Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-04-25
BOOSTING OLYMPIA ALONG.
The Lemon Foshay franchise should

Inc LemOn-f OSldy ITduCulSS Suouiu
pass.
II for no other reason, the ordinance
should pass so Olympia will be placed
in the eyes of the investing world as
inviting and not blocking the entrance
of capital.
This election is not to decide wheth-
err Lemon and Foshay can make any
money in Olympia if they are given a
franchise. They know their business
and have decided they can. The cleo
ton is solely to decide whether Olym-
pia will give them a chance to invest
here, whether Olympia will welcome
that expansion to which it would seem
the city Is entitled.
The King county courts have just re-
Gently decided that the maximum gas
rate fixed by the Seattle city council
cannot be revoked by an order of the
public service commission. That de-
cision disposes absolutely of the only
argument that has been advanced
against the granting of this franchise:
alleged duplication Of investment and
possible consolidation later, resulting,
as alleged, in increasing the rates to be
charged the consumer.
No other valid argument can be ad-
vanced against the granting of this
franchise. It will complete the three
fold enterprise upon which Lemon and
Foshay want to embark, electric, steam
heating and water plants, and will
give Olympia better equipment of this
character than any city of its size in
the state and an opportunity to offer
possible future investors advantages
other cities cannot.
Olympia today cannot offer new
concern cheap electric power, and
power must be had before the city's
factory district can grow. This fran
chise furnishes the solution to the
power problem that has vexed the bus
mess interests of the city in recent
years and enables the city to offer pos
sible factories something it cannot Of
| fer now. Therefore it will be valua-
BILE and potent factor in the further ex'
pansion of the city.
The talk of municipal ownership is
ridiculous in the face of the city's
present financial condition. What
money the city has to spend should be
spent in the way of permanent civic
improvements, lettering its factory
and business districts and identifying
its residence sections, particularly In
improving it's present dilapidated, un
paved streets, and not in bonding II
far byond it's improvement limit to buy
public utilities, under the loophole Of
fered by the law which permits city
already bonded to the limit for all
other purposes, to load it's property
still further to buy public utilities. Its
public utilities can be better operated
by private concerns under the close
scrutiny of the city council and mayor
than by the city itself, under present
conditions.
The pending franchise offers that OPP
/ portunity. 1t specifies maximum
rate which the courts hold cannot be
overruled except by the city council;
it gives the council power to oversee its
operation. It is asked for by men
whose integrity is not surpassed by
others holding privileges at the city's
hands, and above all, its granting will
place Olympia in the ranks of the pro
gressive cities, welcoming the advent
of capital for development and eXpan
sion.
I A vote for the franchise means a
boost for a growing Olympia.