Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-03-05
MUNICIPAL CONTROL.
SOME EXPERIMENTS IN GAS AND
STREET LIGHTING.

Public ""n-rship or Control of Lighting
Plants Has Proved Success In Nearly
Every American City Where 1t Has
Been Tried.
Twelve American cities now own and
operate gas plants, the most notable cx-
amples being Philadelphia, Richmond,
Wheeling and Louisville. Over 200
American municipalities have expert
mented with public electric lighting
plants, Included i'll this number are the
cities Of Chicago, Detroit, Jacksonville,
Fla: Little Rock, Bay City, Mich,
and Dunkirk, N. Y.
Philadelphia gas plant experiment
is said by the opponents of municipal
ownership to have been failure 1t is
admitted that its management by IRE.
movable trustees has been bad, vet gas
has been furnished steadily and is to-
day being furnished to PHILADELPHIA
consumers at % cents per 1000 feet
cheaper than tc New York consumers.
In 1898 the net balance of receipts from
the public gas service of Philadelphia
was 81 Is, S53. Oh, and the city used
$63S, 600 worth of free gas besides, max
ing ii total net profit to the city of *754,-
341, and if the Philadelphians had paid
$l.25 thousand for their gas, as did
New Workers, they would have paid
$1SS, 9S9 more for it than they did.
Chicago became the owner of its cleo
trio lighting system in 1887. Today the
nit 1,, ,,,e D
die power. Their average cost including
all items, is soc. 40 per lamp per annrm.
Chicago is at the same time leasing 200
lamps of exactly the same power from
electric lighting companies and pays
Sl31 per lamp per year for them:
In Wheeling the private gas works
We're bought by the city many years ago
and paid for by the sale of bonds. All
the bonds have been redeemed out of the
profits on gas without levying dollar
on the people, and the public service is
now yielding yearly net income of
about S25, 600 to the city treasury, be-
sides supplying the people with gas at
15 cents thousand. The books of the
city for 1896 show that besides supply
ing gas to the people at the price named
the city itself burned $4,000 worth in
its own public buildings for which it
paid nothing. The $25, 600 profit made
on its gas receipts more than sufficed to
pay the entire cost of lighting the city's
streets with $50 arc lights of 2, 900 can
die power each.
Bay City, Mich, has its own electric
street lighting system. Its official re-
ports show that the cost thereof to Bay
City taxpayers is $G6 per lamp per year
IA rate far below one half the cost for
the same amount of light in many cit
les served by private corporations
Richmond has had a municipal gas
plant since 1851. 1t is now supplying
consumers with gas at 81 per 1 900.
The people are so well pleased with their
public gas service that they have Sc
cured an act of the legislature prohibit
ing the sale of the plant unless by au-
thority of IA popular vote. The actual
cost of making and distributing the gas
is 73 cents per l, 600 feet, the city treas
ury makinga profit Of ~ cents per /, 900
feet. During the 30 years from 1867 to
1897 the Richmond public gas works
have yielded a net profit of 81, ia, S55. 20
over and above all the costs of mainte-
nance and production. This amount cx.
StructiOn and of all extensions since
made by nearly $400, 900.
Louisville does not absolutely own it's
gas and electric lighting plant, but it is
the controlling stakeholder in the com
pany that supplies it with both kinds of
light Under this arrangement, which
is almost municipal ownership, Louis
ville's streets are lighted with 1,O74
electric lamps at IA cost of $S7. so per
lamp. New York and Brooklyn pay
from 81 rs o$lS2 each for lamps of tho
same power.
In jacksonville, Fla, the city owns
and operates an electric lighting plant.
Since the plant was established the price
of gas, formerly $3 per 200 feet, has
been reduced to ~. 30. and the price Of
electric lights 80 per cent. The latest
official report states the total saving to
the people of Jacksonville for 1896 at
S41 4S9.9
A body of private citizens, incorpo-
rated AS the Capital Electric company,
is supplying the city of Springfield,
Ills, with its electric light. Practical
ly, though not i'll name, the plant is
owned by the municipality. The result
is that after allowing per cent on the
cost of the plant, the city's arc lights
are furnished ut cost of $50 each per
annum, which is about half the cost of
the same lights supplied by private cor
porations.
Detroit established municipal cleo
trio lighting plant in 1894. The first Of
fetal report showed that it cost $S4. 20
per lamp to light its streets instead Of
S133. so per lamp, as it previously did.
The Detroit experiment is limited to
street lighting.
Not the largest, yet one of the most
striking object lessons in municipal
ownership is afforded by Dunkirk, N.
y. In 1883 Dunkirk established an elec.
tric plant by which its water supply
and lighting service are jointly furnish
ed. For the year ending March /, 1897,
allowing fully for interest on the in
vestment and all other items of cost,
Dunkirk's - arc lights of 1000 candle
power each We're furnished at an ex-
pense to the taxpayers of $39 "a per
year-just about one-fourth the cost of
the electric lights furnished to New
York hy privately owned plants