Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1907-12-13
GERMAN N. 0, THEORY
Public Utilities Operated by Cities
Must Pay Their Way.

to Depreciation and the Plants Dent
Have to Pay MISUNDERSTANDING"
Limited 20 Localities Where the Pat
ronass Will Be Large
In theory public utilities operated by
German cities must pay their own
way. This theory Is not. however.
fully borne out in practice. because the
allowance FOE depreciation Is frequent
IL Inadequate. and the plants are net
required 10 make good the taxes for
merry paid by the companies they SUI
perseded. But the effort 10 put these
services Oh Il paying basis has resulted
la limiting the various undertakings 10
districts where they are sure 10 pay.
ON the other hand. when these utilities
are Operated 10y companies the same
restrictive results are noticed. because
almost without exception the fran
visions for payments TO the city aud
are at the same time of such short
duration that the companies would not
he warranted In extending the service
beyond lie. districts la which they are
sure 10 pay al once.
Professor Hugo X. Meyer In recent
articles in the Electrical Railway Re
view and the Journal OF Political Econ
oIny describes the results Of this re-
strictive policy Oh street railways and
electric Lighting. and the following
facts are taken from his articles:
The cities that went into the street
railway business adopted uniform
fare OF % cents. but with two excep-
tious abandoned this after short triAs.
The experience Of two typical German
cities will prove OF interest AS showing
what high rates are charged when
cities attempt To operate utilities on g
paying basis
When the city of Cologne took over
the street railways the fares charged
were 20 cents for distances up TO l.5
miles and 3.I5 cents for the maximum
distance, 90 miles. After operating
them awhile the city authorities raised
the fare materially while extending
slightly the minimum stage. The pres
eut charges are 20 cents for 10 miles
80 cents for 3.I5 miles, ceHts for
5.63 miles and 625 cents for distances
over J.63 miles.
/ The city OF Dusseldorf, which &C
/ qulred its street railways In 1900. at
/ tempted to operate them at the uni
+ form fare OF - cents, which had been
/ charged by the street railway CON
pany. but soon found that 1t was losing
money and limited the IS cent fare tt
! "a miles. charging $40 cents for dis
/ tanceS between that and 40 miles
After increasing the track mileage the
J city again raised the fare considerably
reducing the minimum stage. The
prices now charged are 2.5 cents fol
/ l.5G miles. 311 cents for 8 10 miles,
cents for / miles. 6.2J cents for Al,
miles. 10 cents for e.3S miles. 81.
cents for 7l9 miles and 10 cents fol
T.94 miles.
| 1t should be borne In mind that these
prices are really very much higheI
! than corresponding rates would he II
this country, because wages In Ger
! MANY are much lower than In the Unit
ed States. The exorbitance of thes'
charges Is shown by the fact that II
MINNEAPOLIS, a city Of the same siZ'
as Dusseldorf. a passenger can rld'
thirteen miles for + cents. while II
Buffalo, which has population abou
equal 10 that Of Cologne. the passen
ger gets fourteen miles for nickel.
The desire OF the cities TO make al
possible profits out Of franchises anf
to limit them to short terms has re
suited in greatly delaying the develop
ment Of public electric lighting. al
though the people were anxious t
have the new lights installed. This u
shown by the fact that In lS9i-9
there were In operation In factories
stores. etc more than 4.778 private
electric light plants. although tw'
years later there were only littl'
more than 300 central electric lighting
stations In the whole OF Germany. A
the private or Isolated plant. as 1t i
called In this country. is far less eco
nomica than the central station. thi
restrictive action OF the German cite
has thrown great burden Of cost OF
Its progressive citizens. The situation
Is the more remarkable because at tn
time of the Introduction Of electricit.
for lighting and traction purposes Ger
many was far better equipped to per
feet and develop these systems thai
was the United States, yet 1t has beel
completely outstripped by our owl
country. chiefly If not solely becaus
here private enterprise has been give
comparatively free hand.
In closing one Of his articles Pre-
lessor Meyer says:
THE unwillingness Of the cities t
suffer financial losses on behalf OF tn
congested city populations after thos
cities had denied those congested POP
ulations relief at the hands OF prof
seeking companies il in instructiv
contrast to the eloquence with whtc
the advocates Of purchase by the cite
had denounced the dividend seekIn
companies
Purchased Current More Economical
| An electric light nInuf WAC jnSta ilo