Americus times-recorder. (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, March 19, 1912, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextThe Americus Times-Recorder THE WEATHER—Fair Today. thiktt.foubth year. arguments for and against the BOND ISSUE AND MUNICIPALLY OWNED LIGHTING PLANT At Request of The Times-Recorder Both Sides Present Their Views On All-Absorbinq Question For Municipal Ownership To The Public of Americus: The appeal to you to vote in favor ot an issue of bonds to the extent of <-,11)00, the proceeds to be used for a municipally owned and operated eiec ;rc lighting plant, is not an appeal to passion nor is it an appeal to pre judice or personal animosity toward anv individuals or corporation. It is simply an appeal to your good judg an appeal to your business sa gacify, an appeal to your love for Americas and the hope that lies with in as all that the city will develop and become a greater city, in which v. may all prosper. It is, above all, not based on the desire to confiscate any man's property or to injure legit imate investments that have been made here. This we shall prove to your complete satisfaction, we be- Hew, in the comments herein mad 3 on this question. To begin, we must all recognize that In a city the size of Americus a light ing plant, like any other public utility, is bv its very nature, a monopoly. We .•an have no possible hope of a com peting private plant. Private invest ment will not come in for that pur pose. Neither is there any hope of competition from outside plants. Al bany will not compete with Americus, neither will Columbus or Macon. Eacli is in a s* here of its own, occupying its own field in a monopolistic way. The local conditions that have existed for twenty years, or longer, must, therefore, be expected to continue, with only such redress as may be ob tained through the uncertain appeals and costly struggles before the rail road commission. The trend of thought throughout this and other countries today is arainst a continuance of these monop •olies that directly affect every citizen. Abroad and at home public sentiment j is demanding that municipalities own \ and control public utilities of every > kind, and overate them directly for ' the benefit of the public. In England and Scotland this movement has gone farther and faster than with us. There street car lines, telephones, telegraph lines, gas works, water works and electric lighting plants have all been municipalized, or control assumed bv the general government. In this country cities have largely, for years past, been taking over their water works and gas works. In many in stances the movement has been made, ants successfully, to operate the elec tric plants in the name of, and for the benefit of, the citizens as a whole This is the movement that is now on in Americus, that has been in prog ress here for several years, and on "'hieh you will pass at the polls on , ednesday. As the advocates of a bond issue and z municipally owned plant we believe, and insist, that a private plant, such as we have, is a detriment to the de velopment of the eitv along industrial l; nes, as well as a direct and unnec essary tax upon every citizen consum ing electricity for lighting or power Purposes. As regards the latter, we believe that if the city owns and oper ates a plant it will be in position to make very low rates for power, such rates as will offer a strong induce nif"'t to manufacturers to avail them selves of it and to locate plants here 'hat will give employment to present, or new, citizens, increasing the popu lation. wealth and importance of Americus. What is for the good of f 1 ent're citv there can be no oppo *hion to, and a municipally owned Pkint will be endorsed in offering the strongest inducements of this kind. J|lst as "’e are now giving, and have ,lp cn giving for many years, all the v ' a,Pr the S. A. L. railroad requires, in •'‘cognition of the value of its shops 0 Americus, so we can, under municl -11,11 ownership of a lighting plant, offe* 'b etrir lights, and power, either free 1,1 a' a minimum of cost, to secure p " ,llan t ß °r hold those we have, liivate corporations will give only "I* rates as they are compelled to -he in order not to lose a customer. ’ can be none of the broad spirit of liberality that the city can display ‘ l| ,tIP benefit of its entire public. I'c city can do this, we believe and lsist . because it is a more economical /t conducted plant and because it is from certain conditions that sur ,o irul a privately owned plant to the detriment of its service. A municipally owned plant, to be a,n with, only represents an actual ' ? 1 ination of money put Into it for nhichinery and other equipment. It ' not issue securities to fill the (,l| -ci s of private promoters. A pri ',U|,l-V own ed plant, such as we have here, and in many other cities, for the fight here for a municipal plant is but part of the great progressive movement throughout the country, does not represent in equipment but a portion of the money obtained from the sale of its securities. As is a well known fact, private plants are overcapitalized several times their ac tual value. It is iiv'this way that the promoters of such plants become wealthy. The has been in vogue for many years and the fight for municipal ownership is simply the protest of the public against its con tinuance. The. public objects, and properly, against paying interest on watered securities. What has been is no reason that such conditions should continue forever. We maintain that now is the time for the change in Americus. Consider the matter locally. The city proposes to issue bonds to the ex tent of $.