Evening journal., 1908-05-18
RESUME INQUIRY,
NOT MUCH DONE
Continued From First Page.

$1.64.40 per million gallons when he
only happens to consume fifty per cent.
Of the allowed quantity Under the
same line Of reasoning 1t can be DEM
onstrated that the man who occupies
room in hotel and sleeps but four
hours should pay only half as much as
another who sleeps his allotted eight
Ihorus, or that the passenger in a street
car who rides five blocks should pay
only one cent fare because his fellow
passenger on the same car can ride
twenty-five blocks for five cents
Below certain fixed limits, hotels and
street railways cannot be managed on
such theories and neither can the
Water Department.
1t must be conceded that the accom-
modation or service provided is worth
certain amount, regardless Of
whether or not the individual takes the
fullest advantage thereof In the case
of the Water Department this service
consists in providing the necessary
means for obtaining, straining, convey
/ ing and supplying water and this SER
| vice carries with it a certain fixed
charge independent Of any question Of
| the quantity Of water used. the only
expense that increases in direct pro-
Iportion to the water consumed being
the cost of pumpage amounting to not
over six dollars per million gallons It
| is a ell-established fact, readily rec
lognized by every business man Of in
Itelligence, that wholesale rates for any
commodity are and should be decided
Ily lower than the same commodity can
be sold for when doled out in minute
portions, and this rule applies with
equal force to the rates for metered
water, but when it is considered that
the proportipnate cost for providing
the means Of supplying water and for
collections and accounting, is practi-
cally as great for each small consumer
as 1t is for the large manufacturer,
there is reason for even a greater diff
ference than now exists, for it can be
shown that the city enjoys a far great
er profit from the water sold to manu-
Ifacturers than it does from the domes-
tic service.
As an example, take the morocco
factory of F. Blumenthal & Co., at
Lancaster avenue and Monroe street
This establishment has three large
meters; consumed in 1907. 306,sS0,00O
gallons, and paid an annual revenue of
Sl3,469. If the same ground were built
up with small residences there would
be about sixty-four dwellings. requir-
ing sixtV-four meters consuming on a
basis of fifty per cent. of the allow
Iance, $780, 900 gallons. and paying an
annual revenue Of $576. Yet the pro-
portionate cost for reservoir pumping
. engines, mains, services and meters
and for collections and accounting
would be approximately the same ir
both cases, while the one item that
1 would be increased because of tht
greater quantity of water consumed by
the morocco factory would be the cos
[ Of pumpage, amounting to about ST.
$50. AS revenue of this instance We
have the following;
Revenue from morocco factory. .$l5' 40
Revenue from GA dwell
ings at S9............S $1,000
Extra cost for pumpage,
at So ................ loIO.OO z'oS'
Net advantage from
l"losng" rate ................ .Sll'V q
And what applies in this case woul'
hold good with equal force, although
TO a lesser extent, in all the other mo
1 rocco factories, and many other manu-
featuring plants. It would therefor
s appear TO an unbiased mind as thoug!
the sale of water to the manufacturer
q at the so-called losing rate was
better business proposition than IN
.extortionate" rates charged to III
e 'poor" for domestic service, and pc
(. contra. that the small dwelling is re
e ceiving more value for service rendere
t I'm proportion to cost than the man
= ufacturing plant.
If this were not a fact, and the con
d tention that the department is FUR
= nishing water by wholesale at a los'
I be accepted as true, then the CIT