The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-03-13

would BUY the bonds and stosk Of water
Com panies, gas COMPANIES. electric light
companies. railroads, and telephone and
Telegraph companies If they were to De
supJ9osed at any time to what is called
absolutely free competitions They are
unoer obliRasions to the government and
munioiDallties, and in return for the
always had such protection as would give
Stability to their financial obligations
ana 10 10 for this reason alono that these
securities have been SO largely purchased
and held by the people OF this State
Thls restrictive clause should, therefore,
be retained. or the entire law repealed.
4 NOW wish to say 8 few words about
monoplies and competition. because they
have bearingsupon this case that you
have heard this afternoon. These quasi
public corporations are all monopolies
| there Is no doubt about it; but there are
several kinds of monopolies. First. the
governmental monopoly, sO-called. where
charters containing exclusive rights are
granted by the government; but the days
OF such charters are gone by and they do
not now require discussion. Second, the
artificial monopoly, known as trusts, which
are made up by accumulation of compet1-
tors, undoubtedly for the purpose OF pre-
venting competition. Third ths natural
monopoly, which is monopoly because
I
I admit that the Portland Water Company
is monopoly. it is monopoly that
arises, not from any exclusive privileges
granted in it's charter, but because or
natural conditions over which the public
can have no control. There is only one
source of supply within twenty miles or
the city of Portland, and the Portland
Water Company in 1865 was given char
ter to supply water from this source. Ii
has now outstanding a million and half
OF bonds and million dollars OF stock.
which represent substantially the cost OF
the works. Now. how Gan there be com :
petit IN in a case like thisP 1t must De
monopoly: there is no room for oompe-
tition.
Take the street railway in the city of
| Portland. or in any Of our cities, and that
must in the nature of things be mon
opoly. Our railway in Portland is first
class one in every respect. suppose IL
| were desired to have four cent fare upon
| that railroad. Is there any possibility OF
allowing competing company to come
in? The streets are bad enough as they
are now. with soant room on either side
OF the tracks for carriages and sleighs,
and if another road were to come In the
entire street would be literally filled with
tracks. And what would be the benefit
| to the public IL 1t were In? You would
| have competition for short time only !;
there might BIZ temporary reduction OF
rates, but one company or the other would
soon go under and the public would then
have to pay bauk in some form what had
| been lost in the competition. And The
same principle applies to an electric light
company or gas company There can be no
competition in the nature OF things. Ii a
new company comes in 1T Is not oompetl-
| ton sbeoause there Is not room in the CITY
| Of Portland for another electric light
company 1t is simply throwing out one
company and letting another in: either
! the present company or the new company
must is the nature of things go under !;
| and the one remaining would then be IN
| full charge of the field after most expen-
siye fight for which, in the end the pub
| lilo must pay. The true remedy, when
| there Is general compliant, which, upon
investigation is shown to be we'll ground
| ed should consist In so regulating the SER
| vice and rates of the existing company
with the same service under the same con-
ditions IN other sections of the country,
and the legislature and the courts are ful-
| ly competent to protect the public.
There is great misapprehension In the
legislature and among the people about
| this legislation Of 1895, and 1t is for this
reason that l have taken advantage OF
| this opportunity to infiiot there remarks
upon you. am deeply impressed with
| Its Importance and feel that we, as law
V0TS SQOulu w 6tGEy OBIu& AL Jul PoWCA w
prevent the further spread Of erroneous
| ideas about 1t, which have in part been
built up by certain individuals for the
purpose of assisting them in their private
enterprises.
] Now coming down to this present case
and applying these principles, what do
| we find9 We came here expecting to be
| called upon to oppose something. ! 90
not oritIoise in any way my brother Mat
| ii T ov,ti khaE
the turn the matter has taken was beyond
| his coptrol-as unexpected to him, per-
haps, as to us, but having no one here
| prepared TO fight this case we want 20
| fight now because we feel that 1t should
| be settled here and now.
Portland Water Company was chartered
| in 1865 and now furnishes water for the
olty Of Portland, the city of Westbrook,
the town of Cape Elizabeth, the town Oh
Gorham and the city of Deering for mum
| icipal purposes. A few years ago char
ter was granted to Standish Water q Con-
struotion Company to furnish water Tor
| some outlying towns and ohange was
made simply to avoid confusion IN the COR
poratiOn interests. The plant had IN
creased go that it was thought best to sep-
arate the city interests from the suburban
| interests and SO the Portland Water Com
pany is supplying the city OF DeeriDg LOT
mu niUipal purposes and the Stand1sh Wat
| er q Construction Company is supplying
the city for domestic purposes
l do not feel that it Is necessary for me
to spend much time on this case. There
has been 10 important evidence intro
duoed by the petitioners. They come here
and claim that they have not bad time to
prepare their case. Gentlemen, they
neevr will have time to prepare it, We
know something about the COST of water
works and while nave no doubt they
have acted honestly in this matter, it is
absolutely Impossible for the city of Deer
ing or any oitizens of Deering. to take
water from the DucK Pond at cost
which will be OF any benefit to anybody.
The city engineer of Deering has estimate
| ed the COST at about one hundred and
eighty thousand dollars, but he allows for
only eight miles of distribution pipe.
The city of Deering is supplied at present
has twenty-six or twenty seven miles OF
distribution pipes. So that you must add
to the cost which he has estimated seven
teen miles of distribution pipe at his esti
mated twelve thousand seven hundred dol
lars per mile, making the total cost more
unan four hundred thousand dollars, and
yet they come here with proposed char
ter In which it is provided that they may
issue s125, 900 of bonds and that the oapl-