The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-11-06
PEOPLES VIEWS

In talking with some of our most
en~terprising business men of the city
| find a strong sentiment in favor of
changing our present form of city gov
ernment to the Commission form of
Government. The majority who have
expressed themselves are heartily in
favor of a change Of some kind, being
sick of the present condition of af-
fairs. In speaking of "the present
condition of affairs" I want it 10
be distinctly understood that | am
finding no fault with our present al
dermen as they are doing more than
they are getting paid for. Their mag
n%ificent salary of $500 per year, and
all the glory, is not enough to pay
them to spend their time, only to at
tend the monthly meetings. 1t is not
the aldermen but the system that |
am kicking about. TO start with, in
an effort to get the commission form of
control for our city, | want to state
very emphatically that | am after moth
ing in the way of a city office, neither
hOiiOl VI Sioiy III any III L lldhC
this statement thus early in the game,
as some of those, facetiously inclined,
have already broadly limited that I was
advocating the change in city govern
ment hoping that | might get to be
mayor; nothing could induce me, even
if l could be elected, and my expert
ence along that line has taught me
how | am regarded by the voters, as
suitable timber for such an exalted po-
sition. "a word to the wise is suf-
f~icient." Some time ago / penned a
few lines complaining about the recent
raise in our electric current furnished
us by our city; after same had been
published, n of our councilmen took
me severely to task for making the
statement that our city was charging
us more per X. w. than was right. He
made the statement that the city was
not charging any more than other ad-
%jacent towns were; | disputed him, but
he claimed the councilmen had inves
tigated it and he knew what he was
talking about. | ceased to argue the
Il lndIbCi Will MN, Jul was nOt bOh
WINGED and have written the cities men
toned in the list below and have the
) letters from each place. giving their
rates, over the signatures of a city
I official, so it must be considered as
authentic. Why is it that the three
: cities furnishing the cheapest rates are
T all governed by the Commission form
of Government? One of the chief
things in favor of the Commission form
is that you can place the responsibility
where it belongs. Under Jul present
system when anything is wrong it is
hard to find out who is at fault, as
the buck is passed. from n council
man to the other then to the mayor
and finally to the city employees until
you never can run down the party who
is at fault. | feel sure that in the
near future there will be an attempt
made to adopt this comparatively new
form of city control and | shall heartily
endorse it, and shall do all | can to
have it tried out. | would like to see
all those who have the good of our
lu6 lllliS CITY dt hCdll, ICllu "a MANU- ~
push it over, and see how we like it.
If we do not like it we car go back
to what we have now.
A comparative statement of rates
charged for the electric current by
Bookings, New Ulm, Madison, Aber-
deem and Pipes:one is below. Note
that Madison with a municipal owned
power plant and under a commission
form of government Is next to the
lowest and is smaller than Brookings.
They are 500 lower than We are.
Why should this be so?
Can you believe this?
The following schedule of light and
power rates from towns in South Da-
kota and Minnesota all having the
same advantages as Brookings in so far
as natural advantages go are con-
cerned.
New Ulm, Mimi. municipal owned
plant, using coal to generate power
with no heating system to utilize ex-
haust steam. Commission form of
government has been in effect for sew
eral years.
Lights-10 cents per X. w. Mini
mum monthly charge rs cents. Ac-
count of s 1900 or over, 5% discount;
$4,000 or over, 1000.
Power-First 800 X. W., sc per x. w.
Next 200 X. w, 4he per X. w. Next
200 X. w, &c per X. w. Next 500 X.
w, SA' per X. w. All in excess of the
above, 8 cents per X. w. Minimum
charge 35 cents per horse power.
Rates in effect at Madison, S. D.
Municipal owned, using DIESEL oil en-
gines to produce power. The commits
sion form of government has been In
effect for several years.
Lights-10 cents per X. w. Mini
mum charge. so cents per month.
Power-First 100 X. W., &c per X. w.
Next 200 X. w. &c per X. w. All
over 800 X. w. &c per X. w. Mini
muir, charge, so cents per horse power
per month up to 10-horse power; all
over. Is cents per month.
~ 49,