The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-10-18
TO Be DONE OVER.
City Council Sends Back Edison
Franchise.
Not Satisfactory to City in Its
Present Form.
WILL TRY 1T OVER.
TRY 1T OVER.
Company Is Expected to Revise
the Ordinance.
Some Of the Changes That Are
Recommended.

hocOLu III Suuous
DR.. L. A. Ryder sprung a surprise on
the committee of the whole council
Monday night, when he headed off all
discussion of the proposed Edison cleo
trio light franchise by making mo-
ton that the franchise be referred
back to the council with the recon-
mendation that it be not passed. The
motion carried by a vote of to 5.
1--WE are too far apart" said DR.. Ry-
der in discussing his motion. There is
no prospect that we can get together.
1t would be necessary for somebody to
completely redraft this franchise, and
think that is the business of the
company and not of the council. Under
some circumstances, when the chang
ing and revising of one or two sections
would result in a compromise, L would
be willing to thrash this matter over
in the council. But the president OF
the Edison company told US, when we
insisted upon certain changes, that we
might as well stop all negotiations, as
his company would not stanN Tor the
proposed amendments. 1 don't beneVe
this council has time to thrash over a
lot of new sections for this ordinance,
when we know that the company VIII
refuse to accept what we offer"
William Green agreed with Dr. Ky
der about it. He suggested some OF
the changes WHICH the council wanted
and which the Edison company was
not disposed to grant. He thought the
ordinance should provide for a 2O-year
franchise instead of 30, for lower
minimum rate schedule, maximum
schedule on arc lights, power and heat'
give the council the right 10 requlr luz
extensions; prevent the company from
interfering with other wires; give the
council the right to revise rates once
every five years; give the oSuncll the
too ~ y
the extraordinary expenditures ara
improvements on the plant; require
detailed reports on the financial condl-
ton.
Councilman Howe said: Il shall have
to oppose this motion. 1 don't think
it is fair to the Edison company. here
tofore we have revised proposed Or
dinances until they were satisfactory
to both parties.
lust as much work to revise a new
ordinance as to revise this one
Councilman Griley: 1.-The best thlng
for the company and the council Is
that this franchise be withdrawn we
had, better start in fresh ana see II
the company can't suggest more
reasonable ordinance.
/ Councilman Green: Il am IN 1aVOr
of giving the Edison company a fran
chise, but the present one is not sat
isfactory. We had better give them
chance to try again.
think we should try to avoid this mat
ter because there is some work IN
volved. We might as we'll get to work
and revise this ordinance as we nave
other ordinances.
club: cit seems to me that DR.. Ryd-
er's motion is a little abrupt. pc
lfeve it would be more diplomatic for
the council to simply return the fran
chise to the Edison company with their
suggestions for changes"
j. w. Robinson, of the Commercial
club: people are going to protest
! loudly against this franchise unless
the council puts something in there to
insure uniformity of rates. The users
of light and heat can't understand
why their bill should have increased
year, while they are apparently using
just about the same amount of light
or heat that they did before The
electric light people ought to submit
a franchise that covers the situation
DR.. Ryder asked for a roll call on
the question, and the vote stood as
follows: ayes, kutz, Ryder, Griley,
Holiday, Green and Hughes; noes.
Neil, Rice, Howe, Sinner and Swend-
son.
Councilman Hughes then made a
motion that the council further rec.
ommend that the council suggest to
the Edison company that it bring in
new franchise, covering the follow
ing points: a maximum scale of prices
for incandescent and arc lights, heat
and power, and a minimum monthly
charge for incandescent lights.
This provoked considerable discus
sion. The councilmen were all per-
fectly willing to give the Edison COM
pany a new franchise, but they want
ed more concessions than the Edison
company seemed to be willing to offer.
DR.. Ryder thought that if the coun-
Gil made any suggestions of changes
to the Edison company it ought to
suggest all the things which had been
talked of in the subcommittee APP
pointed to revise the ordinance. This
seemed to be good logic, and at the
request of the members DR.. Ryder
read off list of about fifteen changes
in the franchise which his subcom-
mittee on new sections deemed adj
yisable. This dose was too much for
the council. They Immediately de-
cided that it would be better to post
pone these changes until the Edison
company had been given another
chance to revise their ordinance, and
the motion made by Councilman
Hughes was passed. The committee
then adjourned.
Want a Color Line.