And now we come to the story of the long fight for pure water in
Pittsburgh. The irony of the situation is, that there should ever have
been a long fight in a city which has since 1863 publicly recognized
the danger of impure water, the significance of which has almost
continually been brought before the people by press and platform
alike, for the past fifteen years. The story of the whole filtration
movement cannot be separated from the story of the struggle for
supremacy of contending factions in the dominant political party. And
the result,--excess typhoid with its terrible cost,--becomes part of
the penalty the city has had to pay for such corruption as the present
graft proceedings in councils are bringing to light.
[Illustration]
The situation at the beginning of the filtration movement in 1895-96
was this: One of the strongest political machines in the history
of municipal government was in absolute control in Pittsburgh. It
mattered not who was elected mayor; he had no responsible power.
Heads of departments were appointed by outgoing councils. This meant
that department heads held over, and used their power to re-elect as
in-coming councilmen the outgoing councilmen who had elected them.
Moreover, councils were controlled by the ring.[13] In this way the
political machine was self-perpetuating. The directors of public
works drew specifications for public improvements; councils awarded
contracts; and it is a matter of notorious record that the well-known
firm of which one of the ring leaders was a member usually secured the
contracts.
[13] For an analysis of Pittsburgh politics during this period under
the leadership of Magee and Flinn, see Lincoln Steffens's The Shame of
the Cities.
The municipal election in February, 1896, was hard and bitterly
fought. George W. Guthrie headed the reform party as candidate for
mayor. According to one authority the majority of ballots cast were
for Guthrie, but when the count came in officially a few days after
election, the ring had won. With the mayor, both branches of councils,
and the director of public works all of the dominant party, the
carrying out of their ante-election pledges so far as filtration was
concerned would seem a matter of course.
True to these pledges, a resolution for the appointment of a Filtration
Commission, to include the mayor, the president of each council, and
eight citizens,--making eleven in all,--passed City Councils on June
8, 1896, and was approved by the mayor on June 10.
[Illustration]
The commission was promptly appointed and set to work to make a
thorough investigation into the relative merits of various methods of
filtration and water supplies in use in cities of the United States and
Europe. Allen Hazen, a leading expert on filtration, was employed for
the first phase of the investigation, and Prof. William T. Sedgwick
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, eminent as a sanitary
expert, investigated the typhoid situation in the city. Morris Knowles,
C. E., was appointed resident engineer in local charge of all items of
experiment and investigation. Various members of the commission visited
European and American cities to study filtration methods; extended
bacteriological and analytical studies of the Allegheny River water
were made; small, slow, sand filter beds and standard make mechanical
filters were set up at the experiment station to test the relative
merits of each as applied to Allegheny River water; and nothing was
left undone as a means of arriving at a sound conclusion. Over two and
a half years elapsed between the appointment of the commission and the
rendering of its report.
The report, which was very elaborate, was presented at a joint session
of councils on February 6, 1899, and showed that the members of the
commission were united in their belief that, all things taken into
consideration, a slow, sand filtration plant should be constructed.
In accordance with its recommendation steps were immediately taken
for the issue and sale of bonds to provide the necessary funds, a
public election for this purpose being held on September 19, 1899. The
appropriation ordinance for the year 1900 contained "No. 100; for the
purpose of extension and improvement of water supply and distribution,
including the filtration of such water supply, and providing and
furnishing meters to be used in connection therewith ... $2,500,000."
The ordinance authorizing the controller to issue bonds for the
purpose as above specified was passed by Select Council in March, and
approved by the mayor April 3. So that prior to May 1, 1900, a fund of
$2,500,000 became available, and the prospect for the prompt erection
of the plant would have been bright, but for the fact that during the
four years since 1896 certain changes in the attitude of the members
of the ring toward one another had taken place, that were destined
to involve further complications. One member (Magee) had aspirations
toward the United States Senate. In this he encountered opposition from
the other end of the state, and in the struggle for state supremacy
that followed, Pittsburgh was left largely to another member of the
ring.
[Illustration]
In the early part of 1900 E. M. Bigelow, who for a long time had been
director of public works, had a row with this leader (Flinn) over
certain matters of public work. The result was that on June 11, 1900,
the ring-controlled councils threw Mr. Bigelow out of office and
elected as director of public works a man more friendly to the ring.
This break between Flinn and Bigelow was the beginning of the long
series of events that retarded the filtration movement for at least
four years.
Bigelow was now "out." The new director of public works, appointed
by councils was acceptable to the ring that was "in"; so was the
membership of councils. The question with Bigelow was, naturally, how
to get back into office. This is the way he accomplished his desire.
