Evening journal., 1911-02-04
OF
FRANCHISES
DR.. Hamilton Sees Signs Of
ReStIeSSneSS on the Part
of MIR. Wilmington
PEOPLE PAY FOR WHAT
THEY GIVE AWAY, HE SAYS

Editor of THE EVENING JOURNAL.
Everybody you meet wants new
City Hall and a road to the river.
Nearly everybody you meet wants
better paved and cleaner streets. The
Park Commission wants a loan for
park land extensions. Larket street
merchants want more and bettee
lights. The police and school teach
ers want more pay. Tie Board OF
Education wants more money for new
schools and President Crosby, of the
Wilmington and Philadelphia 1rac-
tion Company, wants a franchise on
which he can, so he says. borrow
$35O,O0O Immediately. and Judging the
future by the past he can borrow
more and more as the city
grows and the population in
creases and there is no limit to it.
The writer views the clamor tor more
money by the citizens of Wilmington
with a great deal of satisfaction. He
even is willing u say thar he hopes
it will get great dsal worse. There
is something wrons in the manage
ment of affairs in this good old town
and the fact that the patient has be-
gun to scratch and air his tongue is
more than encouraging. Unless a
change in our fiscal system is made
IL is difficult to see how salaries can
be raised or evening the running eN-
penses of the city met
With Mr.. Crosby it is a little differ
ent If he can get his franchise and
borrow the SS50,000 all he has to do
is to charge the interest to the people
of Wilmington and proceed to collect
it, for remember Mr. Wilmingtonian
IL will at I i2 per cent cost S15,750 to
pay the interest on the $3.50, 900. which
Mr.. Crosby will borrow on the fran
chise which he asks the Street and
Sewer Department to give him. The
writer may be wrong in the way he
looks at things, but he cannot see
how this interest charge will be met
except out of the industry and thrift
OF Wilmington people. If any one
who favors this franchise can show
how the money can be secured from
any other source the writer will be
In favor OF granting the franchise
himself, although he realizes his
favor or opposition makes no differ
ence one way o. the other.
Injustice of Franchise System.
Attention is called to this situation
and a comparison is drawn in order
to arouse the people Of Will
mington, If possible. to the inius-
tice of this franchise system. Mr.
Crosby has placed the whole subject
before the taxpayers In a light. which
leaves very little to be desired to the
/ man who has eyes and is willing to
see. There are in Wilmington, Public
] Utilities which are probably capital
lied at sl5,000,00O judging by the
money paid for interest and loans.
Eliminating duplication of plants it
Is said these properties could be re-
| placed for S5,000,000. The writer
does not use these figures and vouch
for their accuracy as he has only the
word of men who have had some ex-
! perience in that line of business. The
writer, however, is convinced from
his observation and some knowledge
OF the several deals and turnovers
that have been made in the past %
| years that the public utilities of VIII
mintgon are easily capitalized for
twice what they are worth and we
will look at them for a moment on
that basis. Say the several trolley
lines and lighting companies in this
city are capitalized for S15 100000
and say they are worth to replace
them $7,500,000. Now let us look at
them with the 1-2 per cent in view
and the people are paying every year
the vast sum of S675,000 as interest
on their public utilities. Admitting
that the stock of these corporations is
only one-half water, the people are
paying 1897 500 every year in inter-
est on the value of franchies which
have been given away by the city au-
thorities without any protection OF
compensation to the taxpayer. Nov
let us look again for a moment at the
real value which the writer admits
for arguments sake attaches itself
to these utilities. We will say this
amounts TO S7,50O,O00 what does VIII
mington get out of this? The public
service corporation pays to this city
about $4,000 a year. A citizen with
800. 900 would pay in city taxes
J S1l2.5OO The public utilities get OIL
I Dy pdglHB AlNeit hAoip tAoA chC
fourth Of what would be charged an
ordinary citizen.
Paw for What They Give Away.
Take therefore the $375.00O paid ir
interest on water and then make the
reasonable demand that the corpora.
tions should be compelled to pay as
much tax on the value protected and
covered as the man who owns othel
property and Mr.. Wilmington you vii
find is paying TO public service cor
porations something like s450.000 Or
what they gave away and are prac
tically allowing these organization
to get away with 1t. Think of th.l
you people who want a new City Hal
and a road to the river. Consider thii
. you Park Commissioners, who hav,
your ambitions and splendid pro
, grams for park expansion. Reflect oI
this you school teachers and police
officers, who find the increased cos
OF living a greater burden every year
Weigh these statements we'll yol
, Market street businessmen, who wan
more light and should not have u
! beg for it. Does not the citizen know
that he is merely maintaining a sys
TEN for the benefit of non-residen
stockholders, and as the city grow
and develops every step il takes {
. capitalized by these organizations. I
the city would double in population