Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-01-05
HE WATER QUESTION
A Flat Raie of 1 1-2 Cents Would
 PayFo the System.

A great many things have been said regarding the action of the board of public works on the water ques- ton which the facts do not warrant and as result views expressed here and there look somewhat out of true. To begin with, nothing has been said In the recommendation to the alder men about the immediate use of me- ters in all places where water is used, although it might just as well be ad- mitted .that that is the end in view. However. there Is no use trying to cross a bridge until you reach it, so that it would be well to let this re- main in the background and take up the question of rates. While the board of public works has not done what was expected in this matter, what it has done is a short step in the right direction. It aims to lessen the price on the small consumers and increase 1t on the large ones. so that under the proposed scale the real heavy customers would pay almost double what 1t now costs and the ex- pense to household consumers would be greatly reduced. Some don't like this and insist that the big consum- DTS should have all the water they want for nothing. The strange fea- ture about this is that the small con- sumers are making the most noise about the inability of the big fellows to carry an equitable share of the burden. Just as I have repeatedly told" said a manufacturer to a Dem ocrat reporter, ''the little fellow is not satisfied with seeing the big fel- low carry his share. The large con- sumers of water never, so far as I know, refused to pay the same price for water as the small ones do, but lpomebody outside their circle has al- ways took up the cudgels for them iand refused to let them pay on the same basis as others" This is why you haven't the fiat rate. According : to Mir Kennedy flat rate of cent and one-half with the metered sys- tenn would raise enough revenue to run the water system and leave a net surplus over. If this be so what logic is there in the objection to meters? As a matter of fact 1t is those who would profit most by them who are making the biggest effort to keep them out. What harm can there be in metering all heavy consumers? Some answer this by saying the ten ants will let the faucets run and rob me. No such thing. The tenant can't do that any more than he can go to your coal and wood. If the landlords look out for their plumbing they can very easily correct any abuse that might be attempted on the part of tenants. At the present time the city has about HOO meters in use. The number of consumers is something in the neighborhood of 5000. Those who are metered feel aggrieved on account of the price they are paying, and no wonder. be- cause 1t costs them more than it ought to. With the whole system metered the rate would be cut in two and then nobody would have reason to find fault except somebody who wanted the service for nothing.
 It may look like joke, but it is true all the same, that the more water the city sells the less it makes. Why, then. should it cling to a sys- tenn that invites patronage from which it derives nothing? Give Wa terbury a fiat rate and a metered sys- tenn and then there will be no kick. Workingmen should not work them- selves into white heat about tho shops not being able to pay. What they should concern themselves most about is what this water is going to cost in their own homes. The manu- lecturers will take water from the city just as long as they can do bet fer there than elsewhere, and not one day longer. They can employ some other method for running elevators when they want to and in case the emergency arises they will be equal 10 1t. Nobody need fear that any of them will get up and leave town. This Is a sort of scarecrow that is al- ways set up whenever anything Is mentioned which tends to an equality of rates in water, and if you notice the thing is invariably trotted out by somebody who hasn't a dollar invest ed in one of the shops. The stock holders are not worrying. Some of them are on record as stating that the only fair way for the city to dis pose of water Is to sell 1t at the same price to all. Others take the ground that if there is any discrimination it should be in favor of the small con sumers, and there you are. Every body wants to treat the manufactur- CTS right. Why not then take them ct their word and establish fiat rate with meters and have done with this for good?
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