Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-11-11
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what about their efficiency, their merit
and their satisfaction do the advan-
tages warrant the cost?
/ No town can develop very far or amount
/ to much without weter supply and cleo
| trio light systems; and then sewerage,
/ public parks and pavements must follow
| In natural sequence to complete the
chain. The travelling public and the
/ prospective investor all expect or are
/ favorabiy influenced by these now COM
monplace improvements for once ex-
! pcrienced they become practical neces-
sity. They are no longer Injuries, be-
cause II is now appreciated that the pub
| lie health, comfort and general welfare
/ require them
How can they be obtained? That Is
! the next question. Some years back there
was sufficient induoement for private in
tercsts TO obtain franchise and install
water works and electric light. or artl-
! fetal gas plants, but conditions have
| changed wonderfully. so that today Il il
ordinarily necessary for the town TO
vote a sufficient amount OF bonds TO pay
for the desired Improvement and then
have plans made and let the contract for
! the construction Of same. After that
/ they must arrange TO operate their plant
and FIX upon the rates to charge, so that
] the income will be sufficient to prevent
deficit, and yet not be prohibitive
These are all indeed intricate problems
for such inexperienced people TO solve.
! The private companies had the advantage
OF experienced management. hence much
greater efficiency. II was their business
TO do business, and their success de-
pended upon It, so naturally they made
much greater progress than the munich
pal management could hope To do. After
the town became larger, and the consum-
ers became used 20 and appreciated the
utility these concerns usually made more
profits than ordinary interest on the in
vestment, but II was only that which
could have induced them to make the
original venture, and II may have been
warranted by the financial hazard. and
the anxieties and sacrifices involved
Now, 1t Is only at this stage OF the game
that the municipality can take hold OF
the project and serve the public at lower
rates than the private concern has
charged.
However. as II is now usually necessary
for the towns to operate their own utili-
ties from the beginning. how may they
best do III And II they have an oppor-
tunity to '1et George do it, how will
]
tract or franchise at his terms or not?
Neither the doctor nor the lawyer can
assist at this crisis. and the best bust
ness man will we'll be undecided for
here is a place where wise angels fear
to tread"
Their only salvation lies in the engi-
neoring profession. and hero there are
many pitfalls. Here experience counts.
as in everything else. and unless they are
very careful in their Investigations and
shopping" they will call in a horse
doctor" instead OF a physician, and then
the undertaken: or they might choose a
Christian Scientist, whose absent treat
ment" would fail to keep the contractor
in line.
These experiences are not imaginary,
as nearly every Nebraska town can tes-
tify; hence the experience referred to
above as desirable does not mean with
other towns, but rather with successful
private plants, where efficiency and re-
suits are demanded and produced
Town officials need reliable informa-
ton, guidance and advice, They need to
know how much a suitable plant will
cost, what the cost 10 operate will be
and then what rate the public should
pay at first 10 meet these costs. The en-
gineer can't tell them off hand; he must
make some investigations, and after he
mas accumulated the essential data, his
experience enables him to make reason
ably close estimates. Next, he can tell
them how best to go about voting the
bonds. and the requirements OF the bonds
for ready sale. Then the plans and
specifications must be prepared and the
contractors bids taken on same, but
sometimes the conditions are such that
money may be saved by the town buying
the materials and having the labor per-
formed by days work under the superin-
tendance Of the engineer.
But the engineers work Is not yet
completed; he should supply competent
workmen to operate the equipment and
from time TO time he should be called
! upon to make a general inspection of
the plant, and TO check up the operating
results, to see that there are no leaks
OF any kind.
Sometimes the town officials feel that
they can attend to many of these fea-
lures, because they have visited the
plant in some adjacent town and know
how they do, and besides they are sat
isfied that they know more about It than
the engineer any way. This has often.
unfortunately, been true, and when II Is
true the town is paying both the engin-
GERS fee and for HIS lack of expert
ence. too The mistake is expensive, but
all their own. oftimes they have bonded
! themselves to the limit and can't raise
the money to remedy the blunders
Look back of any municipal plant
power house after few years and see
3 the junk pile of discarded machinery. ali
1 In comparatively good condition. but
useless for local requirements Many
times there will be two or three sets OF
equipment In this plle-the first TO suit
4 incompetent plans, and the rest repre-
l sents the efforts OF the committee 10
, remedy the Shortcomings of the first
lot; they bought what the salesman
wanted 10 sell them. aud maybe a sue
Q oeeding committee repeated the effort
y with equal success. All this Is the actual
n history OF many a plant and shows very
well the possibilities for ineffieieney and
even failure, unless there Is a continuou:
supply OF public funds TO meet mo de
g mands and deficits.