The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-01

r1661s or telegraph iiness electric light or peNer plants. steam or other heat {uB piants. street railroads. or any oth. tr public utility. except railroads other <haa street failroads. for longer pe- xiod than thirty years"
 Such franchise. if once granted, plain 1< c&kablishes monopoly. as any man can see; the .c.ty of Montgomery today i8 suffering under q monopoly in she street fail, cad business. My friends from Montgomery win hardly deny this. and no man in this Convention has failed to suffer from the inconvenience that come from abuses of their ran chise by the concern that has this prac- tical monopoly Of the streets of Mont xomery.d For what period they have the monopoly, do not know, but gas works, an electric light plant. and par ffcularYy a water plant and street railroad sbiant. once established, Is es- sentiafly monopoly.
 MT. Graham (dontgomery)-Wiil the rentleman from Mobile piease denne wf4<her or not he uses the worI mononoply in its restricted or general
 Mf. PiIlans-1 use 1t in it's practical
 Mr. Craham-Win the gentleman permit me to make statement to nm with reference to the situation Tn Mont gonery?
 Mr. Piilans--certainly S MT. Graham--I etate that there Is no monopoly in Montgomery With reier- ence to the street railways
 Mr. Pilians--There Is no monopoly m d legal sense, but when the city has eranted the use of its streets, Dexter Ayenue for instance, to parucuiar railroad company. this grant and the construction of the railway practically works monopoly. because nobody eise can find room to lay tracks. ana that is the case in Montgomery and Mobile. en ii ia with a gas works concern, in any town when its mains are laio throughout the city: 1t is a practlcai monopoly, and we all know that. The necessity for the passage of this law ia hest illustrated by what is going on in the city of Mobile. as frankly avow- cd to you by my distinguished COT league who has spoken to tnis ques- fion. There are but two railway conn- panies in that city. and they are now cousolidated with the gas works ana inc electric light plant. For their in- ferest, not for the interest of the pup lie this consolidated concern mas pro- nosed to Mobile that the city shall ex- tend the life of their franchises forty wears on top of franchises that will not run out for forty years yet; Tn other words, they say today to that nun cipality: Tie yourselves up' prae,rei @ ras,iv for eighty years. that is, for nessriy three generations-and what do you snppose Is the chief offer of compense- fion that was originally made! l do 1ot know what 1t Is now. Among other things, they saio they would furnish gas to the people at, believe it was, N,so q thousand. when all the municipantses @ of the United States are crying out TOT s.doiiar gas." and some of them are getting 1t at $1 per 1000, yet the great nrivilere we were to have for seliins our birthright to them for eighty years was the mess of pottage or $l.eo gas in one of the cheapest coal cities m the United States, next to those m the immense coal producing sections MO bile stands with the rail rates gwen on coal, as one Of the cneapest co"i ports in the Union.
 That Ia an example of the way the city's rights are liable to be frittered away by the city authorities because they are not proteced by a constitu- fional provision which will keep this generation from giving away that which should belong to the next gen. eration.
 Mf. Smith (MobiIe)-Ycu do not mean
 
 Mfr, Pillans--I do not know what the proposition is that is now extended. That was the original proposition, to give us gas at $1 80. saw 1t in the newspapers. My friend represents an the street railroad companies, which, by the way, were two, but are now merged into one. Now, it Is urged that there would be no improvements put in the towns unless you gave longer Nf.1 fNa Nt71G years. Do the gentlemen show to you that in the modern cities of the nation a longer franchise is given than thirty years? It was shown by MT. Coler In the extract read by my colleague, MT. Boone that thirty years was the ex- freme time for which franchise should be given. Has the experience of other cities shown that he was wrong? If the bonds should be issued for twenty years, my colleague who last spoke says purchasers would not take these bonds upon which these things are to be con structed unless the franchise had more than ten years to run after the expira- tion of the bonds, because he says there would pe nothing left but junk at the expiration of tho franchise. will call your attention to the unsoundness of sthat proposition. In the city of Mont Eomery soma gentlemen proceeded
  used to supply this fair city with wa ter. by quo warrante proceedings. based on the fact that they used Alabama River water and not pure water, and delivered 1t to their patrons in viola ion of their charter. Their charter was forfeited and annulled. and their fran chise came to a sudden end, and what was the resulta Did 1t result that they lost all they had? Don't you know that the property of that water works com. pany was a tremendous asset of great value. which was afterwards sold, dol lar for dollar of the amount of the bonds which were outstanding? So, it will not do to say that if you want to promote enterprise in a certain city by encouraging the putting in it of street railroads, you must grant all most endless franchises on the ground that otherwise the investors buying the corporate bonds will be in danger, if the bonds be twenty year bonds. be- cause at the end of the twenty years the company has got nothing The plant of water works or a gas com pany or street railroad company is not junk when the franchise terminat tas. cl 1t is most valuable.
 You charter banks for twenty years. Ycu have just said that every bank in the State of Alabama shall wind up in twenty years. Does it's property be- come valueless at the end of twenty