The ousted director had a brother, who, it is said, had an old grudge
against the ring. He went to Harrisburg and prevailed upon the
State Legislature to grant Pittsburgh a new charter, abolishing the
office of mayor and substituting that of recorder, this office to be
filled by the governor until April, 1903, when the regularly elected
recorder would come into office. The charter also gave the recorder
much larger powers than the mayor had previously enjoyed, among them
the appointment of heads of departments and the right to enter into
contracts hitherto the prerogative of councils alone.
[Illustration]
As might be expected, the newly appointed recorder soon exercised the
authority vested in him by the terms of the new charter, and on June
11, 1901, removed the head of the department of public works again
installing Mr. Bigelow in that important position, just one year after
he had been removed by councils.
It must be remembered that while Mr. Bigelow had again secured the
directorship of the Department of Public Works, there had been no
change in councils, which were still enrolled on the side of the
ring. While councils could not now stop the preparation of plans and
specifications for the proposed filtration plant, they could make a lot
of trouble in other ways; and so they did.
There are contradictory statements at this time as to just how much
progress had been made on plans during the year that Mr. Bigelow was
out of office. One side claims that "sixty per cent of the plans had
been drawn"; the other said, "only part of the plans." At any rate,
within six weeks Mr. Bigelow removed the engineer who had served under
his immediate predecessor, appointed as resident engineer Morris
Knowles (who was later appointed chief engineer of the newly created
Bureau of Filtration), and directed him to start work on plans for the
filtration plant.
At the same time councils proceeded in an attack on the director for
alleged delay in the preparation of plans; and on November 11, 1901,
presented a report to its filtration committee declaring Mr. Bigelow
entirely responsible for all the delay in the preparation of plans
and specifications, adding that these delays had been "gross and
inexcusable." This report was accompanied by a resolution ordering
Director Bigelow to furnish within ten days, to the filtration
committee, for its approval, all the plans and specifications for the
work lying north of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, directing him
further to proceed with the utmost diligence to the completion of the
plans and specifications for the remainder of the plant, and to submit
the same to the filtration committee on or before December 2, 1901. The
report and resolution were adopted by both councils on the day of their
presentation. The real motive for this attack is readily inferred.
[Illustration]
In the meantime the opposing faction had been working with the
governor, and after a notorious meeting at the Duquesne club, the
governor was prevailed upon to remove his first appointed recorder, on
the pretext that he had displaced several old soldiers from office,
and to appoint another recorder in his place,--this time a man upon
whom the machine could rely. At the close of the letter of removal, the
governor added a now famous postscript, "I was not bribed."
With the appointment of the new recorder, Bigelow was again forced out
of the office of director of public works. This put the ring again in
full control, with even greater powers than it had before. A year and
a half had elapsed since the $2,500,000 became available, and all that
the people had to show for it were eighty-five acres of land, part of
the plans and specifications completed, and over 600 more deaths from
the scourge of typhoid fever.
The next move was made within ten days after Director Bigelow's
dismissal, when another ordinance for the letting of the contract was
introduced. It quickly passed both councils and received the recorder's
approval. By this ordinance the contract was not to exceed $1,500,000
and was to be for the construction of "so much of the filtration plant
as is shown upon the drawings and description in the specifications, as
and to be known as contract No. 1."
[Illustration]
Under this ordinance the new director advertised for bids, which were
received and opened. It appeared that the lowest bid was made by the T.
A. Gillespie Company, at about $1,292,000. The director and recorder
were preparing to let this contract for part of the work to the
Gillespie Company, and it looked as though the faction of the ring now
in the saddle would win the stakes.
But they had not reckoned all the odds. The opponents of the ring,
in this two-sided hold-up game, brought out another winning card. It
was in the person of John P. Edgar, a citizen of Steubenville, Ohio,
but the owner of property in the thirty-seventh ward, Pittsburgh, who
entered suit in the United States Circuit Court at Pittsburgh for an
injunction to restrain the recorder and director of public works from
awarding the contract. The case was argued before Judge Buffington on
March 3, 1902, W. B. Rodgers and George W. Guthrie appearing for the
plaintiff, and Thomas D. Carnahan, city solicitor, for the city. Suit
was based on the allegation that no estimate had been presented to
councils for the whole cost of the improvement, and that the letting
of this partial contract would be in violation of the new charter,
which required that before any contract for public improvement could
be entered into, such an estimate for the entire cost must have been
presented. The city solicitor showed that an estimate had been made
of the entire cost, but this estimate had not been made public or
submitted to councils. Mr. Rodgers maintained that this estimate must
be submitted to councils and approved by them. He and Mr. Guthrie
also claimed that the contract should embrace the completion of the
work. On March 13, 1902, Judge Buffington issued the injunction prayed
for. The court held that the estimate of the whole cost, required by
the charter, must be made to councils and become a matter of public
information, and that such an estimate had not been made.
