The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 18, 1919, Page 9

In Montana, where the cost of developing water- power is higher than it is in Washington, I am in- - formed that the Milwaukee railroad gets the power to operate its system for one-half cent per kilowatt hour. Los Angeles, Cal., sells its power in whole- sale quantities for .65 of a cent per kilowatt hour. Eventually the city of Seattle undoubtedly will de- velop its own power for its railway line, but at the present time the rapidly growing population takes all the city power available for domestic uses. In regard to the price at which the city took over the system, it may be stated that the state tax commissioner of Washington valued the street car lines this year at $12,000,000. If this valuation is correct, it means that the city paid $3,000,000 too much for the property. C. R. Jackson, the state official who made this valu- ation, assured the writer that this was a gener- ous valuation for the system, as it stands today. When I was in Seattle the city had operated the street car symtem for approximately four months. Undoubtedly traffic conditions had been improved somewhat under city management. ‘On the longer lines a system of “express cars” had been put on to supplement the local service and as a result more passengers could be handled in less time, MARGIN OF $20,000 LEFT TO CITY MONTHLY After paying all operating expenses (principally labor and power) the city lines have been making, on the average, between $85,000 and $90,000 a month. Of this it was necessary to pay $66,260 each month in interest. something like $20,000 a month. 5 But beginning April 1, 1922, under its agreement with Stone & Webster, the city must pay, besides the interest, $833,000 of principal each year. This will mean that there must be paid to Stone & Web- ster approximately $135,000 a month, instead of the $66,260 that is being paid now. Will the city be able to do it? I do not see how it can be done. Tom Murphine, who is at the head of the street car system for the city, estimated that he will be able to save an addi- tional $8,000 a month when the skip-stop system is fully installed and $15,000 more a month by mak- ing new downtown connections. But in the face of these possible savings, motor- This leaves a margin of Tom Murphine, general director of the Seattle street car system under municipal operation. Eight years ago Murphine was working in his father’s cigar store in Seattle. He studied law, entered politics, - became interested in the progressive fight in the state, and now thousands of Seattle city employes call him “the boss.” men and conductors, who are now getting from $4.25 to $4.75 a day for eight hours’ work, have pre- sented a new wage scale calling for a $6 minimum. If this new scale is granted it will mean an increase of $1,000,000 a year in the street car payroll and will far more than counterbalance any savings that " Murphine might be able to make by operating economies. On top of this is the fact that the city is now setting aside only comparatively small sums to meet possible damage claims against the street railways. Murphine’s figures call for $85,000 a year for settle- ment of damage claims, but for the last year under private management Stone & Webster had to pay the enormous sum of $321,000 in settlements and in defending lawsuits. MUNICIPAL OPERATION CUTS COST GREATLY The Seattle street car system is being more economically and efficiently administered under city management than it was under private management. But it is starting under a fright- ful handicap—a price at least $3,000,000 too high for a system that has been allowed.to run " down, an extortionate power contract to be car- ried out, new wage demands higher than wages paid in any city on the continent under private ownership. : A few years ago, when the farmers of Wisconsin were intent upon going into the packing business on a co-operative basis, the interests that were in- tent on destroying co-operation unloaded on them a broken down packing plant at La Crosse, at a price that made it impossible for the farmers to succeed. They operated the plant for two years. After they had installed thousands of dollars’ worth of new machinery and equipment they learned the truth, They had been swindled. They had to close their doors and abandon their enterprise. If it should prove that the Seattle street car sys- tem should be as great a failure as the La Crosse packing plant, it would prove nothing. The ene- mies of co-operation hoped that the La Crosse failure would stop co-operation. It did not. It merely pointed out to future co-operators the mis- takes and pitfalls that they would have to avoid. The Seattle street car system, with all its handi- caps, may not be a failure. If it should be a failure it will be no argument against public ownership. But it will point out, for the benefit of real public ownership advocates, the mistakes that are to be avoided. Progressives Win Idaho City Elections Labor Candidates Victorious by Big Majorities Over Big Interest Politicians— Reactionism of Last Legislature Cause of Change in Attitude of People By I. P. MACDOWELL o |[HAT a wave of progressivism | is gradually sweeping the state of Idaho and will, in the course of a very short time, carry everything with