THE SMALLER TAKERS 161 



by others, and these services represent also presumably twenty 

 times as much business and worth of service to the taker. 



To divide the whole distribution cost in this way and to apply 

 it in the form of service charges results in an amount of load- 

 ing on the services of the smallest customers that is not fair to 

 them. 



The takers that use 100 gallons of water per day or less, 

 are particularly referred to, and these make up in a general 

 way one-half of the whole number of takers. Following out this 

 system makes these smaller takers carry a part of the load that 

 ought to be carried by the larger takers. 



As a practical matter, after giving the subject considerable 

 study, the writer does not believe that it is advisable, even if 

 it is practicable, to put the whole of that load, or even the greater 

 part of it, on the service charge, when the service charge is 

 calculated in this way. 



It is true some other method of computing the service charge 

 might be found that would permit the loading to be carried with 

 less injustice. For instance, the service charge might be based 

 on the width of the lot. This method was suggested and rec- 

 ommended by an earlier committee of the New England Water 

 Works Association eleven years ago, of which the late Freeman 

 C. Coffin was Chairman.* 



On the other hand, it does not seem fair to distribute the 

 whole cost of distribution evenly on all of the water that is sold 

 because of the inequalities in conditions of service between large 

 consumers and small ones. To do that by the adoption of the 

 uniform rate means raising the manufacturing rate above the 

 amount which is really fair to large takers. The manufac- 

 turers are then made to stand the brunt of the deficiency in 

 income that results from supplying small houses at less than 

 cost. 



So the question still remains as to where the cost of distribu- 

 tion is to be placed. It must go somewhere. The way in which 

 it is actually carried by most American water-works systems 

 at the present time is by putting it, or a part of it, as a loading 

 * Jour. N.E.W.W. Assn., Vol. XIX, p. 322, 1905. 



