Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-04-24
JUST THINK OF IT!

The most strenuous cndeavors arc
stil made to deceive the public as to
the franchise contemplated to be eN-
tended to the Utah Light and Railway
Company The city Council Is urged
not to make amy change in the pres
cat franchises owned by that company;
It is repeated that the company Is
seeking to obtain something for moth
ing; apd further that the grants pro-
posed would be worth many millions
OF dollaA Let MS see how much sense
and truth there are in these charges
As we have shown repeatedly the
company already has franchises cover
ing the streets and thoroughfares Of
the city where rs lines and wires and
poles extend, !, also has the right UNI
der it's franchises to charge Il much
higher rate for lighting than is pro-
posed under the new franchise SO
that II the present proposition IL de-
feated. there will be no regulation to
prevent the eXaction Of the maximum
rates the company is allowed to
charge and the public viii not receive
the benefits which would accrue under
n new franchise.
In addition to the properties which
the city wants and that belong to the
company the minimum value Of which
is placed at 100000 and which the
company viii deed to the city, ii is 10
furnish to the city light and power val
ued at $4,000 year. Anybody can
count up what that would amount to in
the fifty years Of the franchise. The
total would be $2.OOO,OOO that the city
would receive from the company.
Then the company is to pay S25 a
year on each street-car operated under
it's franchise There are at present
sixty cars paying that tax ana ten cars
have been ordered, which will make
seventy cars, and these at S2b each for
fifty years will make SS75OO without
counting the Increased number Of cars
that will certainly be needed and oper-
ated as the population increases and
extra facilities are required. So that
Mt least 100000 may be put down as
the figure of the cost to the company
and the receipts Of the city from this
item alone
So much for the alleged nothing
that the company win give for some-
thing. Two million two hundred thous-
and dollars, totals very pretty little
nothing" which the company is to give
10 the city for consolidation of Its
franchises and an extension for a period
of eight years beyond its present long
est limit.
The plottcrs against the welfare Of
the city as well as against fair treat
meut Of the company clamor for the
passage of an opposition franchise for
term Of fifty years, without the pay
mtnt TO the city Of a solitary ccnt!!
It proposes a slight reduction In the
charges for electric lighting from the
rates now charged by the Utah Light
and Railway Company and 1t viii be
found on close comparison, that this
viii be no reduction ut an from the
rates that viii prevail n the terms
proposed I'm tho now franchise to the
company are adopted
There is nothing proposed i'm regard
to the operation Of a strcat-car system
I'm the pretended application which the
plottcrs are urging the city 10 grant
As It is presented, It makes no Of
fer to light any outlying districts which
are now supplied by the Utah Light
and Power Company but Is In the ma,
turc Of little local. narrow, centra
scheme evidently designed merely as O
block IN the way OF the existing com,
pany, without any guaranty for It's eX,
tension to distant points. or the offci
o. the least equivalent for the fran
chsc which Il pretends to want
Think Of the impudence Of the pa
pcrs that plead for the granting %
such "a franchise FOR NIFTY years, with
cut q solitary cent OF compensation
10 the city while they demand thu
turning down ot tho extension OF III,
existing company's franchise for cigh
N'NlNt NIl'N w 100 liNNIi 100 INC 'Ill
returns to the amount of moro than
two million dollars
Think also Of their assumption anb
ludeceucy in calling upon the popuhcl
TO gather in "a crowd around the build
ing where the council sits. TO ovcraw
and mumidatc the members into TAX
ing such a mad unjust and rIdiculou
step as that urged, by the opponent
Of "a substantial and bona dde compan,
and advocates of % hot-air proposition
like that which we have briefly touche0
upon!
The city authorities who support IN
franchise which has been arrange
with due regard to the needs " TN
municipality and the rights Of IN
company with which 10 Is dealing. will
be the real friends and supporters o
the city while those who Rght IN
movement win be quite as much IN
enemies OF the city and foes to pro
grcss as they win be To common Jus
tlce and good business sense, In treatn
with a company that has rights whlc
cannot DO trampled upon and whc