Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-11

Ing men themselves; yet. on the other
hand, the service was sometimes supplied
at rates far below the actual cost Of pro-
az a consideration for the franchise
or to keep out competition in the field OF
commercial lighting. To secure an unob-
structed license to exploit the commercial
business, the street illumination was fur
nished as a by-prOduet without reference to
market value. At the same time II das dis
covered that the cost statistics OF public
plants we're for the most part worthless.
because Of inadequate accounting, neglect
to figure interest on investment, wear and
tear, and general depreciation, and also
useless for comparative purposes, owing
to the utter lack Of uniform methods OF
municipal bookkeeping. The constant i'm
provements and new inventions in the field
OF electricity, on one side cheapenlng the
processes used, and on the other, success
sively forcing the installation OF new In
place Of antiquated machinery. tended both
to bring more reasonable and more uni
form charges for street lighting contracts
and to require greater initial capital in
vestment for an up-to-date municipal
plant equipped with modern machinery.
Depends on Commercial Business.
Realizing the conditions before them, the
private corporations interested in profit
able electric lighting franchises in our
larger cities have been constantly active
to obstruct all efforts in the direction OF
municipalization. Making common cause
with the correlated corporations, they have
lost no opportunity to block legislation
designed. to authorize or facilitate munich
pal undertakings. The success OF the
private electric lighting concern depends
upon the juncture Of commercial and street
service, yet few cities operating their own
plants have been allowed to sell to private
consumers. The Department Of Labor In
quiry developed the fact that only four
OF the thirteen cities enumerated received
any revenue whatever from the electric
lighting installations, only two OF them
doing business on a commercial basis. But
these two examples offer the most convlnc-
ing proof Of the economy Of municipal
ownership.
The city OF Tacoma is credited with re-
ceipts from sales Of electric light aggre-
eating $50, 4S5 for the year. It's expenses of
maintenance for the same period were
$50. 251, so tina the city secured all It's 335
street lamps without cash outlay and had
besides a surplus of nearly $4,000 to onset
the interest on It's investment and the de-
probation OF It's plant.
The plant OF Taunton took in a yearly
revenue amounting to 500, TAT paid for COM
mercial lights, while its expenses OF main
tenance were $2e;24 leaving a difference OF
$500 as an offset against interest charges to
be balanced against the 247 arc lamps used
for street illumination.
Distractions in the Way.
II tampering with enabling legislation
constituted the only obstacle set up by the
privileged corporate powers, the movement
for municipal enfranchisement would pro-
coed at a quicker pace. The corporation
influence is more or less potent with the
authorities in every city in the United
States. One strategical device is for the
companies to make small concessions
in charges for contracts covering a
period of years with steadily increas-