USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wakefield > Town annual report of the officers of Wakefield Massachusetts : including the vital statistics for the year 1890-1893 > Part 33
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" PEOPLE'S ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER CO.,
" BY EDWIN C. MILLER,
" President."
.
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PROPOSITION OF THE WAKEFIELD ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER COMPANY.
" To the Honorable the Selectmen of the Town of Wakefield :-
" The Wakefield Electric Light & Power Company hereby propose that, if the privilege of erecting poles and wires in said town is granted to it, it will enter into an agreement with the town that the system to be employed shall be satis- factory to your Board; that one of your number shall be placed on the Board of Directors of the company to supervise the entire work of the company; that all bills for materials purchased and work done shall be audited by your Board or its representative ; that said representation on said Board of Directors shall continue for one year ; that at any time within one year the town, if it so desires, may purchase the entire property of the company by paying to it the actual cost thereof and six per cent. interest.
" WAKEFIELD ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER COMPANY, " BY GEO. H. TOWLE, " Its Attorney."
The Gas Company did not submit any written proposition, but did orally offer to comply with all the conditions which any other company proposed, and furnish light for ten per cent. less than any other company then in existence would or could do.
The Selectmen considered their duty, at this time, to regard that vote of the town as binding upon them, whether it accorded with their own views or not.
Shortly after the town passed the above vote, an order from the Superior Court of Middlesex County was served upon the Selectmen to show cause why they should not be enjoined from granting the People's Electric Light & Power Company the franchise prayed for by them. This was a prac- tical injunction, and is regarded by the courts of the Com- monwealth as having the same effect, practically, as a
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peremptory order. Of course this prevented the Selectmen from granting any franchise to the People's Company. On the first day of March, 1890, the Selectmen formally refused to grant the franchise prayed for by the Gas Company and the Wakefield Electric Light & Power Company. From this refusal both said companies appealed to the State Board of Gas and Electric Light Commissioners, as provided by law they might do. The Wakefield Company did not prosecute its appeal. The Gas Company did, and a hearing on that appeal was held at the Gas Commissioners' office; and on the 3d day of July, 1890, said Commissioners rendered their decision and reversed the action of the Selectmen, and granted to the company the right to erect poles and maintain wires in the streets of Wakefield for the purpose of furnishing electric light to the town and its inhabitants.
On the same day the Gas Company, acting under Section 4 of Chapter 385 of the Laws of 1887, filed the following petition : -
" To the Selectmen of the Town of Wakefield: -
"Respectfully represents the Citizens' Gaslight Company of Reading, South Reading, and Stoneham, that it is duly authorized and empowered to engage in the business of fur- nishing electricity for light and power in the town of Wake- field, and to erect poles and string wires in the streets and highways of said town.
" It therefore prays that your Board will designate such streets and highways, and such points and places in said streets and highways, for the erection of poles and stringing of wires as may be necessary for the purpose of conducting said busi- ness.
" CITIZENS' GASLIGHT COMPANY OF READING, SOUTH READING, AND STONEHAM.
" BY S. K. HAMILTON,
" Its Attorney.
" JULY 3d, A.D. 1890."
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As understood by us, this petition, taken in connection with the law under which it was drafted, asked the Selectmen to designate the particular places in the streets in the town at which poles should be erected, the company then having had the right to erect them in the streets granted to it by the Gas and Electric Light Commissioners.
This petition was filed on the day of its date, and no action has ever been taken upon it.
About the 7th day of August, 1890, the holders of a majority of stock of the Gas Company made a bargain to sell their stock, which bargain was subsequently carried out, and the management of the Gas Company passed into other hands. Under this new management Charles F. Woodward, of this town, was made president, and T. H. Buck, of the Woburn Electric Light Co., treasurer.
On the evening of the same 7th day of August, as the Selectmen of the town were about closing their public session at a regular meeting of the Board, Mr. Woodward called upon the Selectmen, and we are informed and believe that he made an oral application for some kind of a franchise to be granted to the Gas Company; and on that evening, without notice and without hearing, as the law plainly requires, the Select- men passed the following vote : -
" Voted, That the Citizens' Gaslight Company of Reading, South Reading, and Stoneham be and is hereby authorized and empowered to engage in the business of furnishing elec- tricity for light and power in the town of Wakefield, and to erect poles and string wires in the streets and highways of said town, the location of said poles to be hereafter designated and subject to such restrictions as to quality and style as may be imposed by the Selectmen of said town of Wakefield, and subject also to such other provisions and conditions as may be required by said Board of Selectmen."
