Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1915 — Borne Town Helps [ARTICLE]

Borne Town Helps

MONEY IN MUNICIPAL PLANT —l, Cleveland Hao Greatly Reduced Coot of Public Utilities Supplied to Its Citizen*. Cleveland has done better than most cities in the application of the communal or municipal idea to public services or utilities. It has a municipal cold storage, in connection with a market, which cost $2,000,000, and is doing well on the investment. It has achieved a three-cent car fare. It now sets out for three-cent electricity. It was paying S9O to SIOO a year for street arc lights and the price for power use was eight cents a kilowatt Two small electrical plants were established. The cost of street aro lights dropped about half. The current was sold by the city from its small plants at three cents. A heavy loss was predicted. Instead of that, the plants more than paid expenses. Mayor Baker proposed a sale of $2,000,000 worth of bonds with which to build a plant to sell electricity at three cents. The bond issue was passed by the people and the operation of the new plant began last July. In August there was a profit of SSOO on the three-cent price. In September the profit was $1,700, and on the basis of business now in hand and contracted for the superintendent estimates the profit for the first year at SIOO,OOO, which would about cover interest charges, depreciation and taxes if it were a private concern. When the plant is completed and running at full capacity the superintendent estimates that there will be a net profit of $500,000 annually.—Pittsburgh Dispatch.