The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-02-11
MUNICIPAL EXPERIMENTS MADE IN SHOR[DITH.
Extraordinary Results Attained in What Was Once London Stun
-Gdbdge Lights q Town and Heats Its Baths

companies rate. foots up large. But
can say that, hampered as we are by the
short time the plant has been in exist
ence and the fact that we have to supply
light for only few hours at night. we
are charging less for electricity and MAX
ing more OF It than any other place In the
world. As our consumers multiply our
rate for light is lessening, and IL we had
half of London to illuminate, instead Of
the parish of Shoreditch. we could af-
ford to come fairly near to giving light
away"
Now that the problem Of housing the
London poor has reached Its most acute
stage, another achievement Of this pro-
gressive district OF Shoreditch-that OF
razing a foul Stun and putting up in its
place a set of model dwellings for needy
folk, with rooms at $3.50 a week, lighted
by electricity. furnished by shoreditch's
own plant--made British theorists rub
their eyes and look again at White
chapefs neighbor. Lord Rosebery opened
those dwellings. and they were described
in these letters, but that was an enter
prise apart from the municipal improve
ment scheme itself.
How II Came About.
The romantic side OF this interesting
business is that everything, or at least
the beginning OF everything. that has
been done In Shoreditch must be credited
to one man--Dr. H. Mansfield Robinson,
the vestry clark" He is in the neigh
borhood of 20, and used 20 live in Noting
ham, where ne got interested in munici-
pal Improvement and dabbled In mechan-
les, too, patenting several appliances.
The whole scheme of Improvement In
Shoreditch came about through big
electric lighting company putting in an
application for the contract TO light
Shoreditch They knew as well as any
body how poor Shoredltch was, but they
knew also that there were a lot OF fac
tories there which would be glad 10 get
electric light. and that there were, too,
300 public houses-as well as no end of
little shops that kept open late at night,
and they believed that In 'bagging"
Shoredtch they would be making q
mighty good investment
DR. Robinson heard OF the benevolent
offer OF the electric lighting company.
He remembered the time when an equally
charitable and self-sacrihcing water COM
pany had asked Shoreditch to walk into
its paror Shoreditch walked then, and
has been regrettlng IL ever since. Con-
sequently when the light company's pro-
possl came. DIR. Robinson got Shoreditchs
100 vestrymen together and said: Here,
this company wants to put In an electric
plant and light Shoredtch. They GER
tainly are not calculating to lose money,
for we know these good folk of old. Now.
why can't we build plant of our own
and do our own lighting?'
The Southampton Model.
The vestrymen were good. honest souls
enough, but they hadn't done much think
ing In their lives. and the majority of
them were of the opinion that DIR. Robin
son ought to be suppressed on general
principles. and they voted to that erect.
But the next morning DIR. Robinson was
out on the warpath. One by one he saw
those vestrymen--elected for three years,
one-third of them retiring every year and
empowered to make appropriations-and
talked to them In a quiet, convincing way
that resulted In getting them together in
another meeting and voting to send their
vestry clerk on a tour through England
to investigate municipal work I'm all the
large towns and report He went
In Southampton he found a sewage
plant. owned by private corporation.
which was also making electric light.
Having a lot of heat that was standing
round idle. one of their men had con-