This action was not made public either by the Gas Com- pany or the Selectmen for nearly two weeks. Whether this was from design or accident it is not our province to de- termine.
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We have caused the records of the Selectmen to be ex- amined, and we fail to find any. vote designating the location of poles, or imposing any restrictions whatsoever upon the Gas Company. Immediately after the change in the manage- ment of the Gas Company, it proceeded to erect an addition to the gas-house, and to erect a plant to furnish electric lights to the town of Wakefield; and on the 16th day of September, the time when its franchise would expire if it neglected to erect and complete the plant designated in the order of the Gas Commissioners, it had a building partially completed, an engine, and some electrical machinery therein, and some poles erected in the streets of the town, and did on the evening of that day light, as we are informed, six street- lights. Since that time the work of erecting poles and stringing wires has been pushed in a way and manner as well known to other citizens of the town as to the committee, and we are informed that the company has twenty-eight arc lights on the streets and a number of incandescent lights.
This we believe is a plain and truthful summary of this controversy up to the time of our appointment.
Since our appointment the Supreme Judicial Court of this Commonwealth has decided that towns cannot erect and maintain plants for generating electricity to be used in light- ing their own streets and public buildings, without further legislative authority. Notwithstanding this, we have not felt at liberty to disregard the instructions of the town to us, in view of the facts that the Legislature is now in session, and that the matter of authorizing towns to furnish their own lights is being considered by that body, and also that there is an article in the warrant for our annual town meeting to see if the town will petition the Legislature to authorize it to engage in the business of electric lighting by a special act.
In approaching the consideration of the subject-matter re- ferred to us for investigation and report, we have done so with an eye single to the welfare of the town, and have sought to present unvarnished facts, and our conclusions
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based upon those facts, and we leave the town to adopt or reject them, as it may deem wise. At the outset, upon some of the questions involved in the matter referred to us the committee held decidedly divergent views, which, perhaps, have not all been harmonized; but our investigation has made them a unit upon the essentials, and this report is a unanimous one.
In performing our work we have held numerous meetings,- two with the representatives of the Gas Company, - obtained the opinions of practical and expert electrical engineers, visited the works of the Gas Company and the electric-light works in the town of Danvers, owned and operated by that town.
Immediately upon the organization of the committee, January 19, we applied to the Gas Company for its lowest proposition, in writing, for supplying the town with electric lights, and asking it to submit the same at our meeting the 21st of January. The company was unable to comply with this request on account of the short notice. The committee then invited it to comply with that request at " the earliest possible date." On the evening of February 14th the president of the company, accompanied by one of the directors and its electrician, submitted an oral propo- sition, which was reduced to writing and submitted to us on February, 17th as follows : -
"The Citizens' Gaslight Company makes the following proposition, namely : Arc lights, 1,200 candle-power, 20 nights each month from dusk till midnight, for $80 per year. Incandescent lights, 25 candle-power, for same time as the arcs, $18.00 per year. Or the company will agree to accept such prices as may be decided by a board of disinterested per- sons possessing a practical knowledge of electric lighting, -the town to choose one, the company one, and those two a third.
" CITIZENS' GASLIGHT COMPANY,
" BY CHARLES F. WOODWARD, President.
" P.S .- The price of 16 candle-power incandescent lights in. buildings is one cent an hour."
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It will be seen that this is the same proposition submitted to the town on the 6th of January, with the addition of the offer for arbitration. We were unable to get any lower offer or further concession from the company.
In compliance with what we understood to be the wish of the town, we sought to obtain a statement of the financial condition of the company, also the names of the board of directors, and some of the largest stockholders. This informa- tion was refused, on the ground that the inquiries related to matters with which the town had no concern. It appeared, incidentally, in our interviews, that a very large part of the stock of the company was owned by non-residents of the town; that Messrs. Charles F. Woodward, Ezra M. South- worth, R. P. Buzzell, and T. H. Buck are among the di- rectors; that Mr. Woodward is president, and Mr. Buck treasurer, of the company; and that the plant is mortgaged for seventy thousand dollars. This was all the information upon these points which we could obtain from the representa- tives of the company who met with us.
