Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-07-15
OWNED BY THE TOWN
Street Car Line, Free Bridge and
Fine Amusement Park.
LIGHT AND WATER PLANTS TOO
Small City of Monroe, La, Has Sue
cessfully Carried Out a Remark able
Programme In Municipal Ownership.
RrnnertM MnlIIns II,nrn,Snd
Values Increased.

Property Values Increased.
Municipal ownership of public utili-
ties is now an established fact in at
least one town In America It is not n
large town, but it has done more to-
ward putting the theory of municipal
ownership to a practical test than has
been accomplished at any place this
side Of Glasgow on the east or New
Zealand on the west.
1t has not alone entered the ordinary
fields of supplying light and water, nor
has it even stopped at street railway
operation and ownership. In addition
y all these. it has a municipality owned
ordgc-a "fSee BRIDGE" it owns its
schools and supports them independent
of state or county, and it owns a sum
mer garden and municipal race track.
Monroe is the name of this American
eXperimenter ia New Zealand ways.
1t is a Louisiana town which had less
than G,00O inhabitants according to the
census of 1900; still it has not hcsitat-
ed to try the most extraordinary theo-
res of municipal government. Further
than that, it has successfully carried
out or is now carrying out the most
radical of these attempts and has pass
ed the stage of experimentation.
Conservative property owners when
the plan Of municipalizing the public
utilities first became apparent to them
threw up their hands and protested
that they would be ruined. They even
offered to sell out their holdings in
Monroe and gave out that they would
leave the town and never come back.
Not that these conservatives" recOg
nized the full import of the municipal
ownership campaign from the first, for
had they done so it is not unlikely that
they would have carried their threats
into execution. As it is. they have
lived to see utopian dreams become
material facts.
Property has advanced in value all
about the town of Monroe, and since
those who were obstructionistS at the
beginning were, with hardly an eXcep-
tion,. heavy property owners the up
ward tendAlcy of values has been to
their principal benefit Some of them,
in fact, have become converted through
this means to the municipal ownership
theory.
With such pronounced opposition as
was at first encountered it naturally
follows that the municipal ownership
advocates at Monroe had a strong lead
er, else defeat would have been GER
tain. That leader was y. a. Forsythe,
mayor of the town.
Mayor Forsythe was elected on a
platform calling for public improve
ments and 1.-The undermining Of Mon
roe"
A new state constitution adopted by
Louisiana the same year Forsythe was
first elected incorporated provision
authorizing municipalities to issue
bonds for public improvements. Mayor
Forsythe took the initiative in having
Monroe take advantage Of this new
law, and that town was the first In the
state to issue such bonds. Nor was
the issue small, $155OOO being voted
at the first election.
This sum was to be divided as fol-
lows: For street paving, $4,000; for
high school building $4,000; for
sewerage, $4,000; for charity hospi-
tai, $4,000; for water and lights,
100000.
No provision was made. you will OBJ
serve, for such theoretical improve
ment as street railway or munich
pal bridge. AS to race track and a
summer garden--in those untried
times Of his first campaign such a
suggestion would certainly have
brought defeat to the free public utlli-
ties champion Of Monroe.
Water and lights were the only pub
lie utilities or conveniences Monroe
enjoyed previous to 1898, and these
under private ownership. With the
granting of the water and light fran
chise Monroe had voted tax Of
81 mills for ten years. the income
from that source going to pay for
street lighting and water for fight
ing fires The service was indifferent,
although the pay was very good.
Mayor Forsythe argued that If the
1ru1lcnlSc was IlIoItuble " lht piiNut
company 1t would be more profitable
to the municipality. and the plant was
purchased. This absorbed the 100000
Of the bond issue that had been voted
for that purpose.
The move caused the three and one
half mill tax to be discontinued, but
the newly purchased light and water
plants were in such Indifferent condl
ton that they practically had to he
built over. The rate to private users
was continued as 1t had been pre-
vious to the purchase by the city and
the profits devoted steadily to better
ments.
In this manner the city was saved
the tax 1t had previously paid, but
the people could not see the direct
saving because their private bills were
as large as ever Some of them who
had expected miracle to follow on
the heels of the acquisition of the
water and light plants grumbled Il lit
tie, but as q rule they waited patiently
for results The bond issue had been
carried with only eight dissenting
votes, so pretty much all tie popula-
ton of Monroe was committed to the