The Washington herald., 1907-12-29
AtIanta.s Dire Distress.

We sympathize very deeply with the
esteemed Atlanta Journal these days. For
months and months the Journal has ar
gued. demanded. pleaded. and threatened
in an effort TO secure a new pump
for the Atlanta city waterworks. The
Journal has though this to be a patriotic
duty; Il has watched the prohibition
drought approach with wary eye; II has
warned and cajoled, but thus far to no
purpose. The end of the year draws nigh,
unparalleled thirst comes on apace-and
still no pump
No wonder the Journal grows desperate
and proceeds 10 kick the lid entirely off
Indignantly resolved 70 let the arising OBJ
noxious aroma penetrate where it may
Keenly alive to the lateness OF the hour
and the stealthy tread of old Father
Time. our Georgia contemporary says:
''The journal knows nothing about the merits
Of the Wisconsin pump nor Of any other kind Of
pump 1t has pump suggest but II does
have the suggestion 20 make that the public have
right TO demand that the waterworks depart
ment Of the city select some sort Of a pump with
out further delay.
Councilman Hancock is risht when he says that
refusal 70 act this important question is
childish and breach q duty to the public The
Journal goes a little further than the councilman
and says that refusal 10 act and act promptly.
uIon the question is nothing less than a defiance
10 the public and if the present board is not
summoned BY President Rice. it should be sum-
moned by Mayor Joyner. and some sort Of action
should be taken"
This is nonpartisan, impartial and frank.
The Journal in the crisis upon Atlanta
brushes aside all prejudice or captious
comment. 1t has no particular pump in
view-all it asks is pump. any Old pump.
just as it is and without one plea, Less
than a week is there OF margin 10 spare;
January l ushers in the state of things
| that is calculated to transform Atlanta
from budding and blossoming oasis into
part and parcel Of surrounding Sahara.
The Journal does We'll 20 press the
question OF haste. IL knows the impor-
lance OF making hay while yet the sun
shines. In further comment. the Journal
somewhat passionately, perhaps. but not
petulantly or without justification. adds:
To send this question 10 the new council IS as
Councilman Hancock suggests. nothing short Of
cowardly. Such action mean nothing but an
effort 20 dodge public duty and VIII put the set
/ Element Of the pump Quest,ll several months fur
ther into the future.
Let this pump question be settled before the end
Of the year. and let contract be signed with soms
/ responsible company to begin at once the buidin.
/ OF pump
/ We hope Atlanta's council will awake
/ to the grim necessity of the hour. before
/ the ultimate torture OF an uporaDrbahle
/ thirst is upon the Gate City OF the South
The Journal is doing its best: angels
could do no more-but the conscript
father will not bulge. Whether they arc
/ indulging themselves in one long-drawn-
out and lasting farewell to old pals in
white aprons and of dextrous hands be.
/ hind polished bars and before bright and
beautiful mirrors. we know not nor seel
20 discover. Whether they are assem-
/ bled in solemn conclave about the Ca
in the Fount' at the Piedmont Hotel
there saying a fearful and abundant
good-by. We venture no guess. over al
Of that picture we draw a veil-we re-
! spect the sanctity OF the mourners' benc,
as it were. If there they be.
! The note that strikes a sympathetic
/ heartstring in our bosom is from the
Journal. crying. as with a voice in tn,
wilderness, "A pump. a pump, my king
dom for pump'-and none so poor L
heed its cry or do it reverence.