Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-01-17

the purpose of creating a monopoly;
shutting out all the Independent plants
raising the price of Ice to whatever
| figure they desire to put 1t, and saying
to the people, sick or we'll, Pay this
or do without"
I thought the attorney general
would take some action In regard to
these matters, under the law, but moth
| ing has been done, and / now call up
on you to take some steps before these
corporations have 80 far stuck their
fangs into the people that 1t will be
impossible to get them out.
See Section 13, Article 9, Constitu-
ton Of South Carolina, 1895.
Exclusive Franchises.
| l desire to call your attention to
J the evil Of any town, city. county or
| state giving any exclusive rights
privileges, or franchises to any cor
poration or individual. We see the
pernicious effects Of this now. When
| a town or city places her water sys-
tenn. light system. telephone or tele-
graph system in the hands Of one
| corporation. under an exclusive fran
| chise. the result often is, that II you
are without water; you cannot force
| them to hurry repairs and you can
not get ii elsewhere; If you are with
out light, the same Is true; IL the
| telephone company or telegraph COM
pany gives you poor service and you
| make complaint you are ignored. be-
cause you have nowhere else to go,
and you are bound by their special
| privileges. When any town or city
places herself under one system OF
public service, to the exclusion of
others, after the experience of towns
| and cities all over the country, it de-
| serves to have poor public service ia
cilities. I respectfully recommend
that you pass an act annulling all ex-
elusive franchises heretofore granted
| in South Carolina, and forbidding any
exclusive franchises in the future. The
towns and cities belong to the state;
the town government or the city gov
ernment Is but subdivision Of the
general state government; the people
Of the towns and cities are citizens
| Of the state, and II the town council or
city council will not protect its citi-
! zens, then 1t is your duty to step In
and protect them. II you do not think
l am right in this matter. simply re-
fer you to some town or city where
one corporation or one individual con-
trolls the lighting plant or the water
plant, or both: or where one system
controls the street car lines or other
quasi-public enterprises or public
service system; or where one corpora
ton or individual has an exclusive
franchise of all these things.
I note a most ridiculous occur
renee before the railroad commission
er recently In a telephone hearing.
| The peoples side Of the case was rep
resented, or supposed to be represent
ed, by an attorney who Is a leading
counsel for the Western Union Tele-
| graph company. when everybody
knows that the Western Union Tele-
graph company and the Southern Bell
and Telegraph company are one and
the same corporation, or one controll-
ed and owned by the other operating
as such. Independently. Still, the
railroad commission. l presume, knew
what 1t was doing I leave 1t to the
people Of that particular town as to
whether they got any relief or not
Taxes on Water Powers.
l respectfully recommend that you
pass an act requiring all corporations
| in this state that are using the water
power of the state to pay a tax or IL
cense therefor. Dams have been built
and are being built across nearly all
the streams of South Carolina that
have any water power that can be
profitably utilized. This water power
belongs to the people Of the state. 1t
Is being harnessed, so to speak, and
used to run machinery for few cor
porations which are making millions
Of dollars out Of 1t, and the people of
the state-the taxpayers-are not re-
ceiving one dollars benefit therefrom.
Other countries tax companies or in
divfduals for the use Of their water
powers, and there Is no good reason
why South Carolina should not do so,
and every reason why she should. 1t
would be a source of much revenue to
us, 1t would not hurt those who are
using this power; and 1t would be but
fairness and justice to all concerned.
I, therefore, most earnestly urge you
to place this tax or license upon each
and every one of the individuals or
corporations that are using these wa
ters in generating electricity, run
ming machinery, or otherwise to
be harsh upon them, but to be fair to
the general taxpayers These corpo-
rations are running our rivers-abso-
lutely destroying them forever, so
far as navigation Is concerned; injur-
ing the lands below the dams by al
most actually drying up the rivers In
some places; receiving large returns
therefrom, and not paying one cent
for the use of that water power. 1t is
not right, and 1t Is your duty to cor
rect 1t.
am reliably informed that the pow
erful, gigantic dam, which Is now be-
| ing constructed across Broad River at
Parr Shoals, Is not to be provided
with a draw. This should be required
because the United States government
Is now spending money to make Broad
| river manageable, and a great fight Is
being carried on to complete the Co
lumbia canal, and If these things
| should be accomplished, this Parr
| Shoals dam would forever stand as a
menace and hindrance to the use of
this river. Now, while the dam Is In
its infancy, the parties controlling its
construction should be made to change
| their plans so as to provide such a
draw. l am also informed that there
Is no provision made by which the fish
| from the low-country streams, or even
| from the ocean, can go north Of this
dam, thus depriving the people north
of the dam, In the upper part Of Caro-
| lima, from the benefits of fishing in the
stream which they otherwise would
have as a result of the migration of
| fish from the ocean and low-country
waters.
l can but call these matters to your
attention, gentlemen. 1t Is for you the
mighty corporations to control.
Rate Of Interest
1 respectfully recommend that you
pass an act reducing the legal rate OF
interest in this state to six per cent
There would be good deal of COM
plant about this, possibly. But when
you place your money In a savings
bank you only receive four per cent.
Bankers boast Of the fact that they
can borrow money in the north at
two and one-half and three per cent,
If they can borrow it at two and one
half per cent, most assuredly they
can make money lending it at six per
cent. Look at the magnificent build
ings the banks are erecting.-their
great skyscrapers. Look at the i'm
mense dividends they are declaring
They vie with each other in displaying
in large letters in the newspapers the
amount of dividends they are paying
and herald to the world that they are
making money and prospering. We
are all glad to note this prosperity, but
gentlemen, they should share some of
| IL with THAR cratomars and not keen