\\Arcu-WouKs. With the exception of sewer age systents, which rarely yield a revenue. water works are the most C4)111111011 form of municipal enterprise.
The relative decrease in public ownership from 157o 10 1590 was (Inc to the remarkable activity of private water-company promoters :it a time when the municipalities were just awakening to the need for such improvements. but lacked the funds for piddle ownership, or had not become infused with its spirit. In the larger lilies munic ipal ownership is the rule, all but eight of the 3s cities of Over 100.000 population teen-us of toout ON\ !ling their own at the of 1903. New Vork, which was first supplied by a private company in 1776. put municipal works in operation in Is12. Chicago was supplied by a 4,onpany in Ism. and by its IM11 works in 1854. Philadelphia built it s works in 101, At Itoston a private company established water-works in 1652 the first public water supply in the united States. A second small company built works in 1796, and continued to operate on a small scale until 1893. when its pipes were bought by the city, which had built works in 1848. The Balti more works were built by a company in 1807, and bought by the city in 1554. Cleveland built its works in 1854-56. At Buffalo a company established works in 1852 and was bought out by the city in 1868. In San Francisco the water works are still under private ownership. At Cincinnati a company built works in 1820 and sold them to the city in 1839. Up to the close of 1896 changes from private to public ownership had occurred in 205 cities and towns. against only 20 changes front public to private owner ship. There have been many changes to munic ipal ownership since 1896. In the North Central and 'Northwestern States municipal ownership is decidedly in the majority, and in the Pacific States the reverse is true. New England is about evenly divided, with Massachusetts strongly in favor of municipal ownership. and Maine even more strongly in favor of private.
In the United States it) 1801 there were but sixteen works, of which only the plant at Win chester. Va., was owned by the city it served. The development of municipal ownership during the century is shown by the accompanying table: In nad , in 1896 municipal ownership pre vailed in 75 per cent. of the municipalities hav ing works, or 109 of 145 cities and towns. At
:Montreal water-works were built by a company in 1501 and bought by the city in 1845. At Toronto private works were built in 1811 and bought by the city in 1573, In Great Britain (Ind Inland, in 1901, of 64 county boroughs in England and Wales, includ ing the great towns. 45 owned their water sup• plies, and of the 141 other boroughs 139 had municipal works. Al1 the large towns of titer land own their works. In Ireland. Dublin and Cork have municipal service. About half the S41 called urban districts in England. other than boroughs. have municipal works. Water-works appear to have been introduced by the municipal ity of London in 1283: by Plymouth in 1555; and Oxford in 1610. and Liverpool each bought out a private company in 1847, I:Ia.:vow in 1855. Birmingham in 1s7n. and Shef field in 1558. Edinburgh transferred municipal works to a company in 1519. hut they were re• stored to munieipal ownership in 1869. (treater Lombm has been served for years by eight emu panics, beginning with the New River Company, whose works were completed in 1613 with the aid of dailies 1. The other seven companies date from 1721 to 1822. After years of agitation for municipal ownership, a Parliamentary' act was passed in 1902 providing for the purchase of the London companies and the control of the water supply by a joint board representing the several boroughs and the other public bodies comprised within what is known as Greater London. The transfer is to be made in June, 1904.
Most of the large cities of the European. Conti nent have extensive water-work:. In Germany practically all places of 50,000 population and up ward have municipal Berlin secured control of her water-works in 1873. buying them from a company which began to build them in 1853. Ham burg and Frankfort-on-the-Main, Vienna, Mos cow, Park, Rome, and other large cities own their water-works. Time municipal water-works of Rome may be said to date from 312 B.C. ( See AQUEDUCT.) At Paris an old Roman aqueduct was restored in the seventeenth century, and a small municipal supply seems to have been con tinued from that date until more adequate works were installed by the city about the middle of the nineteenth century. A, a rule, private owner ship prevails in Latin-speaking countries. In Australia there are a number of important munic ipal works.