The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1911-02-17
PAID ADVERTIsEMENT.
|OLWtR 7. ERICKSON
CANDIDATE FOR COUNCILMAN
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF
PUBLIC UTILITIES.

Owing to the destruction OF prop.
erty values By the miserable street
car service Of the Crawford system.
the question Of municipal ownership
IN Of more than ordinary importance
10 those who live In Seattle. The
power 81 confiseatlon and destruc.
ton conferred By giving franchises
has often been demonstrated. But
II usually requires such violations
Of personal and property rights as
We have Witnessed In the. Rainier
and Duwamish valleys TO make PEG
pie think good aud hard.
When the majority Of people have
become educated ON public utilities.
such enterprises as require fran.
chlses Will always b. owned aud
operated by the public. Then such
ontrages as have been perpetrated
In the Rainier and Duwamish val.
lcys would result In the beheading
Of the public officials responsible
II now seems probable that the
voters OF Seattle will authorize the
Issuance OF $500 900 worth OF bonds
for a municipal street car line BE.
fore embarking on this enterprise
the people should study carefully
the principles To be employed In
it's management In the manage
meni OF our water and light system
the public officials have followed
the rules and practices OF public
service corporations. which Is
wrong
The first and primary rule OF
public service corporation is;
Charge all the traffic will bear.
And schedules are made on that
basis To Illustrate Some years
ago one OF the large hotels In the
city was being rebuilt A large
dynamo and engine. with the neces-
sary switchboard. were installed
Before the hotel opened an agent
OF one OF the lighting companies
came 10 figure ON furnishing light
and power
lie was shown over the building.
and among other things saw the
lighting plant The manager OF
the hotel said casually they er.
pected to deliver current to the
switchboard for about two cents
per kilowatt hour. The lighting
company closed contract for "A
term OF years and the engine and
dynamo were taken out and carted
away.
At the same time there were
small consumers paying as high as
twenty cents per kilowatt hour for
current They were charged all
they would stand rather than be
driven to use candles or kerosene
lamps. II is usually said IL costs
so much more to run tines in the
outlying districts But that Is all
buncombe to pacify people who are
being plundered. To prove this. II
Is simply necessary to call at
tention to the fact that small con
sumner downtown is trimmed to the
same extent as In the outlying dis
tricts.
The cost of light and power in
Seattle ten years ago is shining
example of the method of charging
all the traffic will bear. There was
no movement TO reduce the high
schedules of that time until the
Manufacturers Association took
hand In the game and secured "A
franchise for the Snoqualmie Com.
pany. But the manufacturers made
no move until IL was agreed that
the new company would make
schedules forty per cent lower than
the prevailing ones. The old com
pany met the cut and the Manu-
facturers' Association saved light
and power users hundreds of
thousands OF dollars The advent
OF the city lighting plant reduced
prices still further.
In making schedules for light and
water. the primary question should
not be how much can the consumer
be bilked. but It should be to give
the best service at the least pos
sible cost And last, but not least.
grant no special privileges by
charging large consumers less than
small ones.
This will sound revolutionary be.
cause we are so accustomed to
giving the big institution the best
of every bargain. But as a matter
of fact. II costs no more per kilo-
watt hour TO generate the current
that flows through the wires into
workingman's cottage than that
which flows into big business
establishment. In an honest and
fair schedule there should be
charge for reading the meter and
carrying the account which at the
outside would not be more than
twenty-five cents. After that
should come the charge for current.
kilowatt hour to every user in the
city. To determine the cost of cur
rent there should be added together
at the end of each year the cost OF
operation. maintenance. interest
and sinking fund. II the last two
are proper charges. This sum
should be divided by the output for
the year and form the basis for the
next years charges.
In making preparations for a
municipal car line. the people
should see to II that old corpor-
alton methods are not followed
The first principle laid down should
be first-class service. That means
no strap hangers, but a seat for
every passenger and cars enough
for the traffic. And that service at
cost. With one ear line run In
that manner for year. the people
would get an education that would
put stop for all time to the pres
ent system of crowding people
into cars like beasts. at the sacri-