The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1921-06-11
Gulfport, Miss, June s, 1921.

Gulfport, Miss, June 3, 1871.
To the Citizens of Bay st. Louis:
Inasmuch as you now have before
won the matter of deciding whether
or not your city will install water
works system, it has occurred to me
that It might be helpful TO some ex-
tent should | call your attention to
a few phases of the question that
might otherwise be overlooked or re
I.eiva but casual consideration. In
doing this | trust that no one Will
do me the injustice Of mlsconstraIng
NV motives nor accuse me of butt
ing in"; because my sole object IS TO
aid you so far as | can IN making
an intelligent decision on this lmpor-
tant issue.
The first point to which | would
direct your attention is the tact tnat
the plan and report that | have sub
mited to your Board of Aldermen
are in no way final nor complete; as
complete plans and specifications are
vet to be prepared and adopted.
When such plans and specifications
shall have been prepared, all OF Lhe
physical factors will have received
full study SO that you may be as
sured Of a modern system II ne puf-
pose of the plan and report now on
file is simply to outline IN very
general way what is proposed TO De
done. To have gone to the expense OF
preparing elaborate plans and specl-
fications at the outset, would nave
been a dubious procedure.
In practically all cases where
municipal waterworks systems are
proposed, some opposition develops
on the basis that the system will not
serve all of the territory within the
corporate limits. In reference to this
aspect of the matter, l would say
that it is manifestly impossible Tor
YOU to cover your entire city be
cause of financial limitations and the
large percentage of sparsely settled
territory. The wise policy is to make
the initial layout so that it will
serve the greatest number OF people
with the amount available. Provision
should be made, howevr, for eXten-
sion that the future possibilities may
warrant.
1t should be apparent to any rea-
sonaDie person that the development
of your community depends largely
upon the encouragement that you
have to offer in the way of munlcl-
pal enterprises and there is no other
one feature that is quite SO funda-
mental in its value in this respect as
the one under consideration.
In further opposition to such an
Improvement, the argument is some
times advanced that some property
will be taxed to construct the system
without receiving any benefits there
from. The idea may be correct IN a
superficial way, but SO far as the
actual efforts are concerned the
point is not we'll taken. When a
waterworks system is properly de-
signed, installed and operated, the
resulting revenue should be sufficient
to absorb most, if not all, of the IN
debtedness and thus reduce the gen
eral expense to a nominal amount
and whatever this amount proves &c
be, the assessed valuations can be
so regulated to distribute the ex-
pense On an equitable basis. In this
connection it should be remembered
that the indirect benefits accruing tc
all property constitute no small item
When it is also remembered thai
the construction of the system as
contemplated together with some
Improvement in your Fire Depart
ment will place you IN position tt
claim third-class insurance rating
(your present rating being fourth
class which is the most hazardous
and the prohibitive), the value o.
the system should be corresponding