OCR Text |
Show GIVE fEW FRANCHISES Tho va'uc of franchises and tho fool-hardiness fool-hardiness of giving them to individuals individu-als or larger corporations Is demonstrated demon-strated qulto frequently thesu dajs. T.iko conditions In Pocatcllo for Instance, In-stance, Years ago,when that town was in Its Infancy, the people were desirous of securing a water sjstem. David Murray, of Butte, proffered to Install a sj st em ir a franchise extending one hundred years was granted him. The council granted the franchise, and tho Installation was made, at' a cost of SdO.OOO About three years ago, tho citizens of Pocatello desired to buy tho system and asked the ownprs of it what they would sell for. After tig-iirlug tig-iirlug for a little while, the company Indleited that $200,000 would be required. re-quired. The city did not sec lit to pay that sum and passed by tho opportunity op-portunity to secure the water system. Today thu owners of tho Pocatello water system consider their property worth a half million dollars, It Is leported to us that each tap In the city costs $2 50 per month. In Logan, where the water sjstem is owned by the city, the same servlco costs but $5 per year. No city can afford to give away Its franchises, nor to sell them for any small figure. |