The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-06-03
LET PEOPLE VOTE
Petitions on Light Question Are
Being Circulated.
Demand That City Council Sub
NIT the Proposition.
TO MEET TONIGHT.
Edison People Will Try to
Force Contract.
Mr.. Whittlesey Says People Are
for Municipal Ownership.

H. The citizens who favor the retention
OF the city electric light plant are out
1 TINS morning with a petition protest
ing against letting the contract for
| city lighting to corporation and ask
| ing that the council at least let the
! people vote upon the matter before 1t is
/ settled-a method that 1t would seem
/ should not be open to objection The
! Edison company will try to force the
J city council to accept their PROPOSE
| ton tonight.
To the Honorable and City Council of
the City of Topeka:
| Gentlemen-We the undersigned
| taxpayers, citizens and business men
| of the city of Topeka, do hereby wish
to protest against the abolishing of
| the city electric light plant and let
ting out the lighting of the city of To-
| peka by contract or otherwise to any
| company, concern or corporation, on
any terms whatever.
We believe that by spending COM
| paratively small amount of money on
! repairs, that the present plant can be
made to run for at least one or two
years or until sufficient funds can be
raised to rebuild or enlarge the plant
to meet the Increased demands of the
city.
We respectfully ask your honorable
body to at least give the people plenty
of time to thoroughly investigate the
whole matter before you decide to do
away with city ownership of it's own
electric light plant.
Respectfully signed.
From Mr.. WhittIesey.
The people are getting more and more
interested in the lighting question and
are visiting the city plant to get their
information first hand. Mr.. H R. Whit
tlesey of the Whittlesey Mercantile COM
pany has become enthusiastic in the
matter that he took a party of friends
over the plant yesterday and at the end
of their inspection the entire party was
dead in favor, of continuing city owner
ship and thoroughly indignant at the
way the matter has been misrepresent-
ed. Mr.. Whittlesey said this morning:
This matter has to be settled by the
people and we will fight it to the finish
to get it settled right. I have asked my
customers as they come in to the store
whether they want to give up municipal
ownership and they ali say no. / have
yet to find a man who is in favor of let
ting the contract. 1 have talked to many
business men and most of them agree
with me that it is an outrage the way
the thing has been misrepresented. We
went over the plant and estimated the
cost of fixing up the plant to do good
work and 1t can be done without issuing
bonds at all. The estimate was made
by machine men. too, so it is reliable.
1t can be done without a bond issue be-
cause it can be paid for by yearly pay
ments just like the voting machines.
THE men who have gone to the bot |
tom of the thing and have found out |
ABOUT II are all III favor OF the running
of a municipal plant. Those who have |
gone over the plant and who have ia
ken enough interest in it to find out the |
truth have become enthusiastic in favor |
of city ownership. 1 have seen two |
men this morning who, like myself are
indignant at the misrepresentation of |
the matter and who said that they were
going to remove their names from the |
first petition and put them on our petit
ton.
IF the rates offered by the Edison
company are SO cheap why is it that |
the Continental Creamery, Wolff Pack
ing company and such concerns are put
ting in their own plants The talk that
the city cannot run their plant as cheap
ly as a corporation is all bosh and nom
sense. With the proba bility that the
city will soon change to a commission
form of government would be the rank
est nonsense to let a contract for ten
years and put the city where it could
not take advantage of any changes in
electric business.
1.-The men who went over the plant
with me yesterday are going to go over
the books in the city clerks office and
get the figures direct from the reports.
They are interested in this thing now
and are going to see it through
The report in the Sunday morning pa
per that the reports of the superintend-
ent from 1898 to 1907 shows the cost of
lights to have been $42.03 per year each
is not correct and cannot be substanti-
ated. The cost was 1884 each.