The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1897-11-27
Experiments in NUM-
cipal Control.

clPal control.
The Municipal Record and Adver-
| tiser, New York, of November Is, con-
tains some very interesting Information
under the above heading.
From 1t we learn that about 53 per
cent. of the water supply plants of the
United States are publicly owned. the
| balance being private properties, The
| tendency of the times, however, is to-
wards municipal ownership. OF the
! fifty largest cities in the United States
! only nine are now dependent upon
4 private companies for their supply,
namely, San Francisco, New Orleans,
! Omaha, Denver, indianapolis, New
J Haven, Paterson, Scranton and Mem
phis. The strength OF the tendency is
shown by the fact that while 200 cities
and towns have changed from private to
public ownership, only twenty have
made the reverse change. The verdict
of the country, therefore is as 10 to : i'll
favor of publicly owned plants.
| Massachusetts leafs all other states in
! her preference for public over private
ownership of water supply plants.
! There remain in that state now only IS
private against ll3 public works, In
| Pennsylvania, however, there are only
50 public to 30 public plants, while in
! New York state honors are about even.
I The set of the stream, however. is SO
strongly towards public ownership of
water plants that within ten years at
the present rate of progress there will
not be an important city or large town
| left III the country that will not own its
own waterworks. This is all the more
certain from the fact that in every city
where honest management has pre-
| vailed the public water plant has yielded
considerable revenue to the public
treasury.
Twelve American cities now own and
operate gas plants, the most notable
being Philadelphia, Richmond, Wheel
ing and Louisville Over two hundred
American municipalities have expert
mented with public electric-hghting
plants. Included in this number are
the cities of Chicago, Jacksonville
(Fla.l, Little Rock (Ark.l, BAY City
Mich. J, and nunkirk lN.Y.).
Philadelphia gas plant experiment
Is said by the opponents Of municipal
ownership to have been failure. 1t 3
admitted that its management by IRE
movable trustees has been bad Yet
gas has been furnished steadily and is
to-day being furnished 10 Phila-
l 600 feet cheaper than to New York
consumers. In 1895 the net balance of
receipts from the public gas service of
Philadelphia was Sll5, S5303, and the
city used $639 coo worth of tree gas be-
sides, making a total net profit to the
city of 1854 ,547. And if the Philadel-
phians had paid SI.25 a thousand for
their gas, as di' New Workers. they
would have paid S7SS, $50 more for it
than it did. SO, granting that its man
agement has not been what it should
be. it is nevertheless true that for the
year 1895 the publicly owned gas SER
vice of the Quaker city saved to its
people in one way or another a grand
total o; 81 ,702, l00."
Chicago owns an electric light plant
and the average cost, including all items,
is 500, 10 per lamp per annum. Chicago
Is at the same time leasing 200 lamps of
exactly the same power from electric
lighting companies and pays $l37 per
lamp per year for them. Here, then,
in the same city it plainly appears that
municipal ownership saves to the tax
payer 5000 on every lamp. On the
| Poi lamps which Chicago owns it saves
over SO, 900 a year. calculated on the
basis of the price it il actually paying
for the lamps it leases from private cor
porations.
In the other cities named the results
Of municipal control of gas and electric
lighting plants have shown conclusivsly
that by wise management a large rev.
cnue can be derived.
The same is also true of street rail-
ways, rs instanced by the experience
Of Detroit, Mich.
Viewed in the light Of the success of
the experiments referred to, municipal
ownership of light, water and street
railway plants should soon be universal
Our city fathers would do well to give
this subject their earnest attention.