The Washington times., 1924-01-02
CITIES ARE.
PAR TNERS
IN Plant
Taxes Eliminated and Works
VIII Have Paid for Thenl-
selves in 80 Years.
BY JOHN r: LAMBERT,
COsmopolItan Ncws Service.

Oy OUEMN IL lAkANAUHLh@1p ss+s
CosmOpOlItan News Service.
The Canadian province of On
tario today has the greatest light
and power system in the world.
Il is owned by the people. They
get the lowest rates in the world.
Their enormous plant has not cost
them a penny in taxes. It will
have paid for itself, free and
clear, in thirty years.
Towns i'm Partnership.
Those important facts are stated
by the Public Ownership League Of
America, which has called confer
ence of the liberal forces of the ma
ton for this city on January Is to
combat the gigantic scheme of the
private electric corporations to seize
the most valuable Water-power rights
In the nation. Sir Adam Beck, who
established the Canadian system,
win be the principal speaker at this
convention of radicals.
The Ontario system is partner.
ship OF municipalities which banded
themselves together to get good
power, cheap power and to extend
light and power to great city areas
and rural territories which are alb
solutely ignored by the private cor
porations.
The cities and towns formed and
Joined the system. They got a char
ter from the province Ito generate,
transmit and distribute power" The
province loaned them the money.
They gave the province mortgage
on the system they built. Each city
and town agrees to pay it's proper
tionate paly of the cost of general
ing and distributing the power, Of
keeping II in good repair and OF
meeting the capital and interest
CHARGES, "lhe whole cost being ad-
justed so as to insure discharge of
the entire Indebtedness in thirty
years"
difference In Rates.
The present rates average about
az GEMS per lilowatt hour, Sill
Adam says the time is not far-dls
tant wnen the smallest customer
the mos remote farmer, will gel
hour, and that a 1-cent rate is by
no means an inapossibility. The
rates are about one-half the cost tc
the people of the rates that existed
there under the old private com
panies. - :,2.s>
Each city and town pays annual
ly it's proportionate share Of the
total expense in proportion to tbs
service and advantages received
Each community then charges it,
people "a rate sufficient to- make
up that assessment. If the rate
charged for that year yields ar
excessive income, it is reduced the
following year. Carl p. Thompson
Of the league says in book soor
to be published:
s"Thus the whole system is paying
for itself, and is not costing the
taxpayers a single cent. The rates
are so fixed each year that the
earnings are sufficient to pay al
costs of operation, interest on the
capital account, sinking fund, de
probation and taxes. There. has
never been a single cent collected
In taxes Of any municipality to be
used in connection with the opera
ton Of this hydro-electric utility.
Paying for Itself.
Eat the end Of each year an
adjustment is, made and the excess
charge, If any. is refunded and the
undercharge, If any, is billed for
payment. This great enterprise is
paying for itself on the pay-as-you-
go policy. It is publicly owned, op-
Grated on the principle Of service at
cost and its entire saving goes to
the, people, not to profiteers.''
The following table shows how
public ownership affects the pocket.
book. 1t. shows the average bill Of
the average consumer in eighty