>0,000 for an electric lighting plant. The interest at 4 1-2 per cent, will be $2,250. The municipality can issue bonds cheaper than a private corporation, for the simple fact that the municipality’s life is endless and its credit is better, as it is the credit of every one of its citizens. The pri vate corporation seeks to issue bonds to the extent of $400,000 in all, on which interest at 5 per cent, will be *90.000. We maintain that the net dif ference of $17,750 is in favor of a mu nicipally owned plant, in the sense that the private plant will seek to earn and pay interest on the bond is sue and to that extent such a bond issue is a lien on the consumers of the city. In this connection, too, it maxwell be pointed out, the city can sell its 4 1-2 per cent, bonds at par or better, whereas the private corporation of fers a SIOO bond and S6O of stock for SBS, with an additional five per cent, cost to it for floating the same. Municipal ownership, it is claimed by those opposing it, means political management and an attendant train of evils. As a matter of fact the very purpose of our struggle here for a mu nicipally owned plant is to take tne electric lighting out of politics. It is the city’s purpose if the bond issue car ries, to provide a commission, under .(>**'*■ state legislation, which will have ab solute control of the plant, council having no voice in its management, and the plant being put sharply and completely out of politics. It needs but a glance backward to realize that this has not been the condition under private ownership. For twenty years, the lighting business, under private ownership, has been an active agent in local politics. It must ever remain such. It must take a hand in politics to perpetuate itself, to enable itself to control council and secure a contract and rates satisfactory to it. Wherever you find a privately owned public util ity you find a corporation mixed up in local politics. We desire this influ ence removed from Americus politics for good. From an economic standpoint it ap pears to us that the argument is en tirely in favor of municipal ownership. If the city issues $50,000 of bonds and the interest charge is $2,250 a year, it must not be overlooked that for this interest charge you, the taxpayers, haxe a plant, owned by yourselves— for you are the city—the entire net income of which goes into your city treasury, where, under private own ership the interest on the vastly greater issue of bonds comes from you and the net income goes to the hold- I ers of these securities and not into your city treasury to assist in lower ing taxes, or building up the city. When you pa'y a bill to a municipally owned plant you are paying the money to yourself, in a sense, whereas, when you pay it to a pricately owned plant you are paying it to the investment holders of that corporation. Under the one you derive all the benefits; under the other the profits go else where. Take a concrete example of how these things work, and also as to how a privately owned plant is a factor in politics. At Rome, Ga., nine years ago a proposition was made to the city to put in a plant, charging the city $lO,- 000 a year for ten years for all its lights, and at the end of ten years to present the plant to the city. The pri vately owned plant there fought the project and defeated it in council. Since then Rome has been paying SIO,OOO a year for lighting purposes, but it is no nearer owning a plant than it was nine years ago. The privately (Continued on Page Five) AMERICUS, GEORGIA. TUESDAY MORNING. MARCH 19. 1912. Against Municipal Ownership • To The Voters of Americus: 1 here is between cities today a rivalry as keen as between persons engaged in commercial pursuits. It often takes the form of friendly or jealous banterings, and often unfair and malicious advantages, but fair play and honest rivalry have their place in city building to the same extent as in business or sports. A city must be in position to com pete—necessitating certain first es sentials, such as advantageous loca tion, accessibility of markets, trans portation facilities and cheap power for manufacturing purposes. The last of these has been supplied by the Americus Gas & Electric Company. Much has been supplied by nature, but much more is to be created. In dustiTal growth rests largely upon natural conditions but principally from our point of view upon the re lentless efforts of the citizens of the community who create the missing es sentials. j Cities slumber and sometimes die ' because of factional strife, political j feuds, personal animus and immoral conditions, all of which are mere ne gations, if analyzed, and all of which disappear under the lash of public opinion, rightly directed. The