The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-01-24
ON STREET CARS.
THE COUNCIL NOT LIKELY TO Do
ENOUGH.
s. X. Snow ReiterateS His State.
ment that 81, 900 Bonus is Needed
to Secure Electric CarS-Figures
on this BasiS-JnO. F. Meagher
Has Something to Say on the Sub
iect, Which Will be of Interest.

Theprospec for securing an elec-
trio street railway has received a de-
cided set back since Thursday. The
stand taken by some of the aldermen
Friday at the council meeting is
I not encouraging for those who favor
| ed the securing of street cars by
/ means Of bonus given through high
| er prices for electric street lighting.
Aid. Bradley took the stand that he
would not vote to pay any consider
able bonus, and other aldermen ex-
! pressed similar views, while those
who favored bonus went on the
theory that 81 900 year would be all
the bonus needed, amounting to an
average of $40 year for each of a
hundred arc lights.
Mr.. S. r. Snow was seen by the
|, FREE PRESS and asked what in
his opinion would be the effect of the
present stand of the council. Said he:
81 have already stated that bonus
of $4,000 a year will be required in
order to secure an electric street
railway, and [ still hold that Man
kato will not get street car line I'M
less the council votes that much for a
bonus. This will mean $40 a year for
each of 100 arc lights, to be added
to the lowest figure the lights could
otherwise be secured for, whatever
that might be. On valuation of
! S2,00O,000 for the city, each man who
pays taxes on $1,000 will have to pay
twenty cents more. This is not a
great sum to pay in order to secure
ON oloo.rio otroot limo. If the
council persists in it's present stand it
will not receive any propositions for
4 street railway construction.
Mr.. Jno. f. Meagher stated to the
FREE PRESS, when asked the same
Questions: 81 think that $1,000
bonus is plenty large enough if the
city does not want an electric rail-
way. Certainly, no such sum will
Nsutfice to secure an investment of
money in such an enterprise, and if
the people feel like giving no more
than that l would take it that they
want no street railway. Our COM
pany has secured no figures upon
which to base a proposition, and if
bids were called for tomorrow we
= would be unprepared to submit them.
Therefore, l cannot state now how
large bonus the city ought to pay
Before we made bid we would have
to investigate the cost of construc-
tion and operation of street railway
lines in a dozen different cities. If
= the city does not advance in popula-
tion during the next ten years any
faster than it has during the past
ten, don't think that an electric car
line would be self-sustaining at
the end of that time. The council
takes $1,000 year bonus and
the fifteen years it is to extend
and says that the company would
receive $4,000 bonus. That is not
the way to look upon it. The $1,000 a
year would simply represent the fair
return on certain sum OF invested
capital which would otherwise bring
in nothing. Unless the council
would agree to give more than $1,000
a year, probably no propositions will
be received.
sat present, electric machinery is
very expensive and can be gotten only
from few concerns. We are all liv-
ing in the hope that in few years
new discoveries or inventions may
make it cheaper. Our own company
is as we'll situated as any company,
but it has not been able to make any
money, whatever surplusothat may be
obtained from time to time being
taken up in the purchase of expensive
machinery. Last year when we were
shut down we put in two or three new
dynamos, and a short time ago we
got in an expensive piece of new
machinery from New York. The
city will never get it's lights again as
cheaply as it is getting them now.'''
THE matter is apt to come up for
further discussion at the meeting Of
the council tomorrow night, as the al
dermen all see the necessity of ascer-
tanning by bids what the city can be
lighted for without any clauses at
tached to increase the price. 1t will
then be seen whether the aldermen
who are making their estimates on
the basis of $50 to $40, or those who
place their figures at S85 to 500 per
light are correct.