The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-30
Tho Question to BE Considered To-day.

Underlying the question OF tho accept.
ance or rejection Of tho proposed water
contract for the additional supply OF New
York there is ono consideration that will
Justify the most serious attention at the
adjourned meeting OF the Board OF Public
Improvements to-day.
Some American cities have found IL either
useful or economical In the exercise OF their
municipal powers. to control such utilities
rs the supply OF water or the means Of com
munication. Some Of them, Philadelphia
conspicuously, constructed and conducted
q gas plant at cost OF several million dol
lars; others, Baltimore and Cincinnati, for
instance, have aided by their credit and
contributions more desirable steam rail
road connections, and still others have as
sumed a share in private business, gener-
ally at much loss and with much scandal.
New York City's course In all such mat
ters, however, las been sedulousy and con-
sistently the same: No municipal interior
ence with private initiative and individual
control; no municipal ownership, so-oalled,
and no partnership with speculative pro-
jects Of any kind, in supplying steam heat,
cold storage, illumination, passenger trans
portation, electric current, natural gas,
steam power, vapor or machinery.
Tho many advantages Of this policy Of
New York have been shown In the enor-
nous development OF all such agencies and
facilities without municipal interference.
together with the preservation OF the credit
OF the city and its unassailable solvency
and constantly increasing resources. One
illustration, which will suffice, Is furnished
in the case OF gas works. Had the city OF
New York erected some years ago a
mammoth gas plant, as was urged in
some quarters. securing land for the
purpose and equipping it with machinery
and appliances on the then existing system
Of generating coal gas, the changes which
have since that time been introduced into
the methods OF gas making, the novel econ
omies utilized, and, above all, the substitu-
tion OF electricity in street and house
lighting, would have rendered unproduc-
tive most Of tho investment and entailed
the sacrifice Of the investment at great
loss. New York is now well-lighted city,
a cheaply lighted city and a city ilumi-
mated not by the methods Of thirty or forty
years ago, but according to those most
approved to-day.
In one particular and In one particular
only, however, New York has exercised its
authority and control, and that is
in furnishing and controlling the supply Of
water, wholesome in quality and abundant
in amount, and it's course in this particular
has been uniform and undertaking for more
than half century. The reasons in sup
port OF it are as potent as they are few.
Water Is a natural product. The methods
OF impoundlng and OF transporting it are
substantially the same now as they were
centuries ago, when the aqueducts Of Rome
and other ancient cities were constructed.
Waterworks. reservoirs and dams are a
investment. Those constructed
by New York are available assets OF the
city, and as the city increases the demand
for water increases likewise. substitute
for one form OF illumination may BIO found
In another; substitute for one method OF
traction or propulsion may be found supe-
rior to the one in use, but water, always
the same, is always in demand.
The second reason for municipal control
Of water supply in New York is equally
clear and valid. The water used Is paid
for by taxation. Those using water are
taxed for it, and 1t is proper and
wholesome exercise Of government power
that taxation for utility, which is in fact
a necessity, should be at minimum cost.
From 1s43, when the Croton water was
into this city, until the present,
water has been furnished by the city lat
cost" Had control Of the supply been in
the hands Of O private corporation the
profits made from 1t would have been con-
siderable and they would have been col
lected in taxation. Water would have cost
more than 1t does now.
Lastly, 1t is essential for the we'll being
OF city, for its sanitary health, for tho
prosecution OF the business OF its inhab-
itants and for their preservation against
confagration, that the control of the
facilities for getting and supplying water
should not be in the hands Of private indi-
viduals, but in those Of the whole people,
Consequently there has been no precedent
In New York for co-partnership between
the city and private individuals, such rs
the Ramapo water contract proposes, con-
trary to half a century's experience.
The contract to be submitted for con-
sideration to-day proposes partnership in
the supply OF water from 1902 to 1912
the city from its aqueducts and reservoirs
to supply some and water company to
supply some. The city's quota is to repre-
sent to the people n certain cost per gallon;
the companys supply is to cost GER
tain price per gallon fixed forty years in
advance. Section 6 of the contract provides
that the city Of New York agrees and
hereby authorizes said company to act
as the agent and representative Of the
city OF New York" under tho contract
thereby establishing partnership OF the
kind that those who laid the broad foun-
dations OF New York's material greatness
assiduously endeavored to avoid. Such n
partnership, repugnant to all previous
notions OF municipal government here,
carries with it the destructive elements of
an assault against the ctys credit that
spectators in other public utilities would
like to see adopted.