The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1902-04-08
Communicate )
An 0pen Letter.


To TIM FREE Lance:
Gentlemen-permi me through the
columns of your valuable paper to ad-
dress an open letter to 1.-THE Joint Com
mittee on Sewerage and Street Improve
ment. The letter follows:
The indispensable initial step in the
complete system Of sewerage, IA mapped
out by the engineer selected, should have
been built, in strict conformity with the
specifications laid down by said engineer
IL is notorious however, that those
specifications were not followed as was
presumably intended The bitches .gere
not excavated as prescribed in the con
tract inasmuch as there was not 10 in
ches of space on each side of the pipe, but
often only barely room to lay the ilange
of the pipedown. Ii was therefore impOs-
sible to cement the pipe properly on the
under side Then much of the pipe was
laid in water some inches deep, absolute
~ against the terms of the contract, but
ostensbly under the supervision OF the
engineer who drew up the specifications.
The fact is that clear water found its way
into the sewer and ran freely therein long
before the sewer was finished or any
water admitted therein Now If water
can get into the sewer from the outside.
what is TO prevent the sewer from leak
ing out where the water got in?
I'm item one of the ordinance, you
assay a tax Of - per annum on every lot
adjoining sewer, but you don't say
how such a tax is so run. There is some
objection 10 the other four sections oi
the ordinance but the postscript caps
the climax.
The first sentence would lead one To
believe that a system of sewerage had
been established 10y the Council, when
only one sewer on Commerce street has
been laid the other two practically inter
cepting sewers. The next paragraph il
meant TO pave the way for the main
object of the postscript thus: Said pri-
yate sewers constitute a menace To the
health of the city, and may become dan
gerous and offensive Then comes the
gist Of the whole matter thus All per
sons interested in private sewers are to
remove then within fifteen days after the
passage OF the act, under penalty that
said sewers shall become public property.
After becoming public property, they
will of course cease 10 be "A menace to the
public health. You surely did not think
for a moment that said owner OF a sewer
would remove the same in . days or a.
many months, and you let US infer that
the sole object of this ordnance is the con
fiscation of these sewers. lt is finally al
together likely that your main sewers
will become dangerous 20 the city's
4 81 { = l.er- Ea.tt frsrrs
ton. The sewer on Commerce street
like the private sewers, has a good fall
and will be likely to keep clean, because
of it. but the Main street sewerage would
need larger hushtank every hundred
wards or so, TO keep it moving.
As to manholes: They are great
convenience for the inspection OF sewers
that are large enough to enable man
to crawl through. II they are put on
pipe sewers like ours, they are only ven
tilators to allow the escape OF sewer gas
into the street. but can be made perfect
by being made into trench that Is all
manhole and covered with perforated
iron covers. Anexample of manholes on
nine sewers, can be seen on Com
merce street. where the sewer is sim
DIV an tlknl luNu liptfioih 'fi "a ~ "'N"
out any turn, and has manhOle about
every 30 yards Suppose that it were
checked or broken between manholes,
how could the trouble be located for the
manhole. unless it was within a yard
of another manhole? II the manhole lie
useless in such an emergency, ! fail to see
of what possible useit can be- always ex.
cepting the exhalatiOn OF sewer gas and
odOrs in the street.
As to the confscation OF the private
sewers. the ordinance may be very good
law. but it surely is shockingly bad
morals because it discriminates in favor
of one citizen against another, thus, the
man who has built his own sewer Is
taxed Just as much as the man who has
no use for sewerage. In plain English,
the town, by confiscating the sewers, en-
ables the men who refused to help to
build the same to join them for nothing,
for he is not taxed any more than those
who built them. And the owners OF these
sewers. not only lose the money they
paid for them, but have TO pay the same
tax usually to their two enterprising
neighbors
Thus the phrase: The indispensable
initial step in the complete system OF
sewerage, is misleading one and should
read: The indispensable initial step in
acquiring other peoples property Tor
nofhinQ X.