[Illustration]
The machine was temporarily blocked, but five days after the injunction
had been granted, the recorder instructed his director of public works
to have blueprints, plans and estimates of the entire filtration
system ready to present to councils at as early a date as possible,
thus starting the necessary legal steps for placing a new contract.
Within a month these plans and estimates, involving an expenditure
of $3,635,500, were prepared and submitted to councils, and three
ordinances for the letting of contracts were presented. The increase
over the first estimate was explained as due to an increase in the
number of services to be metered, and to a general increase in the cost
of materials.
These three ordinances were indefinitely postponed, however, in
councils, because more money for the construction of the plant under
the increased estimate was not available.
The next hold-up came from the city controller, who on May 1, 1902,
sent the following letter in duplicate to Recorder Brown and Director
McCandless:
In view of the uncertainty attending the proposed filtration of
the water, and the doubt as to the ultimate disposition of the
matter by councils, this department desires to notify you that
on and after May 10, no indebtedness against that appropriation
for any purpose, except for labor or supplies previously
furnished, should be incurred, as, under the decision of the
court, there is now no authority for any expenditure for
filtration purposes.
In the meantime, about April, 1902, and all through that summer,
advocates of a mountain water supply were at work. At the same time
changes in councils threw out of the Filtration Committee members
favoring sand filtration and elected opponents of the plan to its
membership. The result was that on July 21, 1902, an ordinance was
brought forward authorizing the Filtration Committee to prepare, in
conjunction with the superintendent of the Bureau of Water Supply, or
some other competent engineer designated by the director of public
works, estimates showing the entire cost of the installation of the
proposed sand filtration plant. Early in January, 1903, this resolution
had passed both councils. It was, however, vetoed by the recorder on
the ground that it was unnecessary, the Department of Public Works, he
held, having already furnished full estimates, in good faith, and being
ready to assist councils further in any manner that might be suggested.
The recorder added in his veto: "If the purpose of this resolution
is ultimately to defeat the proposed plan of sand filtration and
substitute therefor a system of mechanical filtration, I am unalterably
opposed to it." An attempt to pass the resolution over the recorder's
veto was made, but it failed for lack of the necessary three-fifths
vote.
[Illustration]
In the meantime an ordinance was presented authorizing a public
election for a bond issue large enough to cover the difference between
the amount of money then available and the amount required under
the increased estimate. All that came of this was an inquiry by the
sub-committee to which it had been referred as to whether the new
estimate included coverings for the filter beds, and whether the South
Side was to be given filtered water. After ten months' further delay,
this sub-committee reported that the estimate did not provide for
covered filter beds and that it made no provision for the South Side.
Another year and a half had elapsed, with 650 additional deaths from
typhoid fever; 1,250 to date.
[Illustration]
In April, 1903, by the election of Mayor Hays, the Bigelow faction
again came into power and Mr. Bigelow was reappointed director of
public works. Councils reorganized. A reform, or Bigelow man, was
elected to the presidency of councils, control of committees was
secured, and by the middle of 1903, the Bigelow faction was again in
full power.
By this time the South Side was demanding filtered water. The new
estimates presented by Director Bigelow in September, 1903, included
ten filter beds for the South Side, and the raising of the pumping
capacity for the first twenty-three wards by twenty million gallons,
and included also, new machinery and boilers for the Brilliant pumping
station, and a fifty-inch steel main across the city to supply the
South Side and the Monongahela River wards of the old city. These
brought the total new estimate up to over seven million dollars.
The time between September 21, 1903, and January 12, 1904, was
required to get a resolution through councils and approved by the
mayor, authorizing the finance committee to employ three experts, Col.
Alexander M. Miller of Washington, John W. Hill of Philadelphia, and
Rudolph Herring of New York, "to verify and make a report on or before
March 1, 1904, to the committee on finance, as to the correctness of
the estimates made by the director of public works."
Under this resolution the experts were employed and went to work. In
the meantime, councils had received a petition from the Pittsburgh
Section of the American Chemical Society, urging the establishment of a
sand filtration plant; also a resolution of the Civic Club of Allegheny
county, and a resolution of the permanent civic committee of the
women's clubs of Allegheny county, urging sand filtration at an early
date.
During 1903 there were 450 deaths from typhoid fever.
On February 27, 1904, the filtration experts made their report
recommending a receiving basin, three sedimentation basins, a clear
water basin, and forty filter beds. They also recommended sand
filtration and covers for filter beds, but cut down the capacity of the
various parts of the plant sufficiently to reduce the estimated cost by
$700,000.
On March 31, 1904, the Bureau of Filtration in the Department of Public
Works was created for the purpose of constructing these important works.
No further opposition of a serious character was met, and in July of
that year a second bond election for $5,000,000 was held and passed
by a vote of nearly two to one. These bonds were issued in September;
plans and specifications for the enlarged plant were prepared as soon
as possible; bids were advertised; and the contract was let on March 4,
1905.
