The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-09-09
Pa. Moline. Ind; Wabash, Ind;

ipal lighting are dlssatisneo. A -
lustration Topeka, Kansas. The mayor Oh
Topeka writes as follows:
"The agreement made with the parIi ss
selling us the plant was tnae uise HHnos
should not exeade in cost for moo nHgn1
schedule S54 90 per light per year. me s
agreement further provided the sa.9
lights should be 1000 candle powor anu
not less than 1890. All tests We haeo
made so far 90 not show them 10 De over
500 candle power. We think we have got
rather bad bargain; our lights so Iar
have been very unsatisfactory. MY own
opinion of the matter is that 1t would, no
doubt, be much cheaper in the end Tor tne
city to have contracted with some OF our
electric light companies here to furnish
the city with its lights at SO much per
month. We have found ours is very ex-
pensive luxury and there are so'many ex-
penses coming up that we cannot foresee
We have to take our medicine, which Is
liable to be very expensive dose"
When the Legislature Of Massachusetts,
was considering the bill enabling cities to
own municipal plants, the Boston Journ-
al made the following comment:
"If facts and figures have any weight,
the statements that have been presen ted
in elaborate and exhaustive form by the
an emphatic warning to our lawmakers.
There is not a first class city In the coun-
try in which municipal control of light
ing facilities has been economical and
satisfactory. There Is not a large city
where municipal lighting has been intro
duced that ID has not been made the COCA
sion of all kinds OF jobbsry, and has
borne rich crop Of political scandals.
While the city of San Bernardo, CAL.
was agitating municipal lighting, the
Courier of that city printed the following
editorial:
"The city, in our opinion, cannot and
will not, run electric lighting as econom-
ically as would q corporation of business
men. Every city of the Union that has
experimental with furnishing its own
electric lighting has made q fat failure
of it from an economical standpoint.
municipality cannot. and in fact, to cor;
roborate our assertion, never is as careI1i
or economical as private business aaso-
citation. Politics will interfere. Leu tne
city buy plant and furnish Its own
electric lighting and it will be a heavy
loser financially One party or announcer
successful at the polls. one set OF trustees
or another, will make change arter cnange'
at the heavy expense OF taxpayers.
An editorial of the same tenor was.
published in the Volksblatt, Cincinnati,
and is as follows:
"a private corporation ia compeNed to
husband it's resources or 1t will prove a
failure. Il will therefore not Invest more
capital or employ moro people than Is ab
solutely necessary, and will get full value
for each dollar it pays out in wages. 1t
Is quite different with public corpora
tion. The citizens furnish cepital In the
shape of taxes, and If the money Is wasted
they are simply bled for more money. In
place Of an expert, the management is
confded to politician, whose Ignorance
alone entails serious loss and damage
His employees are ignorant OF the business
and careless, as they are appointed more
with view to their political influence
than their ability; and to crown the mis-
cry we have change Of the personnel
every few years. IT these inoompetent PEG.
pie have really acquired some skill and
learning, political revolution sets In,
the dominant party is hurled from power
and new party is enthroned. Its very
first effort Is to dismiss all employees and
to make room for the heelers Of it's own
party. Every reader win at once recog-
nize that we mere state facts (which
have been experienced in our city"
The journal of indianapolis, Ind,
says: electrical inventions become an.
cient history in three or four years now
adays. We might put in an expensive
plant and find by the time we had it paid
for that we had back number on our
hands"
What will it cost to install municipal
lighting plant which shall be of sufficient
capacity to do the street lighting of this
cityf At the present time the city is
using 1888 arcs (i2OO C. P. } 9s 65 candle
power lights (ssries,) 1853 80 candle power
lights (series), in all equivalent to about
1888 arcs of 1900 candle power. Estimates
given by several leading electrical engi-
neers Of this country whose regulations
for fairness stands unquestioned, show
that the cost of such plant would be
about sls2, 70s. 90. The operating expen
ses would be as follows: labor, $l2, 1885, 90;
fuel, materials, etc., si1.e57. so; insur.
ance against fire and accidents $l2. s55 90;
depreciation fund S12, s55 80; interest &C.
count, 81, Dos. SO, total of $46. 142.25, ma
king total cost per lamp per year of
S123. O4, which is just $685. Oh more than the
city OF Portland now pays. This would
mak0 tAo "a 1oO PCI lamp poA AodA .OS",
and only 4l3. 8 candle power for one cent
per hour, while Portland pays but .022
per lamp per hour and receives 645. 45
candle power for one cent per hour.
But this estimate of yearly cost Is bet
ter than the average cost of operating
plants in Massachusetts,, as
the following schedule will show. The
prices are based on the report of the Gas
and Electric Light Commissioners of Mas
saohusetts. That they are correct cannot
be doubted. The manner in which the
data is obtained is explained in their re
port as follows:
During the past year all these plants
have been visited by the Bonrd, their
accounts and data obtainable from the
various town officers carefully scru til
nized, so TINT the returns have the ap
prevail of this Board. The Board Is able
for the first time to present abstracts from
the financial and other data in the re.
turns with confidence that they exhibit
with substantial accuracy the Important
facts about the plant aud it's operation. /"
Schedule of cities owning and operating
municipal lighting plants
No of