The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-08-22
Asre sslng Privileges.
Editor DAILY REPUBLICAN:

Wilmington annual revenue may
DO increased by several hundred thou.
sand dollars, II city cou neil, or those
who have the power to act, will stand
on their manhood and deal Justly
with all concerned. And, surely ev.
cry voter in the city should and m ost
likely, would support for higher office
any man who would increase the city s
revenue by a quarter Of a million or
80, by his action while In office.
/ Eight hundred thousand dollars!
What a mcagre sum to defray the an
nual expenses Of our city. 1t should
be at least a million, then, possibly.
We might soon have the pleasure Of
seeing every street in our city sewer
ed, ctirbed and paved.
We would not then be ashamed of
the muddy streets that are now to be
found In the heart Of Wilmington.
And here would say, would not
write or speak word that would In.
crease the city q revenue for the sake
Of public plunder; my only incentive
Is municipal bette. ment.
"Tax the franchise" Let a man
make use Of this expression and i'm.
medIately citizens who are (flnancial-
Ivy interested will raise their hands in
"holy horror" and cry out 'Revolu.
toni Anarchy! Single Tax! But
let Us coolly consider just what a frap,
chise IL, and II it is a fair subject Of
taxation.
To begin with the word franchise
Is q mis- homer, slang. 1t generally
carries with II. the right TO occupy
pr employ. When a person purchases
the deed to a piece Of land. he simply
buys the right to "hOld, occupy" or
,''employ" the land in question; In
fact, he has bought franchise. But
In this instance the word franchise is
not employed. AT any rte he has
purchased privilege and his title 80
It IL no, better than the former owner
had to sell. But, under the law, he
h, and should be, assured complete
possession Of that which he has
bought, privilege.
Who ever heard Of a public body
locaD giving to an individual the
right to occupy piece of public land
10 the exclusion Of all Others. We're
bhev city council to do such a thing,
most likely the people would declare
they had gone crazy. Yet they grant
the exclusive use (for street railway
purposes) Of the streets OF the'city to
several individuals collectively and
call 1t a franchise, but ! do not speak
Of street railways alone, l would In.
cIude the telephone. telegraph, gas
and electric ght companies, as we'll
n any other company that wishes to
use public thoroughfare for private
use. And getting down TO affinity,
the water department., since they
have become SO pernicious as to re.
fuse the street railway companies the
water they would sprinkle the streets
with unless they paid for it.
Here would digress long enough
To ask the Water Department the
question, ''Do you think that should
Che street railway companies pay for
The water they would use for sprink-
ling purposes, the money, so paid
would come out Of the compani es cof-
fers? Directly, yes! Indirectly, no!
They would pay it at the tax office,
tut u twist OF the screw on labor, and
presto, they would refund themselves
with profit. What do you say to
this Water Directors?
TO resume, | would say, all the
different corporations who use the
Streets Of Wilmington should be made
IL, pay for the privilege aud all that
H. Is worth a. that.
The question now arises, GLOW can
We do this best: Will it be by taxing
70 cars. the poles, the barns, the
sp,wcr house and,ai the other equip.
u ents that 60 to make up u SUCCESS
,tIH railway company; or the gas
lrn,,ses, or tanks, the pipes and meters
vi the gas companies; or the poles
AID wires of q company that trans
n,.s thought~or the power houses,
p les, wires, etc, Of an electric light
r. mt? l would say no. These
.ngs are the personal property Of
I've above enumerated companies
1Hcy represent labor performed by
il Individuals. They are property in
lIe exact sense Of the word and for
l.!At reason should be taxed, and
wncn they are. they yield but small
revenue at best, perhaps few thou,
sand at the >most How then snail
we proceed to make these companies
p.y for the right to occupy the pub.
he streets for private use.
The municipality can not sell the
q reefs to these companies, but they
c.n he accorded the privilege Of using
t!icnr aud then be compelled to pay
for it, thus
Several years ago, a piece Of land ON
The corner OF Eighth and Market
Streets was purchased, at least the
titIe to II was; this is the site upon
which the McVey building now stands.
] believe the purchase price was
$1,000 per front foot On Market
Street. A square foot Of land in the
centre OF Market Street, anywheres
from curb to curb opposite to the Nc
Vey building is worth as much as a
square foot Of land -ap,n which that
building stands; this (street) land
should be held ut as high a value as
the building land that abbuts on it.
81, here we have it In a nutshell.
Levy TAX upon the right to use
I public .horoughfare In the same
proportion to the land that lies
abreast of it. say, do this, and the
CITY IS revenue will be increased by
hundreds OF thousands of dollars, per-
haps, millions.