Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-28

way and light commission meet only after
business hours and perhaps not oftener
than twice a week But even II Port AT
thur cannot be pointed to as an object les
son the story is unique and well worth tnc
telling.
How It Started.
II Is hardly conceivable that other mu-
inequalities could fail to profit to some ex-
tent at least from the experiences OF TINS
splendid little town. Port Arthur and Fort
William are the lake shipping points for
the western Canada wheat belt Each has
a magnificent harbor and gigantic elevators
Port Arthur and the Canadian Pacific rail-
way have been for years and are now at
war with each other. If there had never
been a quarrel between the two there would
never have been story to tell about mu-
Eictpal ownership. under a Port Arthur
date line. 1t is not necessary to dig into the
merits of the controversy.
Disinterested persons say that both the
town and the road were at fault and that
a hot-headed and ehesty person Of import
ance to each made their differences grow
and finally become irreconcilable. Port Ar
thur concluded that the railroad was trying
to dodge the payment OF taxes on property
the title to which was under dispute, and a
very self-assertive mayor caused a passen-
ger train to be attached and he'd-like the
elephant Of the bankrupt circus-untii pay
ment was enforced. This little courtesy
naturally made the Canadian Pacific rail-
thur.
Sir William the Testy.
Sir William Van Horn. president of the
Canadian Pacific, is pretty quick on the
trigger anyhow and tbs said that his wrath
on this particular occasion was something
wonderful to see. After the power of
speech had returned Sir William Is re-
ported to have waved his carefully-mani
cured Smithfield over his head and declared
that he would make the grass grow in the
streets of Port Arthur" Perhaps some
body once made that threat about Alexan-
dria. Va. Anyhow the development of the
rival town of Fort William began with
rush and for a while 1t looked very much as
Ii Sir William would make his threat good.
Told by Figures.
But the good folks OF Port Arthur are not
of the Micawber family. They began to sit
up and take notice. They had harbor. an
ideal location for a city and splendid
waterfall just outside the city limits. If
the railroad would not bring its tracks to
Port Arthur they were determined to make
their town getatable by means of an cleo
trio railway, and so the munic pal owner
ship proposition had its inception. From
the very beginning the system was enough
of a success to demonstrate that ultimately
1t would be a pronounced success and the
story which tells the tale most eloquently
is the statement of income and expendf-
lures issued by the corporation of the town
of Port Arthur. 1t shows that from the
street railroads the gross income was last
year $40, 936, the cost of administration 81
500 and the profit S10.1S0; from the electric
lighting plant the same relative figures were
S3622S. so, 100 and S11,S40, and from the
telephone system SSH. ST. 100 and S2,301.
The figures given under cost of admin
istration' include the salary for supertn-
tendence and the clerical staff required for
the operation of these industries. The
street railroad is carrying charges on some
$4,000 worth of bonds. OF these. $12. 900
were devoted to Improvement of the current
river The lighting and telephone systems
bonded proportionately. The mayor of
Port Arthur reviewed the figures for me
and remarked:
81 expect to see the day when the prop
erty owner of this town will walk up to
the auditors Office and receive q check as
his proportional share of the profits from
the operation of our public utilities
And 1t certainly did sound good to me.