The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-11-14
Hearing on ARE ater Bill.

I
| ed IN these pending measures, including sup
! pOrters and opponents, filed the Senate cham
| Der and no stone was left unturned in the dis
cusslon OF their respective merits and demer
| its. Many witnesses were sworn and testified,
Mr. Scribner being the first. lie stated that
1T was the intention of his company to furnish
| spring water solely for domestic purposes; that
his system interfered with no other with few
exceptions and that there was n necessity and
n demand for spring water i'm the CITY ross
examination by /. r. Gordon brought out the
fact that, while his campany had made appli
cation to connect and extend its system before
an injunction was ordered, which they claim
ed was their right, they had purchased land
and made preparations for extending the sys-
tenn after they had been forbidden by the city
TO do so. Witness wonld not say whether his
request Tor charter was on the ground that
he would be impoverished by continuing under
present conditions.
W A. Boyce, member of the firm of Boyce
~ Mcfarland. constituting the Cold Spring
Water o., stated that he was directly inter
ested in the bill. He had at one tin o lived
on a street where the water was contaminated
by close proximity with sewer In 1894 he
had petitioned the city for an extension of the
spr ng water system and read the hermit
granted h m by the ty authorities He said
that in the dryest season of the year, when
other systems failed, the Cold Spring Co. had
furnished water to hundreds gratis and had
refused none and while the demand for their
water took but third of their supply, yet his
company was accused of failing to supply the
public ne DIS. He said he would not wrong
the city of a penny encroach on its rights
and requested a charter for his company that
here might be an end to the long and harass-
ing ltigations with the city which h re-
peatedly occurred. When asked if the com
pany would pay for the use of the street he
said that he had thought, t at since other fran
chlses were exempted, his own ought not to be
taxed especially, after being involved in so
many expensive lawsuits.
Mr. urrier representative of water works,
testified that with experts from Boston he had
examined he springs of Perry and Scribner
and Boyce and Mcfarland and that in the
latters the quality of the water fell be ow the
average lie stated that there were already
twenty three companies doing business in
Barre and that there had never been any op-
position to city water exc spt from parties in
terested IN other companies The city cannot
use Boyce and McFarand's water for fire
protection but has to depend upon its own
system 1t is its disposition to furnish the
best and an abundant supply to the public and
mas purchased its plant and extended its sl s.
tenn at an expense of SlS5,000 from which it
derives an income of Sl3.0O0 JJpon being
cross-examined by Lawyer Wing witness
showed that up to the time when the city pur-
chased the plant and franchise of the Barre
water company, no spring water systems were
opposed but competition then came and with il
opposition.
Witness thought the city supply was ade-
quate to present needs except in seasons of
drouth and that spring water was rather a
matter of sentiment than necessity
DIR. Stckney, secretary of the board of
health told the committee tha' he had anal
yzed the water OF all systems and had found
them chemically and bactericalIy of good
quality that the source of the cold spring
company's was suspicious owing to the pres
ence OF albumenoid ammonia due TO decayed
vegetable matter. He considered municipal
water entirely suitable for drinking purposes
and healthful, as analysis proved, and said that
vital statistics showed that there had been no
more sickness among users of city water than
among those who used other kinds.
MIR. Phelps, superintendene of fire depart
ment, had examined water supply of the city as
to quality and quantity. He estimated that
two-thirds of the wa er-drinking public used
nun cipal water without any kick and thought
that as long as. the city afforded pure water
and plenty OF 1t, there was no necessity for
granting charters to private companies. Ex-
alderman Mcdonald testified that frequent
digging Tor the laying of water pipes of divers
companies had occurred while he was in office
and hat the result was that the streets
were undermined and their soidity weakened
thereby, injuring the city to large extent
Mr. Kobbms chairman of aldermanc board
thought that ii the water question was sub
mitted to referendum, not one-third of the
people would declare for spring water.
no entlTt DOdfu were UNANIMOUSLY oil the
opinion that there was no demand nor necessity
Tor spring water and that it would t e detri-
ment and heavy damage to the city if chart.
ers were granted to other companies. 1t was
thu disposition of the city, they assert, to de-
velop the municipal water plant fast as
necessity demanded.
G. W. Swasey, author of one of the bills
addressed the committee and argued that the
Dill was hostile IN no respect to the city and
was SO constructed that there could be no pos
sible interference to the city system. The
spring water companies had been inv tied as
public benefactors to introduce their water and
many had invested money in them. He thought
1t was a recommendation to the city of Barre
to have spring water. w. A. Boyce spoke in
favor OF the bill affecting his personal inter-
ests: lie said that he was merely seeking pro-
lection and did not intend to antagonze the
city's interests. He held that as the munich
pal water supply was subject to floods and
drouths then W s time when spring water
was absolutely needed
L. K Gordon harangued the committee at
considerable length on various phases of the
bill he said that taxes for the maintenance
OF streets were already excessive and water
mpames were coming money from the use
OF the same, lie argued that it would be
ruinous Tor the city to allow such valuable
franchises to pass into the hands of individual
corporations and cited cases to support his
claims lie said at the charters were re-
quested only by few wealthy men who had
acquired their opulence through a monopoly
of public franchise.
G. w. Wing spoke he final words in sup
port of the bill. He thought it strange, while
so much IN the way of prohibition confronted
the legislature, that so much time had to be
spent ON the question of introducing water
INTO Barre, lie maintained that there was
far less danger from contamination in spring
than city water and could see no justice in the
city's asking the legislature to allow them to
charge for what they had previously given as