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Show Samuel Newhouse I Startles Council I TALKS ABOUT I HiS FRANCHISE I Will Pay City One Per I Cent on Earnings. I Invest Million Dollars to I Give City Perfect Light I System. Smelters to Be Built to Handle 600,000 Tons Ore Per Month. r "T -r -r -! -r v 4" -r -r "i- -r r r r v An enterprise within thirty v miles of Salt Lake City -within r the next throe years that will -r mean the handling of more than -I- 600,000 tons of ore a month v Salt Lake City the largest city between Chicago and San v Francisco I v A proposition to pay a tax of I- 1 per cent on gross earnings in v case he is granted a franchise -i for the construction and opera- -I- tion of an electric light plant in 4- Salt Lake City. 4 f v v I" v ! -f !- v v 4 4 4- 4 These thro,- statements by Samuel New house electrified his hearers. Including all but two of the members of the CltJ Coun-ell Coun-ell and a number of citizens hist night. These statements were made without LLfl any attempt at dramatic effect, but In k quiet tono that carried conviction These ire re tho keynotes of Mr. New-house'! New-house'! talk leforc the special committees of tho City Council having under cuiisld-sration cuiisld-sration the franchise ordinance asked by Mr. Newhouse and also thf franchise, ex-tension ex-tension ordlnunco naked by the Utah Light and Railway company. Appeared by Invitation. I I Mr. Newhouse appeared by Invitation of the committees. All the members of the committees Were present and all other members of tho City Council except M ssrs. Neuhausen and Dean. After the reading of tho Newhouse ordl-nance ordl-nance by Recorder Crltchlow. President Hewlett of the Council opened the ball by asking how much ground Mr Now-la Now-la use expected to cover with his proposed plant whether he expected to cover the whole city or not. Newhouse Is Heard. Mr. Newhouse began his statement by saving that ho had not come to make a speech, but would bo glad to answer any question that tho members of tho commit-tt commit-tt ea might desire to ask. He said he had nothing now to offer. The ordinance ha had offered was explicit and involved no uncertainties. If any member had anv reasonable suggestions to offer, he would be glad to discuss them and perhaps an agreement could bo reached on points at President Hewlett then asked how much light Mr. Newhouse would be willing to give to tho city In exchange for the fran-chlse fran-chlse he Is seeking. Reduction of One-Third. "That would bo hard to answer.' ro-pSied ro-pSied Mr Newhouse "I am offering a Hat reduction of 33 percent to consumers from the prices charged at present by tho existing company. That would appear to be sufficient compensation under ordinary eruditions. But I am willing to go further. It Is my idea that compensation for fran-eblsei fran-eblsei of this character should be on a taxation basis I think It ts beneath th dignity of a city to ask anything gratut- Tax on Incomes of Corporations. "Tho city should Impose a tax on gross Incomes of corporations having franchises. based on tho experience f other cities. This tax should not be levied on net In-comes In-comes for the reason that a cunning man-ager man-ager might devise means whereby the net Income could be reduced to a merely nom-Inal nom-Inal figure, or wiped out entirely, and thus avoid any taxation. The gross Income of i corporation may be ascertained by a sworn statement. Nothing should bo Asks Fair and Open Field. I want to state that I am not here as PH a suppliant, asking for any special favors. All I want Is a fair and open lioia. BBBBBBJJ in response to a question as to how much money ho expected lo expend on his proposed plant. Mr Newhouse said he WOUld spend all that was necessary, if the plans called for the expenditure of WM half a million or even a million dollars he was prepared to put It up. Will Erect Modern Plant. 1 "It Is not so much a questlou of money as of pride with mo." ho added "If granted a franchise I shall erect a plant ;, to furnish th! bcit of light, with only th! Bioel modern and np-to-dato machinery. ' I Councilman Hartsnstsln asked Mr. . . INowhouso If he v..ull bo willing to havo inserted in his ordinance a clause provld-injr provld-injr that tho city mlKht buy his plant at th expiration Of. a term of years. If It wern desired that th city should enffSCS In municipal ownership of tho llphtlng franchise. A3 to Municipal Ownership. Mr N'owhouso answered that It would depend upon thv length of time stipulated mr uch a move. Ho would havo to know definitely the desires of tho commltteo in Mils regard before nnswerlng. Lafayette Hanchetto. jronornl manager of Mr. Kewhouso'i mining properties, m-tnrposed m-tnrposed that the Insertion of a municipal r$trnsrship clause might Interfere mato-rlally mato-rlally with Mr. KpwhotiBe r mining Inirr- ts, which were' Intimately connected with his electric light proposition. Sensational Statements Thou Mr Newhouse made his most Ben-satlonnl Ben-satlonnl statements. "I dealt to say." ho .