The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1908-01-24
MAYORS SAY TAILS"
Chief Executives Write of Their
Experiences.
They Do Not Consider Public Owner
ship Successful In Their Cities-Two
Plants For Sale-One Lasted Only
Six Months.

One would expect mayor to be the
last man in city to say that munich
pal ownership could not succeed, yet
two mayors in next to the most popu-
lous state and one In the largest state
in the Union have emphatically ex-
pressed their views in letters.
| Guy A. Bryant, mayor of Princeton,
ILL.,, tells about the experience of his
city, as follows:
sour city has advertised for bids for
its electric light plant Our plant was
an old one when it was taken over by
the city, and considerable money had
| to be spent to get 1t into fair running
shape. This was eight years ago.
Since then we have not been able to
make it a paying Investment as we
found the cost of running the plant
has exceeded what the cost of lighting
our city would be If the light was pur-
chased from private plant, and it
has been deemed advisable to sell it If
satisfactory bid can be had. This is
our main reason for disposing of 1t.
Municipal ownership of a lighting
plant, In my opinion, cannot be made
a success in cities of this size"
The mayor of Marengo, ILL.,, J. II.
up the case Of that city, but nobody
Is left In doubt as to where he stands
on the question Of public ownership.
When he wrote Marengo had not yet
succeeded In making suitable arrange
ments for lease. The tone of the
mayors letter, however, does not indi-
cate that there is any reluctance on the
part Of the city to get rid Of its expen-
sive luxury. The only question seems
to be one Of terms. Mayor Patterson
says:
"We are contemplating a deal where
by the management Of said plant will
60 out Of our city's control. Our rea-
son for doing this is that we consider
municipal management complete fail
ure, and the less there Is Of 1t the
better for all parties concerned"
When G. 9. Weaver was mayor of
Itasca, Tex, he expressed his opinion
OF city trying to work and gave the
brief but trying experience of his own
city as an example. In a letter on the
subject he said:
"Our city bored an artesian well and
was fortunate in securing a flow Of
water Of very fine quality and in a
quantity about 200 gallons per minute.
In connection with this it was decided
to build an electric plant. I investi-
gated the cost and probable income of
an electric plant and found 1t doubt
full proposition and recommended that
we avoid 1t, but the aldermen believed
1t would pay In connection with the
waterworks, and the work was begun
"The pump was installed first and
was operated about one month before
the electric plant was ready; hence we
know how much it cost to operate the
pump. When the electric machinery
was put In operation our losses began.
We operated 1t little more than four
months and found that it was taking
all our income from both the water
works and electric plant to pay run
ming expenses Of the plant. We did
not want to shut down, as we knew it
would be a dead loss, but we were
forced to do something; hence we hit
upon the idea of selling the electric
part Of the plant. 1t was turned over
to me to sell without any reservations
as to what l should get. 1 sold the
electric part, but not any part Of the
waterworks. We lost money in trying
to operate the plant and did not get
all our money back in the sale. We
operated the plant three days less than
six months and lost about 500 per
month.
IF you stop to think about 1t, a city
cannot work, but must hire all her
help. The hired man does not have the |
coal bill to pay, nor does he care
whether houses are wired or not. He
is not much interested In the receipts
and does not hustle business; hence
the expenses run up while the receipts
are neglected. Public money does not |
hold out like private money. know
1t ought to, but I am now serving in
my eleventh year as mayor, and /
know whereof speak.
when we come to figure these |
things, 1t is not safe to figure on what |
ought to be done, but we should face
facts and recognize the facts as they |
really are and not as they should be, |
but are not.
"An electric plant has to have close |
attention, and the man who |
it ought to have very |
serious interest in the expense account |
and In the receipts, and this interest |
should be such as would affect his own |
pocket.
You ask If would advise middle |
size cities to build electric plants. |
Now, in answer to this particular |
question I must say would not"
at seems to me that modern theater |
goers rarely get the worth of their |
money when they invest it in the aver
nge show"
"Why notf'