Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-10-21
CITY UTILITIES
Are DISCUSSED
AT Club LUNCH

The KiwaniS club luncheon yes
terday was devoted to the discussion
of public utilities, the principal speak
ers being Frank E. Bennett, of the
Arizona Edison company and H. CT.
Mayabb, manager of the Douglas dis
trict for the Mountain States Tele-
phone and Telegraph company.
j. Douglas Cooper, delegate to the
southwestern KiWanis convention at
Santa Fe last week, reported on his
visit to that city. He announced tl1a5
w. B. Sims, of Bisbee, had been
elected governor of the Kiwanis dis
trict and that next years convention
would be held in Phoenix.
Mayabb, who has resigned to return
to Flagstaff where he was formerly
stationed, introduced his successor as
manager here, o. G. Hurt, who has
been in charge at Flagstaff In
brief speech Mayabb reviewed the
history of the telephone over a period
of so years and discussed the more
recent phenomenal development OF
telephone communication between
England and America.
Bennett emphasized the growth CT
public utilities and their Importance
iE the daily life of the average
citizen. His address follows in part:
'"The electric industry, commencing
September 4, 1882, with 1900 lights,
has grown to require an investments
Of over eight billion dollars. In the
last 20 years the population Of the
United States has increased about
40 per cent, while the electric pro-
duction of current increased from
five billion to over 60 billion kilowatt
hours and the price to the consumer
has constantly been reduced
"The gas industry is represented
by approximately 1000 gas companies.
The output of cubic feet of gas has
increased from 101 billion in 1901
to approximately $40 billion at the
present time. The gas industry serves
a population of over SO million
people. The present investment in
the industry is now approximately
four billion dollars.
"The telephone original patents
were issued in 176 and today the
American Telephone and Telegraph
company controls over so per cent
of the wire mileage The American
Telephone and Telegraph company
now embraces over 145 systems and
lines and the total revenues are now
between $50 and 800 million dollars.
"Waterworks companies, after con-
Struction and the. water supply arc
assured. are extraordinarily Simple
to operate and for this reason are
to a great extent municipality. oper-
ated. San Francisco is the only city
wAh population of over 100000 that
now has private water company.
There are only six cities of over
100000 that have privately owned
plants.
public utilities differ from other
lines of business in the fact that it
requires larger. amount of money
to be invested in them. The manu-
facturer and the merchant, if sue
cessful, will turn his investment from
two to seven times per year. The
public utility turns its investment
once every five or six years The
manufacturer and merchant have a
competitive field to operate in and
can sell to whom they desire and
at whatever price necessary to pro-
duce their idea of desired profit over
cost. The utility companies are coa-
trolled by the public service COM
missions, in most states, and the1r
rate of charge is fixed on fair
return upon the investment. They
must sell to and serve anyone who
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