The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-09-08
THE POWER SITUATION.

man who promised better electric
light and power service. by the com
I pletion of the new power plant, by
/ Christmas. The statement was made
1 toE representative OF his paper by
both City Manager sti!twell and Mr..
Olsen that the protpect. at present, is
that the plant viii be completed by
Christmas provided there Is no un-
ferseen delay. the prediction being
based npon the progress that has been
made recently and Is now being made
m construction work by the contrac-
tors.
The prediction may be as unfound-
ed and ais ridiculous SIS Mr.. McKievers
sarcastic comments indicates he be-
lieves II to be, brt the average man,
mot having expert Knowledge, must ac-
cept the opinions o. those who have,
or are credited with having, firsyhand
information ard expert knowledge.
\ Constructive criticism is useful and
desirable, especially with respect to
public affairs; and MIR McKiever has
been generally credited with the de-
sire to give the taxpayers OF Sumter
the benefit Of this sort OF criticism.
With respect to his last communica-
tion, however, II must be said that 1t
Is difficult to find IN IL anything of
the mature OF congtruetve criticism
or Of Information. 1t displays con
siderable animus and has the appear,
ance Of nasging, rather than helpful
Suggestion. @5
The light and power situation that
has, existed In Sumter for several
years has been most unsatisfactory
This situation long antedates the pur>
chase OF the plant by the city and,
as a matter OF fact. the unsatisfactory
service. that grew progressively worse
over a period of several years un-
l'doubtedly was the deciding feature
In influencing the citizens of Siimte
TO vote, by an overwhelming majority
In favor OF municipal ownership OF
the light and power plant--the hope
and expestation being that the city
authorities would provide BETTER SER
vice. This hope and expectation has
not been lost by great many ciu-
zens, ttespilei the experience OF The
past few montlis, while theSnew plant
has been in process OF construction.
IL is mater of common knowledge
that the plant the city took over was
in a run down condition,t tsome units
hefpg little better than junk, and that.
even though some parts Of the plant
were and are capable of rendering
/ service, the condition of other units
4 has rendered il impossible To furnish
good service, such 10 has been de-
manded by some citiz MS on the mis-
taken assumption that the mere fao<
that the city owned the plant guar
antccd immediate Improvement and
greater reliability of service, ..,
The service was irregular and .un-
reliable for many months before the
city took over the plant, 1t has con
tinued irregulac and unreliable, and
as the natural consequence OF the
continued dcpreci Of the
! worn out machinery thorq has boon
10 improvement. but rather poorer
service,
/ Tho only way by which better ser
vice could have bcea Obtained from the
old plant was by making extensive and
costly repairs, and this the engineer
employed by the city did not regard
ias justified intthe circumstances This
may have been poor advice, but that
is not for u layman TO assert posi-
lively, As an off hand proposition,
IL does not seem that it would have
been good busincss to spend thou
: sands of dollars to rehab!Iitate an ob-
selete and worn out plant, whose op
I Grating cost was high under the best
conditions, while a modern and al
equato plant that can be operated
economically, was In process Of con
structiou.
The construction OF the new r,an,
b has necessarily required time, and il
: the meantime the mcouvcuirnccs ap,
! loss incident to the change from ;
. nTiYalelY OWMrl ~ u n1m,-l-nn-II-