Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-10-31

that the real value cannot be measured
by any such small sums.
Mr. Baker brilliantly scored the ex-
perts called by the District to estimate
values. using some particularly neat
figures of speech. In reply to the argu-
ment that the system had not been de-
velOped according to the demands
that so far as the evidence showed no
demand had ever been made for service
that had not been FURNISHED and claim
ed that according to the testimony of
ex-Chief Plaisted the fire service had
always been excellent. He considered
the available aid from outside pumps
to be an advantage rather than a dis
advantage.
In the case of Fairfield, Mr.. Baker
stated that where the fire service had
shown to be inadequate it was because
of the negligence of the town authori-
ties in asking for sufficient number of
hydrants, and that the company would
have been pleased to furnish them and
sufficient mains for them. This right
was given by contract and the company
cannot be blamed because it is not
used The average pressure Of the
| hydrants he claimed to be Sc pounds
and considered this very satisfactory
| fire pressure.
He considered that as New England
| systems go the one under discussion is
a good, substantial, fair one, not such
a one as a skilled metropolitan engi-
neer could devise. but good in view of
the fact that it had been planned by
what is now an olden time engineer
and developed as the needs of the COM
munity have demanded. N.
! One of the most effective parts of
| Mr.. Bakers argument was when he de-
scribed how the plant had been offered
| to the town and refused only to have it
| held and developed to a superb sue
cess by the original incorporators. Now
when they are about to reap the results
! of their business foresight the district
| steps in and demands that it be turned
| over. He did not believe that any tri-
bunal in the State would allow this to
be done without the payment of fair
| and reasonable reward for all the pio-
| neer and experimental work that has
| been done. He did not believe that
| courageous men would be allowed to
| take all the risks Of developing a bust
| ness and then robbed of the Just re-
| ward of their labor.
In discussing the pollution of the
| water, Mr.. Baker attacked the whole
germ theory, declaring that Nature will
care for most of the germs in her own
way if given fair chance He pro-
fessed to be greatly surprised that the
harmful coli might be taken into the
system without any particular damage
being done. Hes a transient" said
Mr.. Baker, "and we may absorb many
| of him and still be perfectly happy"
The typhoid germ, he claimed, had not
| been proved to exist in the water.
He claimed that the people of Oak
| land compelled the taking of the water
below the Cascade dam instead Of di-
rect from the lake, as they wanted all
| the water to pass their mills. The in
| corporators. he said, honestly believed
that the supply was pure when they
| selected it. s.4f+t'
| In 1891 the water had been examined
| and analysed by the State Board of
| Health and pronounced good. The ty-
| phoid fever death rate in Waterville
| for years has been lower than the av-
| erage for all the places in the State In
| Fairfield it was much lower.
During the typhoid fever epidemic in
| Waterville there We're also many cases
in other parts of the State, even in the
| small country towns. He did not be-
| lieve that water had been the cause of
| these outbreaks and the water here was
certainly not the cause of it all. He
claimed that about as many people had
| typhoid who used other water as among
those who used only city water. Those
| who used several kinds of water he
thought could not be accurately con-
sidered in seeking cause.
| Tn the two cases which have been con
| sidered chiefly responsible for the cpl
demic. one was at the Waterville aims
house The company could not be blamed
because the city did not properly care
| for its own property. In the other case,
the Morrill, neighborhood, the drinking
| water was obtained from well and city
water was not used at all, as the pipe line
was three-quarters of a mile away.
| He believed that in these cases the ply
sicians should have properly reported the
| cases and seen to it that their instruc-
| tons were properly and faithfully OBJ
served and that police service should have
been furnished by the water company and
| all other precautions taken. The conn
pany, he said. did not realize that such
| conditions existed but had confidently re-
lied on the reports that the water was
| pure and good. -.
| He promised that in the future the COM,
pany, profiting by the lessons of the past,
would be glad to do it's share in policing
| the water shed and in taking other pre-
| cautions. D..
| Mr.. Baker most emphatically declared
| that the water of Messalonskee lake is
pure and a most excellent source of sup
ply, but admitted that the water was pol.
luted in passing through Oakland.
! This brought him to a discussion of the
possibility of preventing the pollution by
| law. Mr.. Baker introduced an exhaustive
and carefully prepared brief relating to
| the law governing the pollution of
streams
Mr.. Baker discussed at length the earn
| ing capacity of the plant, defending Wig
orously the method of bookkeeping and
management which had been criticized
by Mr.. Thayer in his argument.
In closing, Mr.. Baker discussed the
growth and ifu Of