With the final award of the contract the fight for pure water was
practically won. Director Bigelow again stepped out of office in 1900
with the election of a mayor independent of either Republican faction;
but the work of pushing the plant forward to completion was carried
on by the Guthrie administration under the efficient supervision of
Directors Clark and Shepherd, and Superintendent Knowles; so that by
October, 1908, the plant was supplying a good quality of filtered water
to the first twenty-three wards,--the old city.
The settling of the pending litigation between the city and the
Monongahela and other private water companies on the South Side,
together with the taking over of that property by the city was all that
remained to be done before filtered water could be supplied to that
part of the city.[14]
[14] In January, the Monongahela Water Company notified the city of its
decision to abide by the decree of the Supreme Court, which granted
permission to the city to take possession of this plant and system in
consideration of $1,975,000.
In the meantime the North Side (Allegheny City) still has unfiltered
water. Immediately after Allegheny was annexed to the Greater City
in December, 1907, steps were taken to pave the way for filtered
water there. $750,000 was appropriated for ten extra filter beds
on city-owned land adjoining the plant, and their construction is
now under way. Their use for the North Side involves extra pumping
facilities, however. A plan to bring the old Allegheny pumping station
at Montrose down to Aspinwall for this purpose was recently blocked
by members of councils from the North Side. Satisfactory explanation
for this action does not seem to be forthcoming. The reason alleged
was that its removal would throw some of the men out of a job. In
the meantime Allegheny continues drinking unfiltered water with
no immediate prospect of relief, and the same sort of political
influence that delayed filtration in the old city so long, seems to be
accomplishing similar results on the North Side.
* * * * *
In conclusion, let me apply the economic facts brought out in the first
section of this article, to the four years of unnecessary delays in the
construction of the filtration plant, from April 3, 1900, to April 29,
1904. They must be considered in making up the whole bill of the city
in the cause of pure water.
During all this time, more than $2,200,000, on which the city was
paying three and one half per cent interest, was lying in the banks
favored by the administration, bringing the city but two per cent;
and the death rate from typhoid fever was the highest of any of the
large cities in the United States. But for this delay the plant might
have been brought to completion on January 1, 1904, or at least as
far advanced as it was January 1, 1908, and four years,--1904, 1905,
1906 and 1907,--of excess typhoid fever might have been avoided. Not a
startling statement, perhaps, on the face of it. But consider seriously
what these four years of excess typhoid fever have meant to the people
of Pittsburgh in deaths and economic cost. I have told you of but half
of the people of six wards out of forty-three, one year out of four. In
1904, with an estimated population of 352,852, there were 503 deaths
from typhoid in Pittsburgh. Cities with a fairly pure water supply
do not have over twenty-five deaths annually per 100,000 population
from typhoid. Had Pittsburgh's typhoid fever death rate in 1904 been
twenty-five per 100,000, there would have been but 88 deaths instead
of 503, and the grim total of 415 lives would not have been blotted
out. By allowing $2,000 as the cost in loss of wages and expenses for
each death (a little under the actual costs in the concrete study of
economic cost already given), and allowing our previous minimum of
$4,000 as the value of each life, the total excess deaths in 1904 alone
from lack of pure water was a loss to the community of $2,490,000.
There were 425 unnecessary deaths in 1906, and a wastage of $2,550,000;
289 unnecessary deaths in 1905, and a wastage of $1,734,000; 415
unnecessary deaths in 1904, and a wastage of $2,490,000. In the four
years the community lost $9,000,000,--over $4,000,000 more than the
cost of the filtration plant. And in those four years, 1,538 lives were
unnecessarily sacrificed.
There are those who will say, and perhaps rightly, that Pittsburgh's
filtration plant of to-day is the magnificent triumph of construction
that it is, only because of those years of delay in shaping the final
plans; that while those who fought the measure tooth and nail for
so many years did not have that purpose in mind, yet the set-backs
they were able to accomplish, have made in the end for a larger,
better, more efficient and more far-serving plant than could have been
possible, had the first plans been carried hastily to completion. Such
may be the case. If so, let the people be thankful that the cause of
pure water triumphed ultimately over a lethargic public sentiment,
selfish political purposes, and municipal shortsightedness. Let them
at the same time remember at what cost to themselves and to their city
the fight was won. And let the plant itself stand as an object lesson
of tardy justice, and a monument to those hundreds of lives that paid
the penalty unwillingly and unknowingly of being part and parcel of an
unaroused municipal conscience.
[Illustration: GROSS NUMBER OF TYPHOID CASES, 1885 TO 1907.
GROSS NUMBER OF TYPHOID CASES AND DEATHS REPORTED IN PITTSBURGH FROM
1885 TO 1907]