The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-08-28
SPOTLTHE "PLUTES'
IN CITY COUNCIL
Men who Passed Light &
Power Franchise, Joker
and All.

Seriously, the light and power fran
chise passed by the city council in
special meeting last Friday night. is
a sensible, buSineSs-like arrangement
for the city. And this effort to mis-
llead certain people to believe that the
: men who voted for it are the enc
mics of the plain peepul' and the
friends of the cofporationists, is all
the rankest kind OF "bunk."
In the opinion of The Palatlia News,
the proprietors of which are tax pay
ers and still affiliated with these same
plain peepul," the aforesaid fran
chise is the best piece of work turned
out by the council in some years.
The News did oppose the franchise
granted to Jacksonville bunch of
lmpecunious adventurers and irri-
descent dreamers some two or three
years ago. Time proved the wisdom
of our predictions. Time is a great
hea tr: it is aiso a great revealer. 1t
may reveal that the present council
has made some mistakes in this fran
chise; probably will, but from pres
ent information the ordinance seems
sensible.
A local contemporary made big,
double column discovery last Friday.
1t discovered "Joker" in this fran
chise. The council, with this double
column aid to intelligence, was stil1
unable to see the "joke" at the meet
ing and passed the ordinance with his
jokeship still occupy conspicuous
Splace in Sec. 3, as follows: "And the
imimnimum charge shall not be more
than one dollar and fifty cents"
"For how many kilowatts? The
franchise does not specify" shrieks
this discoverer.
The rate is ten cents per kilowatt,
therefore all over Is kilowatts will be
at so much per kilowatt. If under
10 kIiowatts, the rate will be $1.50 per
month. See? And then the discov-
ercr says: eve do not accuse the
franchise seekers Of wilfully setting
trap for the citizens of Palatka,
but nevertheless the trap exists and
if they are honest, and we believe they
ale, they can have no objection to in
serting the words for ten kilowatts'
in the above section"
We presume these franchise grab
bers" would not object, especially as a
consumer can, without inserting these
words, get Is kilowatts for the same
price that he would have to pay for
ten with them inserted.
Private and public Investigations Of
ownership in lighting and
power plants have revealed to council
members and citizens that there are
more municipal ownership
failures than their are successes. 1t
was the generally expressed opinion
that Palatka was not ready for mu-
nicipal ownership; that it's tax payers
would not vote bonds for another pot
pourri of politics and municipal man.
agement. Municipal ownership they
were willing to concede was beautiful
in theory, but doubtful in value when
put in practice
By the action of last Friday night
the council has swapped an old, inde-
terminate franchise with unsatisfac-
tory service and high rates, for new,
limited franchise, modern light and
power service (continuous) at less
than the average rates in vogue in the
larger cities of the country.
Whenever the city of Palatka de-
sires to experiment with municipal
ownership, there is nothing in the
present franchise to prevent it.
The Palatka News congratulates the
people of Palatka on this work Of
their council. Good men have opposed
it; they do not see as we see; they
had honest differences of opinion as
is always the case on public questions;
but we will all hope that the work
done will rebound to the credit of the
city.
The franchise is published in anoth-
er column. The aldermen voting for
it were: Yeas, Messrs. Yelvington,
Merriam, Gay, McNally, Jacobson,
Kennerly, Davis, Robinson, and
Adams. Nays, Messrs. Pounds,
Fearnside, Milhcan and Cannon.
Messrs. Pounds and Cannon labor
ed for nine cent kilowatt rate instead
of the ten, but this was found impos-
sible. The franchise would not have
been accepted.