The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-16
NEW HAVEN MORNING JOURNAL AND COURIER TUESDAY 1e


The municipal plants at Chicago and
Cleveland are found to be deficient as
regards installation of pressure gauges.
Syracuse (municipaD and Indianapolis
and New Haven are equipped with re-
cording gauges In Chicago complaints
of lack of pressure were numerous,
houses in certain districts being able
to get water In their upper stories on
~ at night. In Cleveland and Syracuse,
the pressure was, on the whole, salts
tory. This also applies to Indianapolis
and New Haven.
Summarizing the results of the in
vestigation as to the quality and puri-
ty of the water supplied. Messrs. Ed
gar and Clark say:
This phase Of the question may be
summarized with the statement that
while the natural conditions in the diff
ferent cities call for different methods
of treatment, it is evident that the two
companies examined were more solicit
tous regarding the purity Of the wa
ter supply, and adopted more thorough
means for insuring the same than did
the three municipalities who ran their
own water department.
"The conclusion drawn as result Of
water Is that the water supplied by the
two companies is good, sanitary wa
ter; that its quality Is much better than
the water supplied in Chicago, some
what better than the water supplied in
Cleveland and quite as good as the wa
ter supplied at Syracuse. The latter
place is best with water from a source
which, down to the date of this report,
has remained pure without any special
expense or effort on the part of the
water department.
ut seems that the citizen obtains the
cheapest water in Cleveland, while New
Haven is the second cheapest. At In
dianapolis the poor man gets water
fairly cheap, but the cost increases rap
idly as the class of dwelling improves.
AT both Chicago and Syracuse the poor
man pays high price for water.
Financial Results.
Under the heading Financial an
exhaustive review Of the economic oper-
aticns of municipal and private under
takings both in Great Britain and the
United States is given by the review
ers, who find that 1t Is admitted by
the advocates of muntcipalization that
the debts Of British cities have been
enormously increased by its operations.
1--WE venture to believe" they say,
that the loss to the communities whose
municipal industries we have investi-
gated from bad management and lack
of enterprise, resulting in restricted
service Of modern utilities, is many
times the profit these cities claim to
have realized from their Rip Van Win
kle methods of serving the public.
ut Is not worth while to discuss the
effect on the finances Of American cit
les Of the municipal operations Of the
industries that we have here investigat-
ed. Properly audited they have, with
one or two exceptions, lost money, and
their plants are all inadequate to good
service and have, with the exception
Of the water plants, little more than a
scrap value in view Of the present state
Of the arts. What effect could such poor
efforts as we have witnessed have on
public wealth or public comfort? It
cannot fail to be bad" ~
Mr.. Edgar and Mr.. Clark conclude
their present review as follows:
Whatever the subjective relation Of
municipalities to their reform, their OBJ
jective relation, as we have seen, is far
from what 1t once was regarding the
commodities and service to be munich
palized. They have been obliged by the
logic Of events to cut away from much
that seemed precious to themselves and
to many who trained with them. Their
opponents. taking cognizanee of the
projects abandoned, hoped that now
municipalities might be pinned down
to the consideration of ascertained
facts relating to undertakings which
their representatives have had an OPP
portunity to visit and to developments
obvious to all who are interested in
the progress Of the debate on the ques-
ton. The voluntary movement of the
municipalities to this not easily shift
able point would, we submit, in itself
have been a contribution to the cause
Of truth and a source of qualification
to their adversaries. But the radical
British municipalizer has exhibited the
resources of hope and fancy, If not Of
logic and consistency. While his Amer
lean comrade is still shouting for mu-
nlcipal ownership, he is to-day, in his
latest frame Of mind, looking expect
antly to 'munlcipalization by provinces
that Is, for gas, water, tramways and
electricity he now wants national gov
eminent, appropriation, ownership and
operation. He has dropped municipal
| ism and comes out for what he all the
time had in the background of his
thought-socialism
THUS the familiar old song of state
socialism is paraphrased. The principle
was accepted by leading municipalities
Of Great Britain, who appeared before
our commission In London, and it is
the logical outcome of municipalization.
when ex-Mayor Dunno, Of Chica-
go, came out last summer for twenty
year franchises for the street car cor
lporations of his city he demolished his
platform, ignored his campaign pTinci-
pies and returned to the system of pri-
vate ownership in the one industry
whose reform through municipalizatior
was the loudest cry that gave him his
Office"