work of you citizens who want to build up your city lies everywhere around. Yours to leadership towards a city beautiful, towards good schools and more of them, public health and public morality, industrial prosperity and the bringing of harmony out of political strife. Will you or will you not permit those who might almost be called “professional” agitators to continue to plunge your city into debt and to block the wheels of progress solely to satisfy personal ambition and pri vate spite? Do you or do you not intend to put yourselves in a position where you can no longer build schools for your children or make any other public im provements in order to embark, on the advice of those who have demonstrat ed their incompetency to estimate any thing cofrectly, in an enterprise which would be at best, without competition, an.untried experiment, and with com petition a dismal and expensive fail ure, with the losses to be paid by the taxpayer? What sort of arguments, except such as appeal to prejudice, have been pub licly placed before the people of your city as to the advantages of municial ownership. Absolutely none. Don't be misled, therefore, now as you have been in the past, by the last day ar guments which they put out then only because they know that their falsity could and would be proven had they been laid before you even two days before the day of election. Consider the issue solely from those facts which have been prepared for your consideration in ample time for the municipal ownership people to have answered them publicly, had they been able to make an honest contradic tion. Let us see what arguments have been submitted, other than personal ones, in favor of municipal owner ship. First. They say Albany makes money. How? By buying their power from a private plant, operating with water power and with no expense, practically speaking, for either re pairs to machinery and renewals thereof, labor or fuel, the last of which items is the most expensive in the steam plant such as Americus would have. (?he City of Albany's municipal plant sells no power, though one of the city ocffiials told a few of the people who attended a Cit | izens Club meeting that Albany owed its rapid growth to the fact that they | owned their own lighting plant. How much longer will such false and mis j leading statements delude the credu jlous? Albany has a 12 l-2c rate for i lighting and discounts the bill to 10c |if paid by the 10th of the month. We | have before us three copies of con sumers’ bills for the month of Feb ruary. They show charges of $11.25, $6.75 and $5.25 for residence lighting, the last two for six room cottages. Our average charge to our customers for the year 1911 was $2.42 for elec tricity, and $1.94 for gas, per month Second. You have been told by the same city official that you can save $7,000 per year by owning your own lighting plant. How can this be so when your average payment to this company for the last three years for street lighting and electricity for the city buildings and pumping sta j tion has been but $5,300? This same city official, within.the last two years, has told you that you could build an electric plant for $15,000, just before the $15,000 bond election, and hired an engineer out of a job to back him up. He has made incorrect estimates as to everything he has attempted to j estimate. How much Longer will you stand for it? Third. They tell you that they have poor street lights. They have, and it is their fault. Any statement that they have ever tried to have us im prove them by offering us even a one year’s contract on account of the in vestment is false. The records spread upon the minute book of the “Mayor and City Council of Americus” will show you that in the last four yeans many attempts have been made to secure a contract for street lighting for one year and that new lights have been offered at the old price if con tract could be had. With city officials stating openly on the streets that if the people vote bonds for a municipal plant there will be a private plant for sale cheap the day after election, is it any wonder that .this company has failed to spend .$5,000 in new arc lamps? What would you do, Mr. Voter? Fourth. They quote Jacksonville, a city of almost 60,000 people, as a sam of the successful municipal plant. Possibly they try to fool the people there with the same sort of fables that the municipal ownership people are putting up to you now. They on ly have a little matter of over $600,000 invested in their electric plant and are o: ly preparing to spend $500,000 more in extensions and repairs. Did any M. O. advocate ever tell you what the city of Jacksonville pays for fuel? Ask them, for the cost of fuel makes a great difference. Fifth. Their recent expert, the city electrician of Atlanta (generally known as inspector of wires and ser vices). hired for the occasion, told a few of the voters at a meeting of the Citizens Club how cheap electricity was in Monroe, Go. The only actual fact that he stated was that the City of Monroe really had a municipal plant. A bill for the month of Jan uary, now before us, shows that the maximum charge for electricity in Monroe is 12c, and that the minimum