The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-04-27

can be prepared to furnish current
in few weeks
The Star thinks the council had
better order the machinery that
Superintendent Caldwell says he |
needs. They have the authority, and
We presume they can raise the mon
ey. They raised $4,000 a few
weeks ago for a lot the city didn't
have to have. and we don't see any
reason why they can't raise $4,000
or even a little more to keep our
electric lights from going on the
blink. And they don't need to raise
rates for that purpose, either. If a
private firm was furnishing the city
with electricity, and it found its
plant close to the point where it
couldn't supply the demand, it would
hustle in some new machinery. Of
course, it would raise rates if it had
monopoly, but a monopoly is what
municipal ownership is intended TO
prevent
There is one thing that the coun-
Gil should take into consideration if
it follows the plan some of the men,
bers seem to favor, of taking cur
rent from a private firm and keeping
the city plant in reserve. That is
that the city will have to keep in
service all the time high-priced
electrician and at least one compe-
have to be fired UP and the machin-
cry run for a few minutes every
week or ten days. If the plant is al
lowed to stand without close and
skillful attention, it would soon be a
heap of junk. Its expense while it
| was standing idle would be not less
! than $500 a month.
Another thing is that if the sup
plying plant broke down, it. would
take from two hours to half day
to fire up and couple up.
| Another thing is, as the Star has
said before, if we shut our city plant
private firm, and the business in
creases while the plant stands still,
no matter how we'll it is kept, if it
was called on in a year, or two or
three years, it would be entirely in
adequate to do the work. In such
an emergency, two or three years
from now, half the city would have
to go without light and power
If we depend on a hydro-electric
plant, sending current in over cables
| from a long distance, accidents
would be very likely to happen. Any
severe storm would be liable to
break connections and leave the city
without current.
| Hydro-electric plants are also
liable to be put out of business by
drouth. In North Georgia and the
Carolinas, summer before last, doz-
ems of towns were paralyzed for
weeks by the shrinking of the
streams that furnished the power for
their electric currents, and many of
these plants have since put in steam
power.
The Camps big power plant is
immune from this danger. The bulk
of the water that supplies it comes
from Blue Spring. which like Silver
Springs, not only never fails, but is
not affected much by drouth
Above the mouth of Blue Springs
run. the Withlachoochee, tho a long
river, is very small one. In times
of drouth, except for a few feet in
the middle, it can be waded. 1t runs
thru comparatively fiat country
and before a power plant of any
consequence can be erected, very
extensive dam will have to be built.
The Star thinks that our present
problem will have to be solved a
long time before this plant can be
in working order And of course it
will be open to the same objection
| that is Of such weight in the case of
any power supply out of town. The
current will have to come for a
number of miles thru cables that
/ can be broken in a minute and can't
/ be repaired in hours.
/ Mr.. E. E. Robinson, chairman of
! the finance committee, has promised
| the Star communication on the
subject. which We are awaiting with
| a good deal of interest He has
made an exhaustive study of the diff
| ferent details, and we are quite sure
| that he will supply Information on
many points that the public is in the
dark about. The public, however,
knows that it doesn't want to be in
| tho dark EfarallY &C we'll as f1ur=