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From Where I Sit L a s V e g a s ,N e v a d a REVIEW - JOURNAL S e p te m b e r 1 9 ^ 7 The young man was selling water in bottles. His company, he said, planned to ship it in from southern California. They’d provide the stand and cooling apparatus if you’d just sign up for a certain number of bottles per week. From his conversa­tion I’d take.it the concern had a big spring in the mountains somewhere, a spring that was flowing more water than they could sell in Los Angeles, so they were looking for new territory. He told me all about what grand qualities his product had, and produced' testimonial^ and recommendations from doctors, movie sta^, industrial firms and others designed to impress me with the importance of becoming one of the superior beings who recognized the need for drinking agua pura that IS “pura” instead -of the ordinary variety you get from the tap by the simple ex­pedient of turning the handle. His idea seemed to be that if you don’t get your water out of a bottle on one of the stands pro­vided for that purpose, you’re in dire danger of acquiring some disease or disorder which might eventually remove you from the realm of the living. Of course, he didn’t say that directly, but he implied as much, and it oc­curred to me he should be made to desist from this line of sales talk, for after all, why is the water they ship in from Los An­geles any better than that we Secure from our own wells right here in the valley? My pride was under fire and I rose quickly to the attack. No­body was going to suggest there’s anything wrong with Las Vegas’ water, which always has rated ace high according‘to state health authorities. I told him in no un­certain terms that so far as. I was concerned, there’d be no market for his product in these parts— that just because it came in bot­tles it was no better than the H20 I’ve been drinking these twenty- odd years and thoroughly en­joying. I I suggested that he come back after we’d started mixing Lake Mead water with our own ar­tesian product, together with the chemicals necessary to make it measure up to the health depart­ment’s requirements and that then maybe I’d be interested. For you see, I’ve been anticipating with no little. misgivings the amalgamation of our water sup­plies in order to meet the needs of an expanding community, and recalling the taste of the treated product in Boulder City and Henderson, I can’t get enthused over the prospect, but THAT friends, is one of, the prices of ?—By A. E. Cahlan progress, and we must bow to the inevitable. Lest I have the chambers of commerce of our two neighbor­ing cities- on my neck, let me hasten to assure both I intend no slight, but am merely stating a fact which nobody can alter. Most communities in the land DO treat their drinking water chemically, and there are few, if any, in which it doesn't teste, like a drug store smells. We’ve, been fortunate, extremely fortunate, here in Las Vegas, because we have, an artesian product beyond compare. Imbibing water in the various sections of the land, and finding the mall tasting of chemicals, I can understand why some people became habitual wine drinkers, and use water only for baf-hing purposes. I’m a great water drink­er, myself, usually down three or four glasses at a meal, I never have found a beverage I like as well, provided there are a few ice cubes floating around the glass. I could really enjoy cocktail parties if they’d serve ice-water for those who don’t care for hard liquor or pop, but I never have quite had the courage to face the situation I’d create if I suggested to the hostess that’s the drink I prefer. I know she’d think I was attempting to insult her or some­thing equally as serious, &nd I’d make a life-long enemy in the process. But, give me a long, tall glass of ice-water and you can have the best cocktail, wine, cham­pagne, or pop they have. There’s nothing more soothing, to my way of thinking. Provided, that is, it hasn’t been doctored with chlor­ine or worse. I suppose, the next time I’m invited out, that’s just what I’ll get. Like the time I confessed to enjoying apple pie with brown gravy qn top, and the proprietor of my favorite restaurant was right there with the combination next time I dropped in for a meal. That’s What I get for talk­ing out loud, but it’s o. k. I mean what I’m saying. If the time comes when we have to buy water in bottles be­cause the chemists have moved in on our source~of supply locally, maybe it’ll be.come fashionable to serve it at parties and with meals. Maybe we’ll even reach the stage of calling for our particular brands, and there’ll be as many different kinds of water as there are of whiskey. There’ll have to be more H20 devotees than I’ve seen around of late, but then per­haps a lot of them are bashful and don’t care to admit it. What do you think?