Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-07-22
CITY LIGHTS IT'S BUILDINGS,
Eiectri3 Plant In ST. Louis Paid For
Itself In Less Than Two Years.

Itself In Less Than Two Years.
About six years ago an impromptu
posse of indignant citizens attended
session of the city council in st. Louis
carrying ropes. They threatened to
hang certain members of the municipal
legislature unless bill for the relief
of the situation regarding the lighting
of the streets was passed Immediately.
The Dill was passed ut that session, and
tIe hanging did not take place. Like
other cities, ST. Louis felt that it was
paying entirely too much for its street
lighting. and when the lights We're cut
off altogether in the best residential
section OF the city as a part of a boo
ding scheme in the city legislature
Snme of the citizens took the matter in
hand
Three years later the city itself be-
gan to make an experiment in munich
pal lighting. The streets We're still being
lighted by private concerns, and still
arc. for that matter The city proposed
90 light its own buildings, including
the city hall ana other structures CON
veniently grouped. from plant to he
established and operated under munic-
5p1i ownership. The st. Louis Post
Nspatch thus describes how that plan
was carried out with signal success:
"For more than three years past ST.
Louis has been operating Il municipal
lighting plant, furnishing light to city
buildings. In That time the theory of
municipal ownership has been put to a
t,,r
ut home and has shown remarkable re-
suits. The tusL of lighting the build
lugs supplied by the municipal plant
has boon decreased, better light and
more of it has been supplied good sal
nrics are paid to the employees, and
they have proved competent. although,
confessedly. political influence had its
share III securing their appointment.
"Chief Engineer Wood of the city
service has charge of the plant and is
constantly receiving inquiries concern
Ing it from all parts of the country
The plant Is in the basement Of the
city hall the old heating and ventilat
Ing plant having been added to and
utilized. 1t lights the new and the old
city halls, the -Four Courts building,
the courthouse and No. 6 engine house.
when it became certain four years
ago that this plant was to be estab-
lished. the lighting company voluntari-
~ reduced its bid for lighting those
buildings from 13 to Ga cents per kilo-
watt hour. That was the initial vic
tory for municipal ownership in st.
Louis. But 1t was a victory with a
string to it. The reduction had the ef-
feet the lighting company evidently in
tended. The city's move to establish
municipal plant, for which the money
had already been appropriated, was
temporarily arrested.
''Then the light company put it's
price up to ~ cents per kilowatt hour.
Result. the municipal plant was built
in spite Of further opposition. Since
then Engineer Wood has produced light
at an annual average cost of little
over . cents per kilowatt hour, and now
Ii is costing less than l cent per klo-
watt hour. In the first twenty three
months of its existence this plant paid
for itself in the difference between the
cost of the light it furnished and the
seven and a half mot the thirteen)
cent rate the lighting company was for
nerly charging the city"