The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-05-02
"a MASS MEET]INllii. B I
QUESTION OF CITY LIGHT
INC DISCUSSED.

The Electric Light People Were
Out in Full Force.
A meeting was held Tuesday eve.
at Masonic hall to hear the reports Of 4
the committee appointed some time
ago to investigate he5light question. &
Mayor Smallwood called the meet
ing to orderand read the call. Frank
Glasgow was called to the chair and
James Ramage acted as secretary.
The majority Of the committee re-
ported in favor of gas, but that
after a thorough and impartial inves-5
tigation, they did not feel like adj
vising the council, prefering to leave
the matter to a vote Of the people
rather than a choice of the committee.
The minority report was read and
it was clean cut electric light docu-,
ment. It favored electric lights because
it's authors after careful investigation
had found that electric lights were
first in excellence. cleanliness, safety,
economy, etc. They failed to find
any town the size of Worthington
in the state that was using gas-and
few towns of this size that did not
have an electric light plant. They
referred to few instances in other
states where gas had proved disas-
trous and had been discarded. !.
Mr.. Bennett moved that the minor
ity report be adopted. Considerable I
discussion followed.
Mr.. Moore thought it a good idea
to wait year before putting in
plant. Wonderful developments are
looked for in electicity in the near
future. He had heard some favor
able reports from gas consumers Mr..
Vreeland uses it in his Sioux Falls
store because it is cheaper and he is .
we'll pleased with the light it gives.
He said Mr.. Shell used gas in his
St, Paul home during the winter and
liked it: ~ \ \ s i.2* sstas.sss ss5la
Mr.. SmaAwood thought electric
,lights chez pss saia IIs|
sBbolitfle, e1g gHleSf 81 ts5i0ux
branch, had Is lights in his, home
and his bill at meter rates ran from
70 cents to So per month. Mr.. Small
wood said he had paid $4 and IS q
month gas bill in the city of Omaha
for the lighting of a seven room cot
tage.
Mr.. Town: Wonderful improve
ments are being made in arc lights.
Those put in at Adrian last year
are total failure. Think it a good
idea to wait year. Money is scarce.
We are only collecting ST and 81 this
year where we collected $40 last, be
ing in the business I know whereof
l speak. I talked with the village
recorder of Luverne the other day
and he said that although the plant
was paying, they made a mistake and
put in too small plant.
Mr.. Buchan: Now is a good time
to put in plant. It will give the
working man chance to secure la-
Dor. If the Luverne plant pays a
plant ought to be paying invest
ment here. 5-y- ILL.,. ..z
= Mr.. Dayton thought that most of
the labor employed in putting in an
electric light plant would necessary
be from outside of town-men exper-
fenced in that line of work. gs
John 81. Finney, northwest mana Z
ger of Fort Wayne Electic Company, /
was present and gave a talk. He
spoke Of the difference in the cost of 1
wiring house for electric lights and
piping house for gas. He thought
a $4,000 plant was large enough for
this town.. -.
Mr.. Dayton referred to the lighting
Of the Dayton building in Minnea-
polls. He said: We have an electric
plant of our own which we run until
II o'clock, and then use city lights &
have been using electric lights until
recently and are now using gas. Our
bills used to be SO and $40 a month,
and now our gas bills run from 81 to
IS a month for the same service.
Mr.. Clausen thought that while gas
vas cheaper than electricity it did not
,ive as good satisfaction. Gas is
more dangerous and not as conven-
ent as, electricity. People sometimes
,low ont the gas and are carried out