The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-28

It owns property ana pays taxes III lell towns, viz, Hamden, Branford, East Haven, Wallingford, North Haven Woodbridge Bethany, Orange, Milford and New Haven. The tax paid in Beth any is one quarter of the total amount collected by that town. Less than one- quarter of the property Of the company is in New Haven, and all ot the water that is broueht into the city comes from outside of it's limits.
 The advancement made in sanitary science during the last few years has brought new demands and obligations upon the company to protect it's reser- voirs and sources of supply from con tamination Much has been done in this direction. reservoirs have been emptied and cleaned. many acres of land bought and buildings removed, with the result that the periodical eX- animation and analyses of the waters of the company show an improvement in quality. But this work is necessari- ly slow, and is by no means completed. The company is also preparing, under the advice of a distinguished expert, to filter such of it's waters as cannot be thoroughly protected. The increase in the annual expense Of maintaining and keeping in repair the property of the company is shown by the fact that i'll 1863 1t was only $7,000, while in 1900 it had reached the sum of $14SOO0. This does not include the cost of extensions or permanent Improvements.
 The company is local one. New Haven people subscribed for the stock and although by removal and death some of the stock is now owned outside of New Haven, nne-tenths of it is still owned by residents of this city. It has so come about by the division of es- tates that considerably over one-haf of the eight hundred and fifty stoc1hold- CTS are women.
 The company pays taxes on every foot of its pipe under ground and the assessment includes not only the value of the pipe, but the cost of laying, re- moving and replacing pavements, etc It also pays the city for a permit when ever it opens a street. Notwithstand- ing the fact that 1t pays full taxes up- on its property the companys defer- ence to public sentiment is shown by the offer to furnish the city all of the water 1t may require for municipal pur- poses for S20, 900 per annum, while at a low estimate, the water annually con stunned by the city Is worth over $65,000 The quantity used by the city has been continually increasing for the past ten years until this increase now amounts to about $35, ,000 per year, larger part of it being due to the immense quanti- ty of water used under the present methods of street sprinkling. The city virtually receives what would be equiv alent to a franchise tax of $45, 1000. If in the future such a tax as has been advocated be imposed, there is no req son why the company should not ob- tain market rates for its. water.
 The company is honestly striving to meet all demands upon it and is con stantly at work to improve the quality of water it furnishes to the public. The consumption of 15O gallons per capita each day is enormous and demonstrates the fact that two-thirds of the water furnished is wasted. The average daily consumption in European cities is thir- ty to forty gallons per iphabitant. That this unrestricted consumption of water in New Haven is possible indicates the liberality of the companys policy in anticipating public demands.
 Very respectfuly.g
 Ell Whitney, President.
 New Haven Water Company New Haven, Conn.,, Dec. 27, 1901.
 Anthony Carroll, fortified with statis- tics Of the company. Journals of the board of aldermen for various years and copies of legislative acts went into the organization of l1ewater company, quoted the subscription of the stock and the various amendments to their charter. He openly charged the com- pany with attempting to force conn., petitor, the Fair Haven Water com pany, out of business by foul or unfair methods and said tn ecompany resisted the efforts of the New Haven company and had finally to purchase the Fair Haven company to remove them from the field of competition. MT. Carroll then brought charges Of corruption against the company and stated that In 1881 when the question of purchasing the water works was submitted to the people the water company used money to such an extent that men who wanted to vote against the company's Issue could not find ballots. There can be no honor among men" said MT. Carroll "who will defend the actions of this company in 1SS1.' The speaker also charged the company with failing to live up to their present contract. lie stated the contract called of the furn- shing of pure water. which they did not do, and cited the instance of the typhoid epidemic last summer to illus trate his point. Another complaint was they did not furnish enough water for the city and that the cause of so much damage at the Hutchinson building fire was a deficiency in the water supply. MT. Carroll stated he would have ofti- cers of the fire department summoned in and examined as to the water SUD- ply The facts of the shortcomings of this company, continued MT. Carroll do rot come out because the newspapers and the goody goody people are wrap ped up in the company. I have no personal grievance, but l don't like my personal liberty taken away by men going to Hartford and having laws passed so that I can't say my soul is my own"
 John Douglass said the statements had an amusing side to them for him. "The men who are fighting this thing