Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1905-02-02
Observer.

in order to learn what is going on
at home. The things that we learn
may be true, or they may not be. The
Observer recently spent day or two
in one of our thriving neighbor towns,
and while there was informed that n
project is on foot to have our borough
electric light plant transferred to pri-
Vate management The Observer ex-
pressed his surprise, and also the hope
that should such change take place
the new management may be in a
position to offer good incandescent
service to our householders. The OBJ
servers informant assured him that
provision for such service would GER
tainly be made.
If the Observers memory is not at
fault, it was all carefully figured out to
the citizens of Emporium in black and
white, when it was first proposed to es-
tablish municipal electric plant, that
the borough would save money on it's
lighting, and also earn a tidy penny
through the sale of incandescent ser-
vice to private parties. For some rea-
son this promise has not been fulfill
ed. The eggs from which it was hop
ed that many chickens would be
Matched appear to have been stale. 1t
is now four years since the municipaI
electric plant was installed, but day
there Is not single incandescent light
In the borough. Our streets are well
lighted, tits true, by our fine equip
ment of arc lights, but the tax. payers
know to their cost that the luxury is
and expensive one.
AT time when the trend through.
out the country is strongly towards
the municipal ownership of certain
public utilities, it is humiliating to
have our borough go on record as hav-
ing made a financial failure of it's
electric plant. Professor Bemis of the
University of Chicago, obtaining data
from several hundred plants, public
and private, ,and grouping them accord
ing to number of lamps, candle power,
hours burned and cost of fuel, found
that in every group the average cost
of private plants was more than that
in public, even allowing for interest,
depreciation and loss of taxes.
The mistake which the borough
seems to have made was it's failure to
install plant large enough to supply
an incandescent service to private
houses in addition to maintaining the
street lights. We're the borough in a
position to offer an incandescent SER
vice, or were any reliable private |
party to offer such service, there |
would not be any dearth of customers. |
Several of our churches have been |
wired for electric lighting, one of them |
at cost of four hundred dollars, as an |
earnest Of their faith and hope that an |
incandescent service will one day be a |
reality. In point of cleanliness, health
fulness and convenience, electric |
lights are decidedly preferable to gas.
Most people would surely be willing to
pay little more for the sake of the |
better service. Such a service we GER
tainly ought to have, and it is thous-
and pities that the borough plant has
not been able to make good the prom
ise that such a service should be offer
ed. This failure has been hard upon
those who would liketo have such a SER
vice, and also upon the borough treas
ury through the loss of an income
which it might just as we'll be having.
1t seems to the Observer that the time
is coming when the borough must
either enlarge its plant, or else turn it
over to a private management that |
will undertake to light the streets for
a reasonable remuneration, and will |
offer to house hold rs an efficient in
candecent service.
Since writing the foregoing paragra-
phs, the Observer has learned that the |
annual net cost to the borough of main
tanning its street lights is S34 per arc
light This represents a greater aggre-
gate expense than the old system ofgas
torches, but when the vast superiority
in light is considered, and when the
cost per arc light is compared with
the cost of electric light plants in
other municipalities, we must conclude
that we are getting our street lights at
a yery reasonable cost.
Hobo Sociable.
The Ladies of Emmanuel Parish are
making elaborate preparations for the
Hobo Sociable to take place at the