Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1908-01-09
MAYORS SAY FAILS
Grief Executives Write Of Their
Experiences.

ship Successful In Their Cities-Two
Six Months.
One would expect a mayor TO he the
last man in a 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:
.Our city has advertised for bids for
Its electric light plant. Our plant was
an old one when II was taken over by
the city. and considerable money had
to he spent to get Ii into fair running
shape This was eight years ago
Since then we have not been able TO
make II 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 1t
has been deemed advisable TO sell 1t If
a satisfactory bid can he had. This is
our main reason for disposing of It.
Municipal ownership of lighting
plant In my opinion. cannot be made
a success I'm cities Of this size"
The mayor of AIarengo. ILL.,. J. ii.
Patterson. is more brief in summing
up the case of that city, but nobody
is left I'm 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 ind-
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 he one OF terms. Mayor Patterson
says:
I'VE are contemplating deal where
by the management of said plant will
go out OF our city's control. Our rea-
son for doing this is that we consider
municipal mana cement n complete fail
ure. and the less there Is of 1t the
better for all parties concerned"
When G.. G. 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 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 n
quantity about 300 gallons per minute.
| In connection with this II was decided
to build an electric plant. investi-
gated the cost and probable income OF
an electric plant and found II a doubt
full proposition and recommended that
we avoid II. but the aldermen believed
| II would pay I'm connection with the
waterworks. and the work was begun.
The pump was installed first and
was opera ted aboht one month before
the electric plant was ready: hence we
know how much II cost TO operate the
1 pump. When the electric machinery
was put In operation our losses began.
We operated 1t little more than four
months and found that 1t 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 ii
would he dead loss. but we were
forced to do something: hence we hit
upon the kiea of selling the electric
part of the plant. 1t was turned over
TO me to sell without any reservations
as TO what | should get. | 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 I'm 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. 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. lie
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
ii ought to, but ! am now serving in
my eleventh year as mayor, and
| know whereOf 1 speak
when we come TO figure these
things. II Is not safe to figure on what
ought 10 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
personal attention. and the man who
1
serious interest In the expense account
and in the receipts. and this interest
should he such as would affect his own
pocket.
You ask II I would advise middle
size cities TO build electric plants.
Now. In answer to this particular
| question I must say | would not"