-aid. "that the newspapers havo been .sing my n:tmc. considerably In connec-Hon connec-Hon with the discussions on the franchise (Hie8thn Thlr statements were not nti-Mmrlzed nti-Mmrlzed bv me. although for the most part I agree with their statements. To Build Monster Smelter3, "Ono of the main reasons why T desire to engaKO In tho electric lighting business and erect a plnnt In Salt Lake City Is tho fact that within the next three years them will be established within thirty miles of Salt Lake city an enterprise of mi-go proportion ono that will Handle more than GOO.Uni tons of ore a month This Is a larger tonnage than the wholo monthly output of Colorado. What This Means. "This enterprise win mean prosperity for Salt L&ke City 11 me.ins the .m-plovment .m-plovment of ho m;unv men that the wages I to be paid will be of such gnat vnstness HjB ns you can hnnilv Imagine at this mo- Hfl meht. It means the . stablhme-it of col li lateral industries, the building of new Hja homes, tho Inauguration of new stores. HjB lino can scarcely dream of tho vast bene- I- fit that will accrue to this city Wants Union and Harmony. "I did not have In mind the injury of anv company by the establishment of a now lighting plant. I would not Injure uny other companj On the contrary, I would pennon vou to gram ercrj franchise fran-chise that 19 asked that tends to tho upbuilding up-building of the city. 1 want union and harmony Greatest City in West. "I mako the prediction now that Salt Lake will bo the biggest city between Chicago "5nd San Francisco. "I would sink all differences In the grander Idea of building up our city "Competition is the life of trade Honorable Hon-orable competition should bo welcomed Anything that you grant should he CX-pressed CX-pressed In plain and unumbltruotis language." lan-guage." Plain, Straightforward Statement. A fire of small questions was then aimed at Mr New-house. Tho advocates of the light trust s franchise were clearly tiiken off their feet pj the plain, etrsJght-forward etrsJght-forward statements ..f Mr Xewhouso. but to their attempts to confuse or trap him ho had a ready answer at every turn. Wires for City. To a question as to whether he would be willing to allow the city to Btrlng wires on his pules for municipal purposes. Mich as lire alarms and police calls, he :aid ho COUld see no objection tO It. and he was reinforced by Mr Hanchette, who -ald that this privilege would be granted without question Mr, Newhouse also sld ho would be willing to grant a civ ip i-oer rate for small factm-h -Would Extend Service. Councilman Wells wanted to know whether he would be willing to ext. rtd lii service wherever there was a reasonable 'banco to got a return mi his monej ompetltlon, however would settle that matter. Would Pay One Per Cent. Asked as to what percentage of tax on gross Income he would be willing to pay.. Mr Newhouse said it Would i. best to se.. what other cities were doing In this matter. mat-ter. He thought from W to 1 per cent on gross Incomes was the customary rate elsewhere Improvements, of course, would be subject to taxation as other property Cash Discounts. The question of esh discounts was sprung, and Mr Hamhette s.ild that was merely a commercial proposition. Companies Com-panies sometimes found that a mon -noinlcul way of making . . dh-.-t Inn - than by sending men out to secure the money due from consumers A number of other questions of a minor nature were discussed dis-cussed more by members of tho commltteo com-mltteo than bj Mr Newhouse Fernstrom Butts In. Then Councilman Fernstrom for the first time took p.irt in the dls,i'usslon b stating to Mr Newhouse that the Utah I Ight and Railway company was proposing propos-ing to furnish free lights to the eltj to the amount of (10,000 per year, to allow the regulation of rates and to give to the pit) property which the company valued at 000,000 and which was worth to the city at least 4,000, for a ten-year extension of its present franchises Would Give Free Lights. Mr. Newhouse quletlj remarked that If the Council wanted It ne would give $50(0 of tho proposed free lights in lieu of a tax on gi'oss Income. "I am starting, however, ' he added, ' without customers. 1 think the fairer plan would be a tax on gross Incomes." Hierarch's Agent Makes Admission. This forced the somewhat startling admission ad-mission from Pcrnstrora that he thought the companies ought to be allowed to sturt on an equal basis. Mr Wells also reached this conclusion, with the reservation reserva-tion thar the tax on gross Incomes should In mad'.' to applv only to tie light franchises fran-chises and not to tho street raflwas department de-partment of tho existing company Then FeriiHlroni took nun at the. newspapers by asking if Mr Newhouse would he willing to accept -i twenty-five year-franchise. In view of the ngltatlon that, had been kept up In tho press. Solar Plexus for Ferny. Mr. newhouse eirilv. red a soiar pn HHV by asking how long the franchises of the present company had to run. rtien ! sent ii .other blow home bv Submitting a propo- sltlou to take 1 per cent of tho gross Income of the present company and fur-nlsh fur-nlsh the Xrco llyhrs proposed in Its fran- 1 The question rff a forfeiture einuse was reserved as a final staggerer bv the agents ?hc hl'T.ir. hy '.or Mr. N whouse, but lie pgrried this successfully, He Mild in s.ibstanca. . As to Forfeiture Clause. "1 wqiid not be willing to put a mil-'Aon mil-'Aon doflur Into a plant when my proj)- H crtv might b ills atd by the whim or H eaprlce of a body of men less considerate th in you. I am willing to grant In that matter whatever anv other city demands. H wlilon may be subject to review by the H Councilman Fernstrom aided in this fea- H turv of the discussion, unconsciously, per- H haps, by stating that the forfeiture H clauses In the present laws applied only B to tho Stree.t railway franchises. No Formal Action Taken. H No formal action was taken by the committees on the Newhouse proposltlpni but adjournment was taken for two weeks with .the undt.rstanJlng that the City Attorney At-torney and Mr Ncwhouso's attorney should get together and diaw up an amended ordinance, which should covi r the matter of taxing the gross Income as agreed to by Mr. Newhouse. Councll-I Councll-I man Weils expressed the opinion thai the I I'tah llght and Railway company would also agree to a tax on Its gross income. Whofier he was speaking by the card or H not can only bo a n. at tor of conjecture. J Special Meeting Held. H After the adjournment of the oommltti i H a special meeting of the Council was held H and a franchise granted, to tie Western tire Bepsratlng company to t instruct s I pimr track on Blxth West street, between P' vevth and Klghth North, connecting with the Rio Grande railroad. |
