New-York tribune., 1900-03-26
A STATE WATER SUPPLY.
PROJECT FOR AN AMPLE FLOW FROM
THE ADIRONDACK REGION.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: In the discussion Of the Ramapo swindle the
newspapers, almost the only watchdogs left be-
tween the robbers and the people. seem to have
entirely lost sight OF that far important
water supply which has not yet fallen to the
grasping schemers. namely, the headwaters or the
Hudson River and the inexhaustible reservoir faci-
tiles of the Adirondack regions with Lakes George
and Champain. The project OF utilizing these
great fountain heads was pointed out by me in
paper read before the Medico-Legal Society Of
New-York ten years ago. entitled Prison Labor
and Public Utility" had discussed it thoroughly
with those eminent experts and practical business
men, the late William II. Webb and Orlando B.
Potter. than whom could give opinions on
municipal water supply OF value, and they
warmly approved the plan. Starting at an eeva-
ton of three hundred feet In the Adirondacks. 1t
proposed to deliver through two hundred miles
of conduit water supply which, feeding the i'm
mediate towns along the Hudson. should be dis
tributed In New-York and its neighboring cities.
with head" OF two hundred feet, at estimated
outlay for the first 500 100000 gallons daily capacity
of s5o.Oooooo.
It is sufficient to state the plan IN outline. 1 do
propose to follow the forceful array of facts
which It rests. Reliable data are at hand in the
elaborate report "A Water Supply for New
York and Other Cities of the Hudson Valley" by
]. T. flaming C. E. Many Of the truths suf
acienty well known. such those concerning the
miasmatic malaria breeding Croton and Ramapo
watersheds, with an increasing pollution from ag-
riculture and manufactures. and their capricious
seasons of drouth. endangering a supply demon
strably inadequate at the best. Greater stress
might be laid upon the fundamental tnsufficiency
of these supplies, lying at such slight elevation
above the level seriously to imperil the
safety of the great commercial and financial world
located below Canal-st. while leaving the larger
part of the city without natural pressure supply
above the second third floor. This deficiency,
It may be urged reacts pernicousy against the
public health and. the ratio of the daily de-
livery of gallons per capita diminshes, the public
fountains lie unused and great hotels. factories
and breweries forced to resort to the costly
expedient Of artesan wells. through many hundred
feet of solid rock. The inadequacy of both the
Ramapo and Croton systems Is yet more evident.
even II developed to their utmost limit, when
contemplate a population OF ten millions within
less than half century and daily consumption
of Zoo, oo0.0n gallons. If scientific is
worth anything. the projectors for the New-York
Of 1925 must resort to the upper Hudson headlands
or some other region offering inexhaustible
supply.
Such measure. contemplating the thrift of the
Hudson cities we'll as the metropolis and its
neghborhood. assumes the magnitude and i'm
to the State for practical support Honest iegsla-
ton opening the way. the able bodied inmates of
bands, are at hand for the undertaking. reinforced
by the ncorrglbie tramp vagrants who It is hoped,
full tribute Here would, indeed. be public ser
fefered by egitimate competon, While it re
duced the municipal and State expenditure it's
minimum. The growth of the metropolis is the
growth of the State The report of the State Treas
urer shows that Greater New-York paid GA per cent
of the total State tax for 1899 The metropolis
therefore, has the right to demand assistance from
the State when question of such vital Importance
is issue. Granting the postulate of advanced
sociologists. that the legitimate field for convict
labor is the public service. the application of
vict (and tramp labor to the construction of such
public work the metropolitan water supply. fol-
lows a logical corollary. Besides, there is
scientific or sanitary ground for questioning the
advantage, physical and moral of such service to
the laborers employed. while, If its ultimate result
forever defeated the willy schemes of treasury loot
to rob the community of its greatest blessing
pure and abundant water supply-it would dem
onstrate itself a Veritable godsend.
LOUIS LIVINGSTON SEAMAN, NJ. D.
New-York, March "a 1900.