The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-07-17

which has been setting for years to-
wards tho public ownership q public
utilities has now come TO the crest Of
the wave. Raleigh has a great or
%portunity To get into line T. To e.
tablish now a principle which in
twenty years viii be generally recog-
nized. If, at the expiration Of the
charter Of the present company. the
city should renew TO the private in
G|ividuals who own its sock the leas"
OF the streets Of the city and the right
10 charge citizens for the use II the
prime necessity Of water a price which
necessarily represents a speculative
profit by way Of dividends on wa
tered stock. lcng before that franchise
shall have expired it would be cause
tor continued irritation and put the city
in q class of Rip Van Wrinkles
calculated to make it an OBJ
ject Of pity To more progress
sive communities. Watc~, lights.
any other public utility which makes
use Of the streets Of a municipality
does 50 at sufferance and by license.
right to the use Of public prop
erty constitutes their chief value. Us
ualIv it accrueS to the corporation
without price and for a term which IS
long enough to give every adequate
compensation upon the Investment Of
the capital necessary to put such util-
itv i'm operation. The franchise. phil
osophicalIy, is nothing more nor less
a bonus or q subsidy granted by
municipality to private persons
the consideration that they use
the opportunities to which the city IS
solely entitled for the establishment
of a convenience or Improvement
which the city is not then ready to en-
gage in itself. The bonus. being the
right without which such corpora
tons could not exist. is certainly Il
sufficient i~nduccmcnt. 1t IS limited on
it's face to q certain term of years and
there is no reason why there should
he an attempt to construe the inStru-
mcnt to mean otherwise than is writ
ten in the provisions across its face.
Consider the fundamental relationship
between the city and the prl-
Vate water company to which it grants
a charter and the abSurdity of the oc-
casional plea tia it would be "in-
Justice" to put it out of business will
be apparent.
The charter to the Wake Water
Company was granted twenty years
ago in November. It's franchise to the
use of the streets was limited to twenty
years. For nearly a generation the
people of Raleigh ave been paying for
which of all things should be
the nearest free. d rate SO high that
it is practically prohibitiVe in it's lib
cral use to the poor. Long ago the
city might have built its own water
and provided an ample supply
of the prime necessity to all its citl-
zens. But. in a day when there was
a less enlightened public sentiment, the
franchise was granted to the private
corporation and for all these years the
city has stood by its contract II the
have paid high rents for water
or done without. Now that the time
is nearly expired. the water company
that it be granted a new lease
Of what is public property. of what IS
Joint property of every citizen Of
the city; that it may continue to
in rentals a price for water
which Will enable it to pay a profit
stocks and bonds that represent no
except n "enterpri5e'
necessary to ask and receive of a too
liberal city a twenty years gift of its
streets.
The nIpGion of 91pulj1tG 9fp, G1In-
ply is one which is entitled to the earn
est study of every citizen. ON the
general use of water depends not only
comfort. but health. Nor is it a
question which can be solved on the
principle that one has its CON
veniences himself, Here is q point
in the life of society where the vel
fare of a mans n~ei@hbor is literally
welfare. The golden rule with
to water is something more
than a moral principle. it is a phys
zeal p%recaution. When one house on
block does not have the advantage
IF water. there IS d very real danger
to the whole block. The sickness that
be bred on premises for the lack
Of water dOcs not Continc itself in at
tack TO the persons who dwell thereon.
Public sanitation is dependent upon
public water and plenty Of it.
For this reason. il for no other. the
city should own its water supply. Il
the citizens did not have tho right in
their ownership of the streets. they
would have the ri"ht as citizens to
be protected in their health to the
utmost extent. Tho city should own
the water works and it should so
manage the supply that every person
in the city can be put into touch with
system. Water should be so
cheap that its use would be practically
The city should not want
and should not have any profit from
it's operation. 1t does want more wa
ter. Every MAJ owning or renting 4
house III the city is contributing IL |
part of his rights to the water COM
Its pipes cOme over the streets |
which he own and to which the CITY
owns an easement. For twenty wears