The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1906-11-30
A MENACE TO CITIES
Professor FeSsenden Sounds a
Note OF Warning.
Cities Not ADAPTED 70 Operate Busl.
ness Enterprises--Loss OF Capital
Through New Developments $50 The
Dar1er Zeal One.


D,..on pa,l ons
II Is Incoming lore and more gen.
orally rr,nliy,d tLat undertake. gS
founded on the great public needs Of
the niglly or.auilod society OF modern
tiur, should he controlled rs society.
Whether. having the power it 4, I'D.
,stlua that muui,'paltics should a..
uuIly ouug.e IN such undertakings ~
whether they should merely maintain
thrir coutrn,. ms ir has been aptly pat,
,Lrol.h their POWERS us a landlord, l.
n matter which will be determined hy
N.r municipalities from POLITICAL social
and economic as well as eu-ucgriAS
considerations.
Cou>Ncr. = tie question from 'tS eL.
cheering side alone. II Is found that
from the very essential nature Of tie
matter only Il certain Da>, oi engineer
tns undertakings eau he rlhcieAt. ami
ur,pprly upvratrd Us states OF munich
pIlitics. ii l. very important that tuis
limitation should lie recognized, as
where the limitation has been over
stcpprd lt has resulted n heavy lihan'
riaI LOSSES - the governing bodies I'M
urliatrN concerned. It has seriously
checked Development IN engineering
lines, ana these results have III couse'
lucnce afforded u strong argument 10
those opposed to municipal operation
Jt public utilities.
1t Is true that under state OF inunlc''
PAL operation some minor ana sloradt
developments may Ue expected, Dut
uuthug OF -,ueral or important cuar'
actcr Important Developments gen
orally come only from the hands OF III
dividuals or bodies re>poAsiOIe OIL! -
themselves and provided with the III
ceutiyr Of Il large pront. lie ehnllha'
ton of sell responsibility and incentive
would inevitably produce condition
in industrial aud scientlnc develop
meut analogous 10 the dark ages
1t L. t. be noted that this conclusion
1, derived from engineering c1nsldera'
tons alone and does not Include any
consideration from the political social
or economic side. There may, II Is
conceivable be political, social ana
economic considerations which tend to
affect this limitation. considered, how .
ever. from the engineering standpoint .
alone there can be Ao question but .
that the tied of state and municipal
operation should be limited to under
tal,iu.s IN which there is no immediate
PROSPECT Of or need for improved
method.
\ danger which is always associat.
ed with the ownership Of industrial
undertakings Is that the capital invest.
ed may e lost through the develop
mcut OF new and cheaper methods and
processes The extent - which indus.
trial machinery Of certain types is ren-
dcrcd obsolete by new Improvement
is not always realized The writer Is
pcrS luQlly acquainted with one street
car railroad plant IN which the entire
electrical e9uipment Of th- power
house was thrown out ona replaced
with improved machinery tour times
within a lurild Of tea wears. 'fuC ar.
no.ir rumunv : repoltcd. correctly. il .
is believed. t. have syrauIrd Oh our
occasion Mp"c than SiWuUlU worth .
of new ItLuiLery HACh had never .
been used.
This has already become SERIOUS .
matter tor many municipnl!ties %lich .
have eu-a-ll in undertakings wing
uDl,Ile Of the rn-ln.elug l,uiIs de.
fined aplyc. N1ri Of these muu!ypul. .