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Show THAT GREAT PROPOSED GRAFT. The Impudence of asking for another fifty years' franchise by the Electric Light and Power company of this city Is something so colossal that it almost excites admiration. Reduced to plain English It is this: "We shall none of us live to see the present franchise expire, hut we shall have successors. The present pres-ent franchise did not cost us a cent; what was not given us wo stole as instance the case of our taking without authority Socond South street from the depot to the Dooly block. Neither have we invested any appreciable amount of our own capital In present improvements and equipments, having relied upon obtaining the money needed by the sale of bonds. As yet the enterprise has paid little more than the Interest on the bonds and salaries of officers and men, but our franchise fran-chise is worth a round million of dollars today and if we can get this lease of graft extended for another fifty years, why, with the obtaining of the lease, our franchise will be worth ?2,000,000 K the next day. if included there is the added power given us to advance charges, It is hard to tell what the franchise will be worth. The youngest of us can remember when the thought of generating a practical, steady light from electricity or the running of cars by electric elec-tric power, was only "of such stuff as dreams are made of." See now. Again, the finest experts have but just begun to explore the field of the creation and application of electric power, or of the miracles that can be performed by compressed air. Who knows how Infinitesimal will be the cost of running cars ten or twenty years hence? With every reduction how much would the value our extended franchise be worth? This may nave "an ancient and fishy smell" to the public, wit it is sweet to us." That is the Light and Power side of the question, ques-tion, now what is the side of the people whose Patronage has to supply the Interest, salary, sink-nS sink-nS fund and profit of the whole concern. First. The Light and Power company has a ranchlse worth 11,000,000, whjoh never- -cost It a quarter of a dollar. I scond. por this it supplies a worse light and I T 8ervIco than is given to any other city I aud charges more for It. I m JWrd A Pfeotly responsible offer has been I ads to give a 25 per cent better lighting ser vice than is now enjoyed, and to give it five years for what the people now pay every four years. Fourth. The present franchise will last for a full generation, until every present stockholder in the great combine will have passed away. What possible right has a transient city council In a little city to rob all the residents of a great city that is to be in the interest of a gigantic trust? It Is a clear case that by the time the present franchise lapses, those in control will be glad to pay such a proportion of their profits to have the franchise renewed, as will pay all the current cur-rent expenses of the city at that time. There is a case of record which will fully Illustrate Il-lustrate this. Just about as long past as this present franchise will extend into the future, the people of Illinois wanted a railroad so badly that they proposed to give a railroad company the right of way across the State and an immense landed subsidy to obtain the road. When the bill was prepared it was submitted to Stephen A. Douglas. He added the clause that in consideration oi the franchise and the subsidy the railroad company com-pany should pay into the treasury of the State two (or three, we have forgotten which), pel cent of its gross revenues. The bill passed that way and for years that road has paid the current expenses of the State Government of the State of Illinois, though the road is only about three times the mileage of the Utah Light and Railway company's tracks In this city. By what authority in law or equity can the Salt Lake City Council dare to rob this city in such a way for the benefit of a combine that has not up to date worn Itself out in trying to add to the comforts of the people? And how long does this Council try to stretch its narrow vision into the future to reduce the benefits that science has in store for the world during the long watches of ninety years to come into a prize and bestow that prize upon a combine which has already been made rich by the gratuitous gratui-tous gifts of this city? The combine does not pretend that it is running in debt now. Money is a drug In the eastern cities. The Government gets all it wants at 2 per cent. This company could refund its bonds today for 3 per cent. This city is liablo to double in population within three years. Then the company could give a first-class light and car service; reduce the light rates to something reasonable; pay all interest and expense accounts and make such an income beside as would double the value of their franchise in the next five years. What more right has the City Council to double the fortunes of the stockholders in this concern than it would have to pick up any other class of citizens and make them rich? The Deseret News thinks the franchise to the Light & Railway company should be extended as demanded by the company, to bind the coming generation by an octopus that had begun to fatten fat-ten before the generation was born. It has been urged that it is right to mortgage a coming generation gen-eration when the debt is made