charge is 8c per K. W. We think he failed to tell you that the service is not all day and we know that he fail ed to tell you that the audit of the books of the city for the year 1911, as made by Joel Hunter & Company, certified public accountants of Atlan ta, showed that there is a very great loss in this department. It is on file in our office. Come and see it. Answering these arguments and others of like character, and based upon the same unsound reasoning, we would refer you to the following: First. Our large advertisement In The Times-Recorder setting forth what municipal ownership has really done in towns where the lighting plants are in the hands of a local com mission and where their operations are under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Gas and Electric Commis sioners, just as are private corpora tions. These figures are illuminating, as they show what some lighting plants have really cost as against the estimated cost here; they show how much each lost through its operation, exclusive of lost taxes and interest on appropriations made for maintenance and how the taxpayer had to pay the fiddler. Second. Our advertisement on page 2of The Times-Recorder. These call your attention to two matters of par ticular interest. They show you how the citizens of Griffin are fighting for protection from high rates, a protec tion which the railroad commission cannot give against a municipally owned plant, and how much their lights are really costing them. Com pare this with the statement that this city will save $7,000 on a $5,300 ac count, as made by one of the M. O. aldermen. They also show you how Douglas, Georgia, failed to get protection against high rates in a municipally owned plant. The Georgia railroad commission positively refused to in terfere in behalf of consumers. Third. We refer you to the various personal arguments and the many misrepresentations made by the M. O. advocates in an attempt to cloud the real issue, and their failure to pro duce any real arguments in time to al low a refutation to be published. Fourth. We refer you to your own knowledge of what political control really means, how expensive It is and f LEADER OF GERMAN SOCIALISTS it Herr Bebel, the famous German Socialist, now the leader of the largest single party in the reichstag, was born in Cologne in 1840 and started life as a joiner and turner He was elected a member of the North German parlia ment in 1864, and was condemned to two years’ imprisonment in 1872 and to nine months in 1886. He is the author of numerous books. TOMORROW THE 815 VOTERS SETTLE THE BOND QUESTION Both Sides Will Make a Hard Fight From Opening to Clos ing of the Polls Today, the eve of battle in the fierce conflict to be fought tomorrow at the polls, finds the serried ranks of the two contending hosts ready for the clash of ballots. Municipal ownership is the issue, and as the result of this second trial at arms over this issue there may or may not come an era of peace. Both sides to the controversy have worked unceasingly for weeks past, and the arbitrament of the ballot to morrow is awaited with absorbing in terest in Americus. In fact, the in terest is much wider than local. The hoste on each side are led. to great extent by the Citizens club, championing municipal Ownership of the proposed electric lighting plant, for the building of which a bond issue of $50,000 is desired, while opposing the bond issue are many citizens who regard it as ill-advised. The result, therefore, cannot bj forecasted at this stage of the drama with any degree of accuracy, and not how it affects the taxpayer. Just a few words in closing, an appeal to your fairness and your good judgment. Why not put an end to the factional strife, the bitter person alities and the many other things which go to make this, one of the ‘most beautiful smaller cities of the South, avoided by the newcomer be cause of his dislike of those things which follow in the wake of prejudice, criticism and Persecution? Why not rather invite the outsider, a member of the class which has trebled the value of farming lands in this sec tion within the last four years, to come to Americus, invest his money and help make it within the next few years the home of many more people with schools for all, the seat of many industries, the market place of tre surrounding country and the best governed and most prosperous city of its size in the if not in the entire South? We will do our part. Will you? Figure out just what you would want others to do if you had made the investment we have, what you would expect them to do as fair mind ed men to protect it for you, and then follow the golden rule. AMERICUS GAS & ELECTRIC CO. Selma Citizens Kick on Rates. Selma, Ala., Marclßlß. —Water rates are the subject of a lively controversy here now, many citizens claiming they are 100 high. The plant is munici l pally owned. until the ballots have been counted at the city hall tomorrow will the result be known. As announced already in The Times- Recorder, there are 815 names upon the registration list, the largest ever recorded in any city election here. Os these there are but ten negroes, there being 805 white voters qualified. In