76 THE MINIMUM RATE 



But the number of people living in any giyen tenement 

 house is neither constant nor easily determined by the water 

 department for the purpose of fixing rates, and the administra- 

 tive difficulty of the procedure is, to say the least, rather great. 

 Even then there is no assurance that the water will be divided 

 among the various inhabitants of such a tenement house so that 

 each would have a sufficient share. 



Some other form of regulation, such, for instance, as a pro- 

 vision that each tenement should be provided with certain fix- 

 tures for the free use of tenants would seem to be sufficient, and 

 much more practical in their enforcement. 



Such matters are in the field of the health department. 

 There is no adequate reason why the water department should 

 be expected to enforce conditions having only a sanitary bearing, 

 and no direct relation to its ordinary business. 



So far as the minimum is established for the purpose of 

 meeting sanitary consideration, it is to be noted that it substi- 

 tutes a new and entirely different basis for fixing meter rates 

 from that which is used in all the rest of the discussion; that is 

 to say, because of this consideration rates are artificially modified 

 in a way that is otherwise inequitable for the purpose of inducing 

 people to use a certain amount of water thought to be necessary 

 for their well-being. The water rates are thus used to enforce 

 a kind of sanitary policing. When this happens the fundamental 

 ideas of the cost of the service and the value of the service are 

 lost sight of. 



The questions must be considered as to whether there is any 

 sanitary reason for modifying water rates in this way, and whether 

 the practice when adopted is really efficient in promoting sanitary 

 conditions. 



No doubt in years gone by much importance has been attached 

 to this consideration. It has been used perhaps chiefly to meet 

 the arguments of those opposed to the use of meters, who urged 

 that motives of economy would induce some of the smaller 

 takers to stint themselves in the use of water to a point that 

 would be injurious to their health. 



While it may be that there is some ground for this fear, 



