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Show Prepare for Municipal Ownership. . If .tjiere were no other rjeasons for the defeat of the franchise grab of the Utah Light and Railway company, the simple fact that Salt Lake must pre- pare for munfcipal ownership of.all its public util' ities is sufficients cause the City Council to re fuse to consider the pending ordinance. . The passage of the ordinance means the immediate imme-diate increase of the bonded debt, of that corporation corpora-tion and the subsequent raising of the price of the properties when municipal ownership is considered. The tide of municipal ownership is growing. People, who hare heretofore been inclined to scoff at the idea are coming to the belief that it is" the proper solution of municipal problems. , Bait Lake City has sufficient' evidence of this in her own experience. The city has for years owned and operated its water supply system. Would any citizen for a moment consider the sale of the waterworks water-works to a private corporation, even though an offer of-fer of many times the amount expended by the city in constructing the system be offered? - Compare your water bills and your light bills ?nd you have a sufficient answer to the question of whether municipal or private ownership is most satisfactory. sat-isfactory. . : . - . . Is it a far cry from municipal ownership of the water supply to that, of transportation, light, heat and power? , Salt Lake has reached a point in its career where it must seriously consider this question. To tie the city up for fifty years to a policy which practically forbids any steps toward the ownership by the people peo-ple of these valuable franchises would be a crime against future generations'. It is the duty of the City Council to defeat the pending ordinance and put the quadruple trust on notice that municipal ownership is coming, if not by purchase of the existing company's properties, then by the erection and operation of entirely new plants. ' |