to save a Nation's life. That was the argument made between 1861 7 m and 1864, bl ,o believe this 1b the first petition H on record in which a corporation has demanded jH that its existence shall bo prolonged for the sole H purpose of fastening its tentacles upon posterity. H The News gives its reasons why this potition H should be granted. Boiled down they are in sub- stance as follows: H 1. The terms offered by the company are very fl liberal to the public. (This a characteristic pleas- H antry on the part of the News. It never Indulges fl in jokes, but the humor of one of its solemn H arguments Is often irresistible). M 2. It was inaugurated as a public benefit by M enterprising citizens of this State. They have fl labored against great obstacles and have estab- lished an excellent system which Bhould be sup- ported by the public. M 3. There have been obstacles in the way both in the light and power departments, which the company is trying to overcome. H 4. When the track has been changed to go iiH around Jo. monument or to conform to the grade !H of the street, it has cost money. M 5. The company is not able to declare any H dividends and it should have extended time in H order to strengthen its credit with money loan- H The foregoing embodies all that even the organ jH of the company can urge as justification for lay- H ing a new mortgage -on the city and on genera- jH tions of men not yet born. H It is an old maxim that when equity is de- H manded the complainant on entering court must H present clean hands. jH Suppose this combine were compelled to follow H that maxim. What would its showing be? H Among the items would be the following: H 1. How much capital of their own have the M owners of this combine invested? 2. Of the money received from the sale of M bonds, what proportion has been legitimately in- H vested in the enterprise, how much has gone into j private hands? H 3. How much of the stock in this combine is jH real and how much but muddy water? M 4. When purchase and Improvements have M been made, how much has been honest, how much has been contributed to Interested parties and H contractors? M 5. Of the funds received, how much has been H paid into tithing? M 6. What marked Improvements are contempla- 9 ted to require the disposal of yet another great H block of bonds? S 7. Have the pledges in the past relating to I gas, electric lights and street car service been :fl kept in such a manner as to convince the public I not of the philanthrophy, but of the good faith fl and common honesty of the combine? fl But way beat about the bush? When the pi- fl oneors came here in 1847 they established a the- I ocratic Government. The theory was that the real fl owner of everything was God, and that the custody of property of right belonged to his agents, the I priesthood. fl Hence the first Legislature gave the ownership I to the chief priests of that day of the most valuable water and land grants of the Territory. If that 9 Hi jil 1 1 old first volume of statutes could be unearthed B i ji it would be startling reading to many a modern K 1 III I 1 Latter Day Saint. Wm I 111 8 Well, the spirit has not changed in the least, Hh 111 l and this Insolent petition to lay a mortgage on Br ill I I two succeQdins generations to minister to , the iH I I ill 1 1 '' I avarice of this combine of straw for it is wording jHjf I i f 5- only on borroyed capital, is but in keeping with Hf j 1IH !i f that first order of things in Utah nearly sixty HB iJll , years ago. B'l I'ill ll'ht From the first it has been indifferent about iB I'ill I'lrl keeping its pledges. B ' I Hi III 1 It; ODtaIned franchises worth "a million of dol-B dol-B fin girt Jars without paying a cent or without a pledge HjH! ill jjR f that when it became prosperous it would in a lit-Hhi lit-Hhi III I! ! tIe wav uolP to bear the burdens of the" expense in 1 q' ' of the city Government. It has practically made B P 111 1 ' tue use gas or Mshting or cooking impossible. H i III ,' Its charges for inferior electric lighting are so H ! I ill I I outrageous that owners of large structures have HP 111 I been forced to put in their own plants. B III I I I Its street car service is looked upon as a re-IB re-IB ill II 1 proach by every visitor to the city who is familiar B IH i s ' wlfl1 tllG sorvicG m otner cities. iBi Sill I V t11 tllis demand s made with the full con- H' IH ill fldence of the company that enough church HP If i If t ' slaves and enough purchasable knaves can be H i I HI secured to grant it. HI III f Wo flnfl that every leading industry in the BU I State, except mining; every industry which In its Bb U ; nature Is a "stand and deliver" to the public, is Hj fl I L 'cohtrolled by the chiefs of the church, who have Dj I iy. drawn to themselves the bulk of the wealth of Tit II ; , II R !' their dupes, until a hundred of them here have Dj If . ii lnore money and prdperty than a hundred thou- HRi! Ill il sand on the outside. This includes this Electric Hfflj if ;,a. Light "and Railway Company, the sugar manufaj- Bi!; II 1 I turing industry, the" co-op stores, the woolen mills, BP If I tn1a 10ffe factbries, lands, water rights, etc. H If if! It is hard to discern the object of it all ex- lK I If Is cept t0 conclutle that the determination is to IHR ill f ( , J crowd every Gentile out of Utah, or in case of r ' j s a revolt in the church itself to leave Utah a iBt ' ; j sucked orange. K 111 i ' I |