New-York tribune., 1907-08-26
TITUS BILLS HELD UP
CITY OFFICIALS At WAR.
Finance Department Engineers Oo-
ject to Pumping WorIf at Jameco.


day that unless Mr Titus receives his money
without further delay he will sue for IT,
Back OF the objection the part OF the
finance department. engineers to passing MI
Tftuss bills Is story Of inside strife and pro-
fessionaI pride Of opinion. The predictl0h -
heard freely around the City Hall that as
result o, the fight made by certain engineers
in the water and finance departments against
Mr. Titus T. NJ De VarOna, chief engineer.
VIII sever his connection with the water de-
partrlent on the request OF Water Counnis-
sfoner O-FsrTen. Commissioner O'Brien is said
to be of the opinion that De Farona IS respo'-
sibIe for the hostility to Mr. Titus
Interest in the controversy is enhanced oY
reason OF the fact that the city has just en-
tered into new contract with Mr. TITUS m
voIving the building of two ne" Punlpins
stations in the Borough OF Brooklyn ana 'H'
furnishing by Mr.. Titus Of about 2noN"s'"
gallons of water day within the next year
Mr. Titus seems 10 be going ahead with hts
later contract. although he is dispieased anoue
the hold-up of his bills by the Controllers o.
fee 1t is charged by engineers In the Finance
Department that all the work that MI THUS -
NOW doing and is about to do could be done
bettsr by the city and that the city Is conduct
ing an extremely wastefuI and foolish expert
ment in turning over to a private conIrac'oi
work that il should do itself
WANT TITUS PAID.
At the meeting Of the Board Of Estiulate
Septernber 20 Water Commissioner O'Brien and
Deputy Water Commissioner Cozier will insist
that all further obstructive tactics with refer
ence to Mr.. Tftus's work be abandoned; fnae
he receive his pay for services since December
at Janleco and that certain alleged unreasona-
bic restrictions in the Jarneco pumping contract
cited by engineers in the finance department.
be eliminated
Chandler wilmington. chief engineer OF ths
finance department., in a special report To tho
Board of Estimate, charges In effect that tho
so-caned Titus deep wells at Janeco ars rob
bing the shaIIover wells operated by the city
at adjacent points OF needed water, and that
the pumping of the water from deep level
induces the inflow Of salt water from the OCEAN
near Jameco. giving to the water considerable
percentage Of chlorine Commissioner OBrter
and Deputy Water Commissioner Cozier stout-
" assert that the presence of chlorine n the
Jarneco water is so inconsiderabls that IL Is
not worth mentioning and that its presence
in the water is not due to deep we'll pumping
Meanwhile. Mr. Titus has filed a. bond for
| $4,000 guaranteeing the faithful performance OF
his new Brooklyn contract, which Is. IN brief.
that he will esta oii.h two pumping stations.
in the Ridgewood district and in the New
Utrecht district. with total capacity Of 10000.
6o gallons of water day, at cost OF 500 a
million gallons. A bondins company furnished
the surety for the performance of Mr. Titus's
contract. but the company required Mr. Titus TO
furnish a private bond signed by twenty re-
sponsibIe men, each one OF whom is liable for
the entire indemnifying in the bond held
by the city The two plants to be built by MIR
Titus are 10 become at the end OF five years the
property OF the city. although Mr.. Titus will
have pay every cent OF the cost OF building
and equipping them
PROFIT OF 100000
The engineers in the finance department estI-
mate that the water Mr. Titus pumps will cost
him S25 million gallons, leaving him profit
OF $50 a million gallons or 5000 day. Assum-
ing that it will take full year for him TO es-
tabIish his double plant in Brooklyn he viii
have four years left in which TO make his profit.
estimated by the engineers at SS16.ooo From
this sum must be deducted the cost OF the plant.
variousIy estimated at from si00Oeo TO sJO00-0.
leaving estimated net profit for the five years
of about 100000
Commissioner O'BrIen and Deputy Commits
sioner Cozier admit that Mr.. Tituss net profit.
provided his expectations are realized viii reach
about this figure but they say that he is taking
a tremendous risk in guaranteeing to do task
like this and that if he fails the city will col
Iect from his bondsmen. and at the end OF five
about be installed
The Tribune Iasr year told about the advent 81
snas w. Titus at Jameco The city owns an ex-
pensfve pumping plant at Jameco. out near Mas
sa pequa on the southern shore Of Long Island
When the plant was new. it produced six or
seven million gallons of water day. Previous
., 1904 onIv shallow wells were used in Connec-
tio, With the plant but in 1896 deep wells
driven and continuously operated by the city
until December, 1908. Their output gradually
decreased because of deterioration OF the plant
and the lack OF proper maintenance
lust before John T. Oakley retired from the
water department, in 1905. Mr.. Titus called his
attention TO the rundown condition Of the ia
meco plant. but obtained little satisfaction
In January 1906. William B. Ellison succeeded
Mr. oakley and William Cozier was appointed
Deputv Commissioner in Brooklyn by Mr.. Eli
SON Mr. Titus called Cozier and Ellison and
told them what ought to be done at the Jameco
plant in order to increase the output. His sug-
gestiOn interested Mr.. Cozer and Mr. Ellison
for the reason that Brooklyn had only recently
passed through a water famine scare. The
Brooklyn papers and tine various city Organiza-
ttons in that borough kept up a continual pound
ing of the water department officials for their
alleged incompetency in not providing MAXI
mum supply OF water
DE VARONA Is TRANSFERRED.
Mr. Titus told Commissioner Ellison that he
would enter into an agreement with the city 90
take over the Jameco plant and TO more than
treble the output while at the time he
would ask the city TO pay only for the water in
excess Of the amount that being produced
from day TO day the time that he took
tine plant. Mr. Ellison referred the proposition