The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-15
PUBLIC
UTILITIES

Continued From Page One.)
i~sfactory. In both cases the plant is
pronounced to be modern and kept in
an orderly condition"
h labor situation at the plant ex-
amined is compared to h advantage
of the private plants. 1.-THE general
impression made at Wheeling" says
Messrs. Edgar and Clark, was that
no one about the works took any more
interest in his duties than was abso-
lutely necessary to enable him to aold
his job, and no one, either at the
works or on the street, was at all in
terested in getting work lone in an eff
ficient manner. h power of appoint
ment at Wheeling did not rest with
the superintendent, and therefore the
employees did not have the e of dis
charge by MIN in case they did not per
form their work properly. At Norfolk
n Atlanta the certainty of prompt
discharge in case they did not satisfy
their immediate superiors in the oper-
alton of the plant acted to make the
men work better and more efficiently
than was the case at WheeIing."
The Philadelphia Gas Works.
Referring to the Philadelphia gas
works as an instructive comparison of
the results of municipal and private
ODeIdllOu, LIE IeNlGWeIS QuOCe IL L.
S. Rowe as authority for the statement
that the quality of the gas supplied
has been improved by the company
now operating the service, and that
through the rental paid the city mas
received for eight years an average
profit of S491,674 annually while for
the last few years under city operation
there has been a loss of S245,39 per
year. The private company, however.
charges no more than did the city, but
supplies better gas. "The Commits
sion's record" say Mr.. Edgar and Mr..
Clark, indicate a high degree of eff
fcielcy in the company operation of
the Philadelphia gas works, and kind
ly and liberal treatment of employees.
On these latter points DR.. Rowe
speaks as follows: AS has been
shown (under municipal management)
there were abuses in almost every
branch of the operation. The pur-
chase of coal AID the residuals pro-
ducts were 'eacn under the control of
favored individuals; the wages &C
count was padded with incompetents,
the friends of men prominent in city
politics. 1t is u~nquestioned that there
were leaks in the management of the
gas works at other points than the dis
tributing system; it is true that the la
Dor account was debauched, and it is
certain that in the purchase and sales
departments there were influences at
work which worked harm to the city's
interests. But the loss through such
sources was inco1siderable when COM
pared with those inflicted by councils
by the senseless blocking of the way
to improvement in cutting off the ap-
preparations for undermining the plant
:. During the entire period of munich
pal operation the officers in charge
were engaged in a losing fight to pre-
serve the works from ruin. There
never was a time during the entire
period of responsible control when it
could truly be said that the works
were in an efficient condition."
American Electricity.
Four of the best known American
municipal plants, those of Chicago,
Detroit, South Norwalk, Conn, and AL
legheny, Pa, were examined by the
Commission and the experts. OF these
South Norwalk is the only one that
does commercial lighting. AS to the