Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1922-02-23
THE WATER PRESSURE
Editor Cheraw Chronicle:

said about the water system in a re-
cent issue of your paper, and asked
me to "retract" On the other hand,
Mr.. H. living in the west end Of town,
wants me to give them hell and
something else;" Mr.. P. said, "You
scored them, 1t was all right" Mr..
NJ. said, "Give them some more" Mr..
L. said, "You have the backing of the
best people in town." Mr.. Nc. says
he wants to see some more of the
same stuff as we need it; Mr.. G..
wants me to pay no attention to Mr..
Smith" Many others expressed SINH
lar views to me since my former let
ter appeared.
l should like to accommodate all of
these people, but it is manifestly
impossible. A man cannot go north
and south at the same time. l have
nothing to "retract," and what Mr..
HIS something else" is do not
know, nor do | deal in "hell." 1t is
heaven that l traffic in, heaven.
did not expect to engage in news
paper controversy, but it seems to be
forced upon me. Let me first of all
assure Mr.. Smith that / did not have
him in mind when l wrote, and so did
him no great injustice In fact,
l never think of MIR. Smith except
when I see him, and that is not often.
I also wish to assure your readers
that there was nothing personal in my
communication, as I told Mr.. Smith
before his letter appeared. Mr.. Smith
has made a good superintendent, and
is a good man when he is not hot un-
der the collar but when he is hot he
forgets everything that he learned in
Sunday School Ask Mr.. Eugene
Long. | had In mind the water svs-
TEN only, that was installed nine
years ago-in Mr.. Smiths absence,
believe, and in which l think the town
got stung.
Now let me take up Mr.. Smiths let
ter He takes my letter to himself.
Did he think | was "criticising" him?
Well, the poor soul! He Identifies
himself with the water system. | did
not know that HE was 1T. He says
I also criticised "the town councils
backbone" That is not true. I never
mentioned the town council. l said
"the towns backbone" The board OF
trade and the town council do things
in this town. So do individuals. II
am told that it was Mr.. Castor and
Mr.. Stevenson personally who got US
the Sunday telephone service that we
have. One man on his own initiative
got us the early and the late train on
the A. c. L. railroad. It was On
mans independent work that so! the
Coast Lines freight depot up ,o"n.
and the same mans work that knC"';c9
the union station in the vest nri Of
town on the head and killed it. But
had in mind neither the town council
nor the board of trade, nor any indi-
vidual, least of all Mr.. Smith
Mr.. Smith says, "As l am response
BILE for the efficiency Of the vnter
system" Since he assumes response
bility there must be something in m"
criticism" that hurts. at is the
wounded bird that futters" and eft
is the whipped dog that howls," and
it is the CALLED jade that winces."
However, while his sponsibility'
in the matter was not in my mind,
am glad he told us of that fact.
Mr. Smith quotes me as follows:
There was no pressure on the water
when the alarm was given, and by thN
time that was put on the big barn an'
contents were completely Destroyed" :"
and then Mr.. Smith saws this is TAB
solutely incorrect" He also says Mr.
Thomas told him that on this occa-
sion the pressure was splendid" r"
There must have been occasions
when it was notl. I have no reason
to change my assertion. Mr.. Gillespie,
Mr.. Seymour and others assure me
that only small stream came for q
long time with which they could do
nothing; and it was spoken around
that someone had to go and put on
pressure. One who was at the Meikle-
John mill fire says that the stream
jumped only about eight feet in front
of the nozzle, and for a time nothing
could be done When the pressure
came the fire department did splendiG
work. Others tell me that at every
fire there is low pressure at first; and
that Mr.. Smith goes down to the pump
and starts it whenever there is fire
Any system that has to be walked up
and coaxed in that way is not effcient
do not say this is Mr.. Smiths fault
but do say that it is the fault of the
system. Sumter, Camden, Greenwood
and other towns have standpipes and
not factory tanks, and they need no
fire engine for ordinary fires. When
Sumter put in its water system THIRTY
YEARS apn the nrnssure from the wat.