The Holbrook news., 1919-01-03
MUNICIPAL LIGHTING
 PLANT A SOLUTION OF
 HOLBROOK'S TROUBLES

Under date of December 21, 1918, Mayor Geo. W. Hennessey wrote to the Arizona Corporation Commission in reference to ex- cessiYe charges and poor service rendered by the Holbrook Light and Power Go. to it's subscribers ! in HoIbrook. Mayor Hennessey ] has furnished THE NEWS a copy of the letter he received from the Corporation Commission, signed by Amos A. Betts. com missioner, and dated Dec. 26, 1918.
 MT. Betts informed the Mayor that he had written the manager of the Light and Power company with a request that he endeavor to adjust matters to the satis- faction of Holbrook users of the service.
 Kenneth H. Myers. general manager of the company, wrote Mayor Hennessey under date of Dec. 28. 1918. and in this letter, a copy of which is before the writer, he endeavors to explain why the charges of his company
 
 are high, and denies that there is anything the matter with the meters used by his company.
 The Myers letter explains nothing. The writer might just as we'll have saved wear and tear on his typewriter caused by typ ling two page letter, and have written the short sentence: What are you going to do about it?" His two-page letter to the Mayor can readily be condensed into that sentence.
 | As a matter of fact the policy of the nonresident owners of the light company since it began operating in Holbroek can be summed up in the following sen tence: The public be damned; unless the people are willing to return to the use of the coal oil lamp. they must come to us; and. further. they must pay whatever rate we see fit to charge.
 Many people would not object so strenuously to paying the ex- orbitant rates charged by the light company. if they were given adequate service. But the ser vice is at times rotten. The local manager says he cannot better lit with the help he has and he is not permitted to hire addi- tionaI help. Just so. The wages of another man would take that amount from the profits of the owners of the plant, and. of course, they will not stand for that.
 THE NEWS has no quarrel with the local manager of the com pany. He is competent. thor ouFhIy understands his business, and is doing the work of about three men. He probably only draws the salary of one man.. however, as the owners of the system would undoubtedly find | it out of line with their grab all'' policy to pay a decent salary to an employee.
 As THE NEWS views the situa- ton there is but one way in which the people of Holbrook may secure relief from the grasp ing corporation that furnishes light and power (sometimes) to them; that is to put in a munich pal light and power system for the town and let the owners of the present system junk the plant they are now operating (sometimes).
 A municipal light and power
 
 system will pay interest on any bonded indebtedness required to construct it. and a water and sewer system, and besides the revenue derived from the electric plant will in addition create sinking fund sufficient to pay off the bonded debt in ten or twenty years. And the rates charged for light and power need not be more than one-haIf those charged by the company now furnishing the service (sometimes).
 A few years ago the writer re-