New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-12-01
IMPORTANCE or THE WATER SUPPLY.

IMPORTANCE or THE NAIEh SCffbi'
The Merchants Association is guilty of no eX-
aggeration in declaring that the questions which
IL Is about to investigate in connection with the
water supply of this city form "one OF the most
important subjects ever placed before the TAX
payers of any city" It's statement Is entirely
true from more than one point OF view. Inc
subject of obtaining plentiful ana pure supp!
of water is of supreme Importance TO the health
of the people, and the question whether such
supply shall be provided by the municipality
itself or shall be purchased from some private
money making corporation Is OF equal lmpor-
lance to the financial welfare OF the city. Inc
former proposition is substantially self-evdent
If proof of il were needed II would be found In
the vital statistics of this and many other cities
Witness the comparative freedom of this city
since the general use Of Croton water from the
pestilences which afflicted it In the old days oil
wells. Witness the prevalence of typhoid fever
and other diseases in other cities where the
water supply is less pure than ii is here. Wit
ness the reduction of Yienna's death rate from
forty-two per thousand TO less than twenty nine
per thousand Immediately upon the introduction
of pure Alpine water, and the reduction of Mu-
nich's roll of deaths from typhoid from thou
sand a year 10 less than 4 dozen by the same
means.
Testimony in favor Of exclusive municlpai
ownership is scarcely less convincing 1t Is
given by almost every important city in the civ
ilized world We might say. indeed, by every
one. For those In which the private supply
system still prevails-London, for examplc-are
without exception horrible examples OF the
evils of that system. The cities which are hoteu
for the superiority of their water supplies, such
as Glasgow, Vienna and Munich, and those III
which great natural difficulties have been over
come. such as Berlin, Hamburg and Breslau, eX-
hibit only the municipal system. Indeed, the
latter system prevails in practically all or the
cities of Continental Europe in which the water
supply is good And it is generally coupled with
system Of dispOsing of sewage on sewage
farms Such is the case in Berlin and Breslau
and Brunswick and Munich and Dantzic ana
Hanover and Frankfort-On- Main, and even anu
quatedS ultra conservative Stuttgart and Amster-
dam and Rotterdam. Few Of these have any
thing like as good natural source' OF supply as
New York has. But they have exhibited an en-
terprise and far seeing wisdom superior 10
those of the present generation of NEWCOMERS,
and the result is that they are actually ahead OF
this city in some OF the most important details
of public service
II would be disastrous for this city TO fail to
keep abreast of the foremost in the purity and
plentfulness of Its water supply upon which
the health of the people so largely depends. 1t
would he a grievOus and most ominous thing
for it under any pretext to turn back to sys-
TEN which has never worked well anywhere,
! which has been hopelessly discredlted in most
places where it has been tried. which has been
abandoned by the vast majority Of enlightened
| and progressive cities the world over. and which,
| IL adopted here would not only entail the evils
| which have marked it elsewhere but would also
render this city liable to an interminable series
of raids upon the public treasury in the interest
not Of the public service, but of greedy contrac-
tors and INSCRIPTIONS politicians. never fail
ing supply Of pure water entirely under munich
pal propretorship IL tho only acceptable
| and worthy thing toward the attainment and
maintenance Of which the efforts Of the Mer-
chants Association are deserving Of the hcartiest
| supDOrt of the public