The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-02-12
Paige Delivers the Goods;
 Water Go. Wins Fight
fcontinued from Page 1.1

tCOnIluueO IIOIn rage 11
 "If one-fourth of the company's value ought to be s, 900 600 in the city limits. We will take off another mil lion, and you will all agree that it is not too much to say $2,000,000. The tax on this amount for 20 years will aggregate s4OOOOO. This with the amount paid for water and other ex- penses will bring the amount that the city is out of pocket by this contract up to a round million of dollars.
 "This exemption of taxation would never have been put into the contract if the works of the company within the city of Bridgeport were not worth more than a million.
 This feature of valuation is alone 8 great injustice and I assure you that the contract ought not to be sustain ed
 '-Now, why should the company ob- ject to living under it's charter.
 Because under it's charter the com- pany is bound to give the city water free, in payment for the exclusive privilege 1t enjoys in using the streets of the city and of selling to cOnsunl- CTS.
 '.The company is bound by this char ter made in 1853, by Nathaniel Greene, to furnish water to the city and the inhabitants thereof as cheaply as 1t is furnished by any other private person or corporation.
 q say that the city should be re- ceiving water for nothing because New Haven is receiving water for municipal purposes free.
 ''The New Haven water company pays taxes on a full valuation. If private consumers are not satisfied with the rate, a board of arbitration can be appointed by the consumers and the company to change the rate.
 If the surplus of the profits of the New ii ,e,i water is greater than the expenses the directors of the water company are t" reduce the price of water wlthOEt any arbitration
 In New Haven the company can- net put a consumer on n1etered ser vice unless the consumer desires It. Tn Bridgeport the consumer has no rights in this matter under this con- tract made for 20 years
 ''Now you may ask what has this New Haven contract got to do with the Greene charter the Bridgeport Hydraulic Go, is bound 10 furnish us water as cheaply as furnished by any other city. New Haven is ore city where water is being furnished cheap CT than in this city because it gives water free for municipal purposes.
 "Of course an attempt has been made to belittle this Greene contract but if it were not for that charter there is 8 doubt whether there would have been any Bridgeport Hydraulic Co. in existence today. It is a matter of great importance, this charter.
 "In 1853 Nathaniel Greene said if the city would give him the exclusive use of the streets and the right to furnish water to the city and it's in- habitants he would furnish water to the city free of charge. Now there were some great and good men, some Of whose pictures I see hanging on the walls of the council chamber, who thought that this proposition was a good one. F'jfty-seven years ago is 9 long time, but that charter granted at that time has remained good. The charter of Nathaniel Greene was as- stunned by the Bridgeport Water Co. and in turn was succeeded by the Bridgeport Hydraulic Co.
 Tn 1886 the Bridgeport Hydraulic Co. got into disrepute because of the character of it's service. The direc- tors of the old company protested against the chartering of the Citizens Water Co. Some of the men who chartered the Citizens Water Co. were James Staples. Dr. I. De Yer Warner, Charles Hotchkiss. Samuel Banks, w. F. Pinkham and Emory F. Strong. "This Citizens Company got a char ter from the Legislature and the right of eminent domain. They got into a clash with the Bridgeport Hydraulic Co. They went to the courts. The Citizens Company wanted to condemn Mill River which the company already had. Now these men were determin- ed men. The Citizens Water Co. said, Most certainly we can take this prop erty. We have a charter from the State of Connecticut
 '"The Citizens Company had such eminent counsel as John 1T. Beach of New Haven and David F. Hollister of this city. The Bridgeport Hydraulic Go. was represented by the great Charles A. Ingersoll of New Haven and the late Goodwin Stoddard and Charles Sherwood of this city.
 ''The Bridgeport Hydraulic Co. said | that it was not in the power of the State to give the Citizens Co. char