The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-03-05
WATER INQUIRY TO
Be MADE In CAPE
Council to Request State Com
mission to Hold Investi-
CATION.

At the meeting of the City Council
last evening, the Missouri Public
Utilities Company was brought to task
for its neglect of duty, and motion
of Councilman Black recommending
that formal complaint be made to the
Public Utilities Commission was
unanimously carried.
The Judiciary Committee in its re-
port on the petition in which the Mis-
souri, Public Utilities Company re-
quested that Water street be closed
from Mason to Olive street, that it
might be used by the water company
as the location for d settling basin,
recommended by the prayer of the pc
| titioner be denied
The report was signed by Council
man Armgardt and Black, and when
Mr.. Hoeller was asked by Mr.. Arm
gardt his reason for refusing to sign
| TIE report, stated that it was his
opinion that at the time the franchise
was granted, the right to close the
street was given the company 81
argued against it for a long time" he
said, "but when we yielded one thing
after another, said we might as we'll
let the hide go with the tallow, and
we all agreed that they could close
The street. I think you will find that
/ provision in the franchise and if it is
not there, will sign the report"
Upon motion duly made and second
ed, the report was withdrawn for fur
Their investigation.
Reports of lights not burning by of
ficers Hutson and TalIey were refer
red to the Water and Light Commit
tee, and the statement of the Missouri
Public Utilities Company for lights
furnished the city in February, was
referred to the Water and Light Com
mittee with power to act in the mat
/ ter.
Councilman Kaess stated that the
water company had ignored instruc-
/ tons t. place a water main on Fred
erick street one block north from VIII
liam to Mcrriwether, and his motion
that the company be instructed again
to attend to the matter, was carried.
Feb. 16, 1915.
/ Mr.. w. d. Black,
Cape GirardeaU, Mo.
Ny Dear Sir: | have your letter Of
February - regarding the samples of
water, and saying that you had sent
samples to two other chemists. / do
not see any use in our continuing the
examinations if YOU are doing this. |
do not know to whom you have sent
them. but | do know that Il number Of
laboratories which make money out of
such work are apt to give opinions
which the scnders of the sample wish.
| | presume that the sample sent to JEFF
! fcrson City goes to the State Board
OF Health, and they, like ourselves, are
/ absolutely unbiased by any question
/ of profit. | do not object to having
our analysis scrutinized in the most
/ rigid manner, if the samples are col
! lected simultaneously, and shipped in
the same way, and reach their desti-
nation at approximately the same
time. Further than this, the opinion
given upon the analysis Of a sample
of water is liable to modification, ac-
cording to the knowledge which one
has Of the surroundings. For example
| if sample. of water is sent to me and
shows high percentage Of salt, ! an
very apt to condemn it, because sew
age is the chief way in which salt
gets into water. However, in central
New York, and in other parts of the
country, there are salt wells and the
water from those localities may con-
tain a large quantity of salt which is
not derived from sewage, and does not
mean that water is impure. 1t is for
this reason that asked so many ques-
lions about the surroundings, so that
l could have some idea os to how our
findings should be interpreted. | ex-
pect to go down to Charleston during
the month of March, and if possible,
will be glad to stop off at your place
and make an inspection of YOUR water |
works, which will put me in 4 much |
better position to give you a fair |
opinion.
l am, Very sincerely yours,
NJ P Ravenel.
Feb. 20, 1915.
Mr.. Walter D. Black, Chairman,
Water and Light Committee,
Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Dear Sir: Your letter of Feb. IS, en-
closing an analysis made by the De-