The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-06-17

| out waiting Tor Jne enc VI sAe oiis a.
franchise period of 20 years for sllo'-
600 and sixty day option was given
the city at that price. The option will
expire in about thirty days and the
question now before the people OF
Sumter is: What shall be do with 1t?
We are emphatically and decidedly
in favor of the purchase for the fol-
lowing reason:
AS an investment the water system
is worth the price placed upon it by
It's owners. The present net income
Of the system will pay interest on the
purchase price and provide a sinking
fund that will, in fifty years, repay
the principal. Besides the income Of
the system is growing at more rapid
rate than the operating expenses, ana
the net income is absolutely certain
to be greater and greater each year.
Therefore the money that the city may
pay for the system will not be non
productive investment, such as street
improvements or a sewerage system
that entail an annual expenditure for
maintenance to be provided by taxa
tion, but an income producing invest
ment that will not only maintain itself
but will, in time, pay for itself. Some
may ask. ssHow is the city to raise
ss1o, 600 to pay for the system?" The
answer is easy. BY issuing so year
bonds bearing interest at 4 per cent.
which can be sold at or above par with
out difficulty. If s125,o0o in bonds
can be hoated at per cent. with only
the plant and franchise of the Sumter
Water Go. as security, does it seem I'M
probable that city of Sumter can float
s1o0, 600 or sl1O, 900 if that much be
necessary to purchase the water
workss
There is urgent need now for ex-
tension of the water mains so as to
provide fire protection for the residence
portions Of the city that are now
largely entirely without this protec-
tion. This condition of affairs may
not appeal to those citizens whose
property lies within easy reach of one
or more fire hydrants, but to the man
whose home is so far removed from
water main that he knows he must
stand helplessly by and watch it burn,
should it catch afre, for all the good
the water system, which he is taxed
TO support, would do, it appeals
most strongly. If the city owned the
water system the mains could be ez-
tended to cover the entire city, and
where there are now u hydrants there
could be 500 if SO many were needed.
It would cost something, Of course,
a good deal more than the city could
afford at one time, to make so great an
extension of the water mains, but 1t
would not be necessary to do it all in
one year. But when the extensions
were made and paid for the expense
would be at an end, for it costs no more
to maintain. forty or fifty miles of water
mains and 500 hydrants than it does
nine miles of mains and u fire hy-
drants. Yet, if the city fails to pur-
chase the water system, there are ex-
tensions of the mains that must be
made for they are absolutely necessary
and the taxpayers are clamoring for
water for domestic uso and fire protec-
tion, and the number of fire hydrants
must be largely increased, and for each
Sydrant the city must Pay the Sum-
ter Water Company an annual rent Of
s35 in perpetuity.
Under city ownership, every eSten-
sion of the water mains would be fol-
lowed by an increase in the income
earned by the system, for the number
of individual consumers of water in
creases as the mains are extended with
in their reach. On the other hand,
under the corporate ownership of the
water system every extension of the
water mains increases the burden the
city must bear, for every 500 feet Of
new main calls for another hydrant at
a rental of s35 a year-all Of which
comes out of the taxpayers pocket
Another consideration, every exten-
sion Of the mains increases the income
of the Sumter Water Company from
hydrant rent and individual consum-
ers, and, as the income increases the
commercial value of the system and
franchise grows at geometrial ratio.
Consequently if the present rate of
increase of the annual income Of the
Sumter Water Go. continues for the
next nine years the commercial value,
based on it's income productive ability,
will be something like 1925. 600 or