Failing to ascertain the facts required from the company, we applied at the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth for an inspection of the annual statement of the company, which should have been filed last November, according to law, and which would give the names of the stockholders and the amount of stock held by each, together with the names of the officers of the company, but were there informed that the company had failed to comply with the provisions of law. There being no other sources of information open to us, we are unable to give the town any further information upon these points.
The company having refused to furnish your committee or the town any information whatever upon its financial stand- ing, except as above stated, we sought such information as we could obtain from other sources.
We find that the authorized capital stock of the company
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is one hundred thousand dollars; that the par value of the stock is one hundred dollars per share; that nine hundred and fifty-three (953) shares of this stock have been issued, amounting to ninety-five thousand three hundred dollars ($95,300) ; that the gas-works were constructed in 1859 and 1860; that the contractor was paid for his work in money and stock of the company in about equal proportions.
The Gas Commissioners of the Commonwealth, in their re- port for the year 1889, made to the Legislature of 1890, esti- mated the value of the plant at thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000), and that was the value placed upon it by some of its most judicious stockholders ; and we are informed that a large portion of the stock changed hands in 1889 for less than that figure. At this time the company had no debts, and practically no surplus, so that thirty-five dollars ($35.00) per share represented the true value of the stock based upon the value of the property. Since that time it has added to its plant the brick gas-holder and its electric-light plant.
We have no means of knowing the cost of these additions, but it is apparent that the company had to incur an indebt- edness to make them.
In view of the fact that the company refused to furnish any information upon its financial standing, it is certainly fair to all to publish the statement circulated by the Suffolk Trust Co. of Boston, which is trustee for the holders of the bonds which the above-named mortgage was made to secure. It bears no signature, but presumably it is issued with the ap- proval of the Gas Company, as it is in its interest and issued by the trustee chosen by itself. It is as follows : -
" We offer, subject to previous sale, $70,000 of 6 per cent. Twenty Year Bonds, issued by the Citizens' Gaslight Com- pany of Wakefield, Reading, and Stoneham. Denomination, $500. Suffolk Trust Company, Boston, Mass., Trustee.
" Principal and interest payable and bonds registered at the office of the Trustee.
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" Population of the three towns, 18,000.
"The company is organized under the laws of Massachu- setts, with a paid-up capital of $95,300, is a dividend-paying company, has no debts, has 20 miles of street mains, exclu- sive gas and electric franchises. The bonds are issued to extend gas plant and to add an electric-light plant. Cost of plant completed, $175,000.
" First Mortgage Bonds, 6 per cent., $70,000; dated Sept. 15, 1890, payable Sept. 15, 1910. Redeemable on or after Sept. 15, 1895, at 105 and interest.
" STATEMENT.
Earnings from gas sales, as per statement $13,000 00
Estimated electric-light business 9,000 00
$22,000 00
Expenses, operating expenses, taxes, and in- terest on bonds
13,000 00
Surplus
$9,000 00
" As a home investment paying 6 per cent., and having for security a property amounting in value to more than double the amount of the bond issue, we can offer these bonds with the confidence that investors of trust-funds will find them satisfactory and reliable."
We offer no comment upon this statement.
An inspection of the company's plant shows that it has a brick building used for electric-light purposes, in which are placed two 125 horse-power boilers and one 125 horse- power engine, and electrical machinery of the Thomson- Houston manufacture for generating electricity, all of which, so far as we are able to judge, is of a first-class character and in first-class condition. The poles and wires in the town are as open to the inspection of all the citizens as to ourselves, but we are advised that the same are of excellent quality.