order to carry the bond issue there must be 544 votes polled for bonds, or two-thirds of the number register ed. A voter registered, and who fails to vote, is counted against the bond proposition, just as though he had ac tually cast his ballot that way. Each side has been diligent in set ting forth its claims, and it is now up to the voters to finally determine the question. The polls will be opened at the city hall at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning and will remain open until 6 o'clock I>. m. The managers and clerks for the election have not yet been select ed, though thp -city executive commit tee will attend to this today. MUCH INTEREST IS SHOWN IN THEREVIVAL AT THE METHODIST CHURCH large Congregations Out to Hear Dr. Morrison Large congregations, as was expect ed, greeted Dr. Morrison at the First Methodist church Sunday. The peo ple were greatly impressed with the preacher and his messages. Perhaps no man ever came to Americus and gained so strong a hold upon the peo le in one day. A large number ask ed for prayer Sunday night. A great revival meeting is expect ed. The pastor earnestly urges his people to subordinate all things else to the important work now before the church. Columbus May Buy Waterworks. Columbus, Ga., March 18.—A propo sition is now being considered by the city to purchase the local waterworks at a price to be fixed by arbitration. | IBGE LONG IS SOON TO RETIRE mum tfTER LONG TERHOf SEtVICI No Avowed Candidate Yel For Vacancy (Special to Times-Recorder.) Leesburg, Georgia, March 18.— After having served as judge of the City court here since its establishment in 1906, and for many years prior to that time, when it was known as the County court, Judge Henry L. Long has announced his intention of retir ing from that position at the close of the present term. He will devote his time henceforward to the less ardu ous duties of his legal practice and to the management of his estate near here. The entire period during which Judge Long has presided over tht county, and later, the city court, here since his assumption of the du ties of that office in 1892, covers a pe riod of nearly twenty years, during which time he has never failed of be ing re-appointed or re-elected He announced recently that he would not be a candidate for re-election. He will retire from the active duties of the judgeship to devote his time to the less arduous duties of his legal prac tice and to the management of his estate near here. Judge Long will be 69 years old in June, his advancing age being a strong factor in causing him to relinquish the duties of the judgeship which he has administered so long and so effectively. There are as yet no avowed candi dates to succeed Judge Long, but ru more are current here that there will be two candidates in the race later. The names of Ware G. Martin and C. H. Bear.iey have been mentioned in this connection and it is believed that both of these gentlemen, both well known members of the local bar, will be candidates for the position in the primary to be held here May 1. Mr. Martin, as solicitor of the City court, made a fine record, and is well known throughout the entire county. Mr. Beazley is one of the oldest members of the local bar, having had a long and successful practice. He, also, has many friends in the county. WHO IS FINANCING WOODROW WILSON? No One Knows Where Cam paign Fund Comes From (Tom Watson, in the Jeffersonian.) If you will try right hard, you can remember that the supporters of the New Jersey man accused Underwood of being financed by Thomas Fortune Ryan, of Tobacco-Trust and Traction and Rubber-Trust fame. (You will al so remember that Ryan and Belmont vave Bryan $30,000, in the campaign of 1908.) You will also remember that the Wilson supporters explained away the affront which Wilson inflicted upon Col. Harvey, of Harper’s Weekly, by saying that Harvey was too close to J. P Morgan. All of this was calculated to make a fine impression for Woodrow— whose peculiarity is that he fights trusts everywhere save in New Jer sey where four-fifths of them are domesticated. But what has since transpired? Ryan is not financing Underwood, but is the financial backer of Wilson! The virtuous Woodrow accepted $lO -of Ryan’s Wall Street money, In his race for governor. The fact leaked out recently, and it is undisputed. Secondary. Wilson made an abject apology to Coll. Harvey, after having positively denied that he had used the language for which the apology was made. Therefore, Woodrow is now as close to J. Morgan as Harvey’s friendship can place him. Thirdly, the Standard Oil crowd, In Oklahoma, are Woodrow Wilson men. That was demonstrated in the recent convention, in which the notorious Charles N. Haskell figured so promin ently. ’ You surely recall how Hearst proved in 1908 that Haskell was a Standard Oil man; and how public sentiment compelled Haskel to resign from Bryan’s Finance Committee. Haskell was bankrupt in purse, yet his con tribution to the Bryan fund was re | (Continued on Page Eight) NUMBER «?

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Americus times-recorder. (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, March 19, 1912, Image 1