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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1905)
5hs Nebraska Independent MARCH 23, 1005 PAGE How British Cities Manage Public Utilities By Frederick Upham Adams. II - (Third Article.) The first estate outside the county of London purchased by the Council was in Norbury. The site is thirty-one acres In extent and is situated a mile and a quarter beyond the county boun dary. On this tract the council Is erect ing 762 cottages with accommodations for 5,800 persons. The rents will range from $1.50 to $2.75 a week. The greatest progress has been made with the Totterdown fields estate, In Tootins. On this tract of thirty-nine cottages nave Deen knowledged authority on architecture and construction, a man of decided executive ability and great energy. He has never been active In polities. He has no political pull. Thousands of men work under him, but he wields no political influence. Millions upon mil lions of dollars pass through his hands, but there is not the shadow of a suspi cion that one penny of it sticks to his fingers. He receives $4,000 a year In salary. No partisan faction or individ ual aspires to supersede him. If he chooses, the position is his for life. The great municipal enterprises of London and other cities in Great Brit- acres nearly 800 . . . - - ..J j completed ana are occupieu, -juu m ain are filled by men of thIs type plans can ior a tutai ul j.,-- vin tages. In this venture the London county council is investing $2,000,000. The cottages are built of brick and stucco, with the toofs and chimneys surmounted with' the inevitable Eng lish chimney pot a3, of course, "you (know, there is not a wooden structure in England. In the course of a long interview Mr. Burgess thus epitomized the work and plans under his charge: At an expense of about $5,600,000 we have demolished thirty-six acres of dilapidated and insanitary buildings, which were occupied by 16,555 persons. In the place of these old structures we ThA rnttflspg of Tootine are built to have erected model ones which accom- stand for hundreds of years, with little modate 19,052 persona Houses and mo?ra Thfi streets cottases for 7.025 nersons have also ro vo nnri whftn an Enelishman been completed at an expense exceed paves a street his grandchildren need ing $2,000,000. In addition to this plans not replace it. let us enter one of have been prepared and land purchased ntfnp-PR . for 10,430 new tenements ana byy ioag' a firct tnot nne which rents ing rooms. These will afford accom for 12 shillings a week, or $2.88 in our modation for 71,055 persons, and the nav tm !a o corner house, with total cost, including tne land, is esti- lieht on three sides. In the rear is a mated at $16,000,000. It will thus be , nn,i MrHon niot 38 bv 55 feet, seen that the London county council Garden truck grows all the year around has provided and is Providing for 15,- nmQ nnrt mativ of the ten- 440 tenements and 1,848 lodging house ants of Tooting have no difficulty in rooms for 97,132 persons at a total out- raisiner the vesetanies reauirea ior " vww their personal use. The housewife has all of the rooms needed in which to hang and dry clothes, and her husband can indulge his inborn desire to keep a dog. All of this space is their own to do with as they please. The clothes are not covered , with soot, and the dog is monarch of all that he surveys The cottage is a two story one, with five rooms and a kitchen. The living room i3 12 by 13 and the parlor 9 byl feet. The kitchen is about 8 by 10, and the three bedrooms average 100 square feet, v The floors are of hardwood throughout, and the same is true of the other, woodwork. The walls are pa pered and the. ceiling calcimined. The interior work compares with that of a New York or Chicago flat which rents at from $30 to $40 a month. All of the rooms have an abundance of light and ventilation. These tenements contain one, two, three, four, five and six room apartments All of the fragmentary statements and rumors concerning the extent of the housing scheme planned by the London authorities sink into insignifi cance compared with the plain facts and figures. It is not a reform; it is a revolution. Closely allied with the task of hous ing the working classes of London is the problem of , providing cheap and rapid transportation for . those who live in these suburban houses built by the municipality. English capitalistic stupidity well nigh reached its limit at the hands of those men who found themselves the owners of street rail way franchises and plants. " While private enterprise in the Unit ed States and in other countries was eagerly pushing the work of discard John Jasper, blacksmith, and his UnS horse traction for mechanical and wife, mother and four children live in this cottage. It was a holiday, and most of the men folks were home. The blacksmith came to the door and bade U3 welcome, "How do you like it here" I asked when we had looked through all of the rooms and listened to Mr. Jasper's plans for a combined hothouse and dog kennel. "I like it," he said, looking out to where his children were playing in the open air. "It's all new to me, but it would be like going to jail to have to go back to the barracks where we lived in Lambeth. Never knew what it was to be clean or to breathe fresh air till we came out here. "Does it cost you more for rent than it did when you lived in a tenement house?" '"It costs " just the same," he said; "but, bless, you, look at what we have now and what we had then. I never thought when I was a boy that the time would ever come when I would live in a house all to myself." Is udnthe; Cornetesv&j; Twin ever-y4'cli meand , cvfery nation s it is the Standard Typewrite Remington Typewriter Company 327 Broadway 7 t New York Oliver Theatre Bldg., Lincoln, Neb. 1619 Farnam St., Omaha, Neb. arliament passed such an act in 1896, and on Jan. 1, 1899, the London county council came into formal possession of a large share of the mileage of tram ways within its jurisdiction. The last private franchise will not expire until 910, but the lines are small and of no consequence compared with the stu pendous problem of constructing and operating new arteries of transporta tion. , In no modern utility is London so woefully deficient as in street railways. It, has only 115 miles of tracks, of which the county council owns eighty- eight miles. Of these forty-eight are north of the Thames and are leased un til 1910 to the British traction trust. The county now considers that it made a mistake In making this lease and ia neeotiating for its purchase. There are forty-eight miles south of th Thames, of which the council owns anl operates forty miles. The remnant of private lines is purchasable in 1906. London's lack of progress in street transportation is best evinced by the fact that the first electric tramcar waa driven from Westminster bridge to Tooting on May 16, 1903. On that date tens of thousands of miles of electrical railway were in paying operation ia the United States, and such municipal ities as Manchester and Glasgow were swelling their treasuries from the re ceipts of publicly owned electrical street railways. ' ' London has only one mile of tram way to every 30,000 population, Glas gow one mile to every 11,900, Liverpool one mile to 8,400 and Manchester one mile to 5,600 people. Bueno-Ventura Oil & Gas Company THE KANSAS OIL FIELDS electrical, tne somnolent owners o: such properties in Great Britain were blind and deaf to the splendid progress attained by inventors and engineers, Realizing that there was no hope for an awakening from this trance, the London county council was not slow in taking advantage of an act passed by parliament in 1870, which provided that "where the owners of a tramway (street raliway) in any' district are not the local authority, such local authority within six months after the expiration of a period of twenty-one years from the time when such owners were em powered to construct such tramway and within six months after the ex piration of every subsequent period of seven years may, with the approval of the board of trade, require sucn pro moters to sell them their undertaking upon terms of paying the then value (exclusive of any allowance for past or future profