The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1906-11-22
A MENACE TO CITIES
Professor Fessenden Sounds a
Note of Warning.

Cities Not Adapted to Operate Busi.
ness Enierprises-Loss Of Capital
Through New Developments - The
Danger Real One.
1t is becoming more and more gen.
orally recognized that undertakings
founded on the great public needs Of
the highly organized society Of modern
times should be controlled by society.
Whether. having the power, it is adj
visable that municipalities should &C.
tually engage in such undertakings OF
whether they should merely maintain
their control, as it has been aptly put,
through their powers as landlord, Is
a. matter which will be determined by
the municipalities from political, social
and economic as we'll as engineering
considerations
Considering the question from it's en-
Eineering side alone, it is found that
from the very essential nature of the
matter only l. certain class of engineer
Jug undertakings can be efficiently and
properly operated by states or munich
palities. 1t is very important that this
limitation should be recognized, as
where the iimita tion has been over
stepped it has resulted in heavy finan-
Cial losses To the governing bodies inn
nietiiately concerned. it has seriously
checked development in engineering
lines, and these results have i'll conse-
quence afforded strong argument to
LSNvH
of public utilities.
1t is true that under state OR munich
pal operation some minor and sporadic
developments may be expected, but
nothing OF Il general or important char
acter. Important Developments gen.
orally come only from the hands of in
Gividuals OF bodies responsible only to
themselves and provided with the in-
ccntive OF a large profit. The elimina-
ton OF sell responsibility and incentive
would inevitably produce q condition
in Industrial and scientific develop
ment analogous 10 the dark ages.
1t is to be noted that this conclusion
is derived from engineering considera-
tons alone and does not include any
consideration from the political, social
or economic side. There may, it is
conceivable, be political, social and
economic considerations which tend to
affect this limitation. Considered, how
ever, from the engineering standpoint
alone there can be no question but
that the iield of state and municipal
operation should be limited to under
tassings il which there is no immediate
prosaGetse of or need for improved
method
4 danger which is always aSSociat-
cd with the ownership Of industrial
undertaking 81 is ,hat the capital invest
ed MAY e lost through the develop
ment of new and cheaper methods and
processes. The extent to which indus
trial machinery Of certain types is rem
dered obsolete by rew improvements
is not always realized. The writer il
personals acquainted with one street
car railroad plant III which the entire
electrical equipment of the power
house WAS thrown out and replaced
with improved machinery four times
within Il !eriod OF ten years. The Car
.ne:ic company is reported, correctly, 1t
is beii:sva.,. I, hive scrappe.lt on one
occasion more than S1oO0OcO worth
of Kew machinery which had never
been used.
This has ;;lrcaGy ! ecome serious
matter Tor n-any municipalities which
Asave engaged in Undertakings lying
outside of the engineering limits de-
Lns-d above. Many OF these municipal
tie: installed plants FOR the prod,c,
tiol of electric Light at time prior to
the advent OF important improvements
in generating and distributing electric
ify, and as these municipalities in COM
mon with NEST municipalities made ne
proper allowance for depreciation the
capital invested has been practically
lost. and IN addition the cost of cleo
tric light to the consumer is MUCK
higher than it Is in other places equip
ped with later and more economical
types OF machinery. In addition, heavy
and expensive repairs have been neces-
sary and the taxes correspondingly in.
creased. This has reacted upon the
municipalities, since the heavy rates
have caused manufacturers to move
away 10 other towns. and this again
has still further increased the burden
upon those remaining. There are al
ready indications that considerable
number of these municipalities which
have engaged in improper UNDERTAKINGS
are entering upon Il period Of financial
didiculty.-R. A. Fessenden.1