The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-06-27
Municipal Ownership Paws.

which we here submit. The CITY un
der question, Bellefontaine Ohio. ;
city about the size of Plymouth. 4
community from an adjacent tow,
had been investigating the municipal
ownership question, and had submit
ted false report of that city Ac
cording to the communication which
we submit, the city of Bellefontain.
cleared $12,72s.22 on their electric
light plant in the year 1906. Here
| it is:
"Bellefontaine, o., April 30, 1907
Editors Kaukauna Times:
Enclosed l hand you a clipping
from the Cincinnati Enquirer, OF
April rs, and under separate cover I
forward you copy of our local pa
per touching the report of your com
mittee concerning the public owner
ship of public plants in our city.
We do not know with whom your
committee come in contact in our
city, nor from whom they obtained
the information upon which they
base their statements concerning our
public utilities but we do know that
they got wrong impression of our
public plants if they are correctly
reported in the public prints, and we
think it more than probable that they
ran against some of our would be
public men who think public owner
ship failure simply because they
are DESTROYS of purchasing our public
plants, and thus Transporting them
into private companies
For many years we have had few
persons whose determination to pos
sess these plants has been amending
and persistent. Our city was the
first in Ohio to try the experiment
of public ownership and from that
time until this it has been the object
OF attack upon the part of all private
corporations in the state, dealing in
these public necessities.
''The city of Bellefontaine has for
many years given the question of pub
lie ownership full and fair trial and
so abundantly are our people sat-
ished that any attempt to sell any
of these plants would be resisted to
the last So entirely satisfactory has
been that experiment that in compar-
ison with Our neighbors our plants
have supplied all of these necessities
at cost not exceeding one half the
amount charged by private compan-
les for like service in towns and cit
les of an equal population with our
own. In other words we have en-
Joyed the greatest benefits from
these plants at cost not exceeding
one half the price paid by other cit
les for an equal and like amount of
service and any one at all familiar
with our plants and capable of MAX
ing statement could have assured
you of these facts.
Il can show your committee as
can many of our intelligent citizens
that instead of being failures or
public plants have been money savers
and money-makers for our people,
and that they have during all of that
time been of such use and such char
acter as to be beyond comparison
with the private plants of private
supplying our neighboring
cities.
ct is unfortunate that you did not
upon the occasion of your visit to
our city run across some one who
could have given you some facts and
figures, and who could have shown
you the real value of our public
plants, which in the estimation of all
our best people are now and have
been most valuable public property.
Under any reasonable and bust
ness like management there can scar
cely be comparison with the pri-
vate corporations in cities of like
size with ours when we take into
what our people are re-
ceiving and the kin and quality of
service rendered There is no ques-
ton but that our people are entirely
with our public property
and that under no circumstances
would they be willing to dispose of
the same.
sour plants were constructed many
years ago and since that time many
and most important improvements
have been made and the population
Of our city has increased so rapidly
that the original plants have been
,utgrown. These things necessitated
not only the improvements demand
I'd in manufacture, but also the en-
argement demanded by the increased
demand Of population and the expen-
iitures necessary to keep up with the
times; notwithstanding all of these
our expenditures have been far less
'or any and all of these than our
,eighbors and our supply has been
abundant and of the bes,.
On separate papers | am going to |
give you statements of electric light
IS supplied to our people in COM
,arison with this same necessity sup
,lied elsewhere by privat corpora
ions to other cities In making these
statements you will observe that !
I'M counting into these statements
HE amount of electric light used by |
,ur city without charge and without
at the prices which are
aid for the same to private compan-
es by the citizens of our neighboring
tiles
The following are the prices paid
- r