it, is the only conclusion which can be formed after a careful observation of . conditions in this state. Idaho for years has been under the domination of the power trust, the tim- ber trust and the mining trust, and for just the length of time that this state, with its.vast natural resources, has been under the control of these predatory interests, so long have the people suf- fered and so long will they continue to suffer. When, two years ago,” the Nonpartisan league came into the state at the urgent invitation of the farmers, little had been done toward ridding the state of trust control. Since then, with a weekly paper to give the people the truth, the people of Idaho have squared their shoulders, rolled up their sleeves and made up their minds that the state and its resources belong to the state for the benefit of all those who live in Idaho. And if sentiment, as I have found it expressed, from the lowly day laborer to the man of means, is- any criterion, then Idaho will in the course of a very short time make a high bid for the honor of being recognized as a sister of the most pro- gressive and democratic state,in the Union-—North Dakota. . I have just returned from a short trip into the western part of the state, and without revealing the fact that I was in any manner whatever. con- nected with the advancement of the principles of real democracy, I sounded the people all along the line. Farmers, merchants, clerks, laboring men ~and women alike are imbued with the same idea— that it is high time the people of this state got busy and took a hand in running the government. More than ever they are impressed with their duty as voters and I hazard the guess that the election of 1920 will see the largest vote cast in Idaho which has ever been known. This will be due to many things. First and foremost, the advent of the Non- partisan league into Idaho has opened the eyes of the people. It has pointed out to them their responsibilities and their possibilities. It has shown them the way to gain for themselves true democracy. It has pointed out to them the evil which has resulted from control of the state’s government by as unscrupulous a crowd of political highbinders as was ever known anywhere. But the people are getting tired of this kind of government and I base my assertions on the recent city elections held in this state and upon my talks with different ones. POWER TRUST NAMES MAYORALTY CANDIDATE " A little more than a month ago Idaho became a seething political caldron. The city elections were on and as usual the interests in the various cities of the state advanced candidates who would best serve them. In Boise, John McMillan was known to be the power trust candidate for mayor. It is no secret that McMillan was selected in the office of Jess Hawley, attorney for the Idaho Power company. McMillan had the backing of both the Boise daily papers and despite this fact and the fact that thousands of dollars were spent-on this one city election, McMillan was overwhelmingly defeated by Ern G. Eagleson. Hawley will be remembered to Leader readers as one of the gang who attempted unsuccessfully to prevent President A. C. Townley of the Non- partisan league from speaking from the steps of the capitol building in Boise in August, 1918. Mf. Eagleson is a brother of State Treasurer John Eagleson, who “was elected last November with the indorsement of the League in Idaho. PAGE NINE . would have won out. In Pocatello, one of the strongholds of the power trust, the Pocatello Tribune, a power trust con- trolled organ, refused to accept the paid advertise- - ments of the candidates who opposed the power- trust candidates. The labor organizations in Pocatello are par- ticularly strong. The people of Pocatello, dis- gusted with past privilege administrations, went to the polls and elected the entire labor ticket by a vote of two to one. The labor candidates were called “I. W. W.,” Bolsheviki,” “Tramps,” “Weary Willies” and many other slanderous epithets, and in one instance one of the strong-arm men who had been imported into Pocatello for the purpose of subduing op- position to the power trust, assaulted former State Senator B. F. Cummins in the latter’s office for no other reason than that Senator Cummins had championed the labor cause. The assault was made with a gun, but Senator Cummins took the gun away from the bully and adminispered a severe ‘ beating to him. In Nampa, Idaho, privilege has held sway for . many years and had it not been for the fact that a new daily people’s newspaper was on the job for the progressive candidate, the interests probably The independent daily paper championed the cause:of democracy and progres- sivism and the popular candidate won out. Weiser, Idaho, is the home of “Doc.” Hamilton, former chairman of the Democratic state central committee. Doctor Hamilton has also, up to the time of the recent city election there, been mayor of Weiser. It was Doctor Hamilton who attempted unsuccessfully to keep the Nonpartisan league can- didates off the Democratic ballot in the 1918 primaries. - Doctor Hamilton was defeated. > Ashton, Idaho, is another example. Recently the business men of Ashton decided to organize a com- mercial ¢lub and after choosing their officers be-. (Continued on page 14) : ] | agpmer SRS R N AR TR S0 5 S i s o o