Las Vegas daily optic., 1906-12-31
4 MENACE TO CITIES.


- S41fS4 "NS NssF~
ssss Eass~vrisss--Lsss ~ cspssai
Thvsssn N~~ csssasp~snss - The
Danger y Rssi Ora
IN in l.~~uansng naese AMI more gen-
orally recognized thsf nnsseTtakinxs
fsunsef en the great pHisaac needs "f
fha hixhly or<anlzsd society of aa0tsrh
times shouad h~ controlled by society.
Mhesher. haFans the possr, II 10 ad
xssshle that municipalities sh0nid 80
faaIly engage In snch andeTtakings or
yhether they should merely maintain
their eonfrul, ~ II hss b~en apsly pnt.
ahroagh their powers as o landlord. In
n matter whleh will lse deserEnlned by
the municipalities from political social
and economic m well ~ engineering
considerations.
Considering the question from iis en-
sineering side alone. 10 IL fonnd that
from the very essential nature of the
matter only q certain class of engineer
fng undertakings can he efsSeieasly aud
properly operated By states Or munich
palltses., 10 h very important that shas
limitation should he recognized. as
where the limitation has heen over
stcppsd IN has resulted In heavy hnan
ssal losses 70 tie governing bodies i'm
medlateiy coneerned. II has seriously
checked development Ia engineering
lines. and these results have In conSc-
auence afforded d strong argument 10
those opposed 10 municipal operation
Of public utilities.
IL IN true that under state or munich
nal operatlon some minor and sporadic
developments may h. expected. but
nothing of q general or important char
scter. important Developments gen
orally come only from the hands OF In
dlyiduals or bodies responsible only TO
themselves and provided with the in'
eeutive Of q large profit. The elImlna'
tlon Of self responsibility aud incentive
would inevitably produce n condition
In Industrial and scientific develop
ment analogous 10 the dark ages.
IL In 10 be noted that this eolcinsion
10 derived from engineering eonslsIefa'
tons alone and does not Include any
consideration from the political, social
or economic side. There may II II
conceivable. he political. social and
economic considerations which tend %
Affect this limitation. Considered, how
ever. from the engineering standpoint
alone there can be no question but
that the field Of state aud municipal
operat!on should be limited 10 under
taklngs In which there Ii no Immediate
prospect Of or need for improved
! method.
A danger which Ii always associat
Cd with the ownership Of industrial
undertakings Is that the capital invest
ed may be lost through the develop
ment of new and cheaper methods and
processes The exteut to which indus
trial machinery Of certain types Is ren'
dered obsolete by new improvements
10 not always realized. The writer Is
personally acquainted with one street
car railroad plant In which the entire
electrical equipment OF the power
house was thrown out and replaced
with improved machinery four times
within period of ten years, The Car
negle company Is reported, correctly. /,
10 believed. 10 have scrapped on one
occasion more than S1.0OO.0O worth
of new machinery which had never
been used.
This has already become q serious
matter fortmany municipalities which
have engaged In undertakings lying
outside Of the engineering limits de-
fined above. Many of these municipal
tiles Installed plants for the protluc,
ton OF electric light at time prior "a
the advent Of important improvements
In generating and distributing electric
ity. and nv these municipalities In com
mon with most municipalities made nc
proper allowance for depreciation the
capital invested has been practically
lost, and In addition the cost of elec
tric light 10 the consumer Is much
higher than IL is In other places equip
peu WIN iaaei auu h'"io N"h"h'' I"
types Of machinery. In addition. heav,
and expensive repairs have been neces
saty aud the taxes correspondngiy in
creased. This has reacted upon the
municipalities. since the heavy rate'
have caused manufacturers To mov,
away TO other towns. and this agaiI
has still further increased the hurde,
upon those remaining There are al
ready indications that a considerable
number Of these municipalities whicl
have engaged In improper undertaking
are entering upon period OF financia
ditiiculty-R. A. feSsenden.
As a Socialist Sees u.