Five of your committee visited and examined in person
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the electric-light plant erected and operated by the town of Danvers for more than two years. Their plant consists of the following: Building, dynamo-room, 45 × 35. This is a frame building, sheathed inside, hard-pine floor, and inside blinds; boiler-room is of brick with cement floor, 45 × 23 ; one 80 horse-power steel dome boiler; one 80 horse-power feed water-heater; one injector; one Spencer damper regu- lator; one 60-ft. iron smoke-stack; one steam-whistle; one 60 horse-power Ball engine; two 43-light dynamos; two ammeters ; two current governors; one switch-board; one magneto ; two lightning-arresters; seventy-five double arc lamps of 1,200 candle-power; twenty-one miles of wire; with line and lamp-poles. This plant was erected by the Brush Electric Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, and is what is called the " Brush system." It affords a light equal in brill- iance and steadiness with any we have observed elsewhere of the same capacity, and we are informed by the officials and some of the leading citizens of the town that it is entirely satisfactory to the people. We found no one who expressed an opposite opinion. We copy the following letter from the superintendent of the works, indorsed by the Selectmen, as to the original cost of the plant and of operating the same : -
" DANVERS, Feb. 19, 1891.
" JAMES H. CARTER, ESQ., Chairman of Electric Light Com- mittee, Wakefield, Mass. : -
"DEAR SIR, - In reply to your favor of the 16th inst. I have to say that I was Chairman of the Committee of our town having charge of the construction of the electric-light plant now in operation here. This was put in during the year of 1888, and the lamps were lighted January 2, 1889, and have been in constant use to the present time.
" We originally located and put in seventy-three (73) Brush arc lamps. On May 1, 1891, added two, and from that date we have been using seventy-five (75). We have run our lights on the moon schedule until midnight. From
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Jan. 2, 1889, to Feb. 1, 1890 (the end of our fiscal year), our lamps were lighted 267 nights and 1,354 hours. From Feb. 1, 1890, to Feb. 1, 1891, our lamps were lighted and used 255 nights and twelve hundred and thirty-six (1,236) hours.
" The total cost of erecting, completing, and equipping our electric-light plant as it now stands, including everything, except land, was fifteen thousand five hundred and seventy- nine dollars 78% ($15,579.09).
"The total cost of operating seventy-three (73) electric lights in our town from Jan. 2, 1889, to Feb. 2, 1890, thirteen months, was $3,928.47. Cost for same period, each arc light, $53.8183.
" The entire cost of our lights from Feb. 1, 1890, to Feb. 1, 1891, 12 months, was $3,419.79. Cost for same period, each arc light, $45.59.
" In the above is included every actual expense chargeable to the construction of the electric-light plant, maintenance and operation of same, except value of land and interest on same, and whatever may be charged to depreciation of the plant, which is entirely problematical, variously estimated from five to ten per cent. (5 to 10 % ) on the original cost.
" We have no other street lights paid for by the town, and our lights are satisfactory to our people. I may add that I have been superintendent of the work since the committee were discharged.
" Very respectfully, "T. J. LYNCH."
" DANVERS, Feb. 19, 1891.
"We, the undersigned, Selectmen of the Town of Danvers, hereby certify that the electric lights of our town are entirely satisfactory, and the expense account, as above stated by Mr. Lynch, is correct.
" DANIEL R. POPE,
" OTIS F. PUTNAM,
" C. S. RICHARDS.
" Selectmen of Danvers."
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[FROM REPRESENTATIVE SAWYER.]
" DANVERS, Feb. 24, 1891.
" JAMES H. CARTER, ESQ., Wakefield, Mass .: -
" DEAR SIR, - In answer to your inquiry, I would say that the people of Danvers are very much pleased with their electric-light plant, and I do not know of a taxpayer who would be willing to vote to have it taken out.
" Yours respectfully,
"S. L. SAWYER."
" DANVERS, MASS., Feb. 24, 1891.
" MR. JAMES H. CARTER, Chairman Electrical Committee of Wakefield : -
"DEAR SIR,-In reply to your inquiry regarding the electric-light system in use in Danvers, I have only to say, that to the best of my knowledge and belief it has given most complete satisfaction in every respect to the inhabitants of the town, and at a small expense. As a matter of fact, I have not heard a word of complaint from a single individual.
" Yours truly, " IRA P. POPE."
" DANVERS, Feb. 25, 1891.
" Mr. JAMES H. CARTER, Chairman of the Electric Light Committee : -
" DEAR SIR, -In reply to your question I would say that the Danvers electric-light plant, during the two years that it has now run, has been eminently satisfactory to the town, whether in regard to its cost, running expenses, or the general efficiency of the plant. And all the people are satisfied and pleased.
" Yours truly,
" GEORGE TAPLEY."
