pany at various times is the one now set
tied d, upon by them as the truth:
'FirSt-'We do not take water from the
river. except in emergency.
Second The, present crib is an efficient
"Thrd-It is impossible for pollution at
Broad rs3To Ripple le, to get into the mains,
FFOurtn--' We Will De TullV GUIDED by the
advice of Mr.. Hazen and give the city an
efficient sand filter
"Fifth-Deep wells will not do, because
of the presence Of iron and sulphur
'Sixth-'We are now boring deep wells
to secure a supply of water
Hoping you can find some means by
which the statements above mentioned
made by the company to the city may be
reconciled. one with the other. 1 am. etc.
DR.. Morrison refused to talk much about
the matter. He said that his reference to
the fact that he would continue to put forth
every effort to get good water. had another
meaning, really of more force than it would
indicate, and that Mr.. Davis would under
stand 1t, but refused to tell what that I'M
DERIVING meaning is. lie also refused to
talk in regard to the part referring to the
officials OF the water company calling
certain city officials in effort to prevent
any further action on the part of the city.
He said. however. that there are plans now
on foot which will materialize in short
time, but would not say what they are.