The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-03-18

Accepting all the entaileu risks, Cap
tain w. A. May stood up at yester-
days noon meeting of the Scranton
board of trade in defense of the Scran-
ton Gas and Water company's recent
action In, increasing the water rates to
domestic consumers.
At the previous meeting of the board
a communication was received from the
West Scranton board of trade convey
ing II proposition for joint action in
! equity court to secure a revision of the
water rates. 1t was referred to the
committee on legislation, of which Cap
tain May is chairman and through him
the committee yesterday reported that
such action was deemed inadvisable at
| this time.
The report was based on two reasons,
| Captain May went on to explain. One
was that the method of procedure sug-
gested by the West Side board was not
| regular according to the judgment of
| the lawyers on the committee, and the
second was that it is questionable If
the proposed action is warranted.
Il think you will agree" said Cap
| tain May, that the Scranton Gas and
Water company has given to this city
the finest private water system in the
country. 1t is also true that the COM
pany has paid its stockholders only
nominal dividends. From May to Feb
ruary there was a great drought The
Elmhurst reservoir was almost depleted
of it's supply, and Lake Scranton's
water went down sixteen feet.
MORE STORAGE NEEDED.
This made it evident to the company
| that it's storage facilities needed en-
largement. and instead of dividing
its profits in dividends the money
was put back into the plant in
the way of improvements. The
only method of storage here is
costly one. There is no river
from which a supply can be drawn
Reliance must be had on a limited
water shed. Every gallon of water used
in the city must be caught up and
stored. Despite this fact, the supply
has never failed. l have been a water
user for twenty-four years, and never
have received notice to curtail it's use
Instead of finding fault with Mr.
Scranton, we should blame ourselves
for what we are complaining of. The
fault lies in our wasteful methods OF
using water. In the city of Scranton
the consumption of water is 260 gallons
per inhabitant per day. The average
in the United States is 120 gallons. In
Philadelphia it is 160 gallons. In Eu-
ropean cities it is forty gallons day
In cities where the meter system pre-
walls, it is down to forty gallons.
"Mr. Scranton says he does not want
| to meter the water used for domestic
purposes, for fear of the i'll effects tc
the public health that may follow. Let
consumption of water be reduced and
the ills we complain of can be rem.
edied. AS long as the consumption is
so great, the company must be at q
great expense in maintaining an ade-
quate supply. Let us remember this
and not forget that we have the finest
water system in the United States
| The report of the committee was
adopted without discussion or dissent
MORE MEMBERS NEEDED.
The matter of increasing the boards
membership was provocative of {
lengthy discussion. Il. II. Dale, chair.
man of the membership committee, re.
ported that the committee considered
the matter yesterday morning, ant
came to an agreement that the mem.
bers of the board should make strenu
GUS efforts to secure new members. The
most practical method, the committee
thought would be to have the mem
bers pledge themselves individually Il
lbring in at least one new member be
fore the next meeting. There are III
members in the board now. he said
and there ought to be at least fifty
more than that number.
President Dickson commended tn,
suggestion of the committee. TIL,
boards sphere of usefulness should M
enlarged, the president said. There a
not enough of the influential men O
this city deyoting attention to the gen
eral welfare. The board of trade ca,
and should be q prominent factor il
instllling local patriotism into the peo
ple-and this city needs it like sixty,
he concluded.
Colonel F. l.. Hitchcock suggested
that if the dues We're reduced to SIS pc
year it would have the result of bring
ing III many who now remain away
because they feel they can not AFFORD
s25.
Secretary d. B. Atherton declared
that the board does not want any cheaI
| men, A $lo man is no good TO the boarC
of trade. Reduce the dues, he argued
and you will reduce the interest of tn,
members in the activities of the board
a man who has SIS invested is likely t,
take only half the interest that will b.
taken by one having $25 invested.
WHAT THE BOARD HAS DONE.
President Dickson suggested that tn
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