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The town of Danvers has about 50 miles of streets ; sub- stantially the same as Wakefield. It has an area of 7,420 acres; while Wakefield has an area of 3,745 acres.
The population of Danvers is centred in villages more than in Wakefield, and they are at greater distances apart; consequently there are more in number and longer stretches of wire where no lights are needed.
Upon the best calculation we can make, it will take about seventy-five (75) arc lights, of 1,200 candle-power each, to illuminate the town in a satisfactory manner. We are advised that the Danvers plant can be duplicated at about the same price, and we see no reason why it cannot be operated as cheaply in Wakefield as in Danvers, except a slight increase in the freight on coal.
COMPARISON OF COST.
The Gas Company offers to furnish the town arc lights of 1,200 candle-power each, for 20 nights per month, for I year, or 240 nights, per light .
75 lights per year .
Total cost of operating the Danvers light from Feb. 1, 1890, to Feb. 1, 1891, as officially reported, 255 nights, or an average of 214 nights per month; 75 arc lights . · · Actual cost of each arc light for same period, Actual cost of each arc light for same period, 20 nights per month ·
If, for the purpose of making an approximate estimate of the cost of a plant for this town, we add the sum of $1,000 for land not in- cluded in the Danvers plant, we shall have for the first cost of an electric-light plant sufficient to light our town satisfactorily the sum of
$80 00 $6,000 00
$3,419 79 $45 59
$42 91
$16,579 09
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Basing our computation upon the experience of Danvers and their official figures, it would cost the town of Wakefield for 75 arc lights, to be lighted 240 nights per year, from dusk until midnight
Upon this basis each arc light would cost the sum of
$3,459 79
$43 42
If we add to the cost of operating the Danvers plant for the last fiscal year interest at 4 per cent. on the cost of the land, and 10 per cent. on the gross cost of the plant for an- nual depreciation in value, - which is the largest depreciation estimated by any engi- neer, - we shall have for the cost of oper- ating our plant for I year, 255 nights, the sum of $5,017 50
For the same, for 1 year of 240 nights . $4,722 00
The cost of each arc light for I year of 240 nights
$62 96
In the computation made by the Danvers officials for oper- ating their plant is reckoned the entire cost of repairs made during the time, and they claim that their plant is in sub- stantially as good condition as when first erected, actual wear excepted.
In our computation of the cost of operation we have included the same sum, and also a sum for depreciation of value in use, which would allow the whole plant to become worthless in ten years, - a condition of things which no one supposes will take place.
REPORT OF CHARLES H. HERRICK, ELECTRICAL ENGINEER.
· To aid us in our investigations we employed Mr. Charles H. Herrick, Manager of the Wright Electrical Engineering Company of Boston, to visit the town and make a personal
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examination of the situation, and to advise and make a re- port as to the best manner and cost of lighting the town by electricity.
On account of unexpected delays we did not receive his report until our report, as we originally drew it, was in the hands of the printer. We insert it here without further explanation or comment, from lack of time.
" BOSTON, Feb. 26, 1891.
" HON. JAMES H. CARTER, Chairman Electrical Committee, Wakefield, Mass. : -
" DEAR SIR, - In accordance with your request, I submit herewith report of the cost and operating expenses of an electric-light plant for lighting the streets of your town. I have made a visit to Wakefield, going over the ground care- fully, and find that the town can be well lighted with 87 arc lamps of 1,200 nominal candle-power. I make two estimates, - one for a plant to light the streets alone, and for a plant to light the streets, stores, hall, churches, schools, dwellings, etc., as the town may decide to furnish commer- cial lighting in connection with the street lighting, thereby reducing the cost of the latter by the income derived from the former. I have made estimates for a brick building, as I consider its extra cost over a wooden building money well expended. The line work will require about 650 poles and 26 miles of wire. Estimates have been made for chest- nut poles and a good quality of weather-proof wire,-poles to be painted two coats of paint to preserve them and render · them less unsightly. The lamps to be suspended over streets, where necessary, by means of mast-arms, and in other places to be placed directly on pole. These estimates can be relied on as correct, and the cost of the plant will not depart mate- rially from them.
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" ESTIMATE NO. I.
Plant for lighting streets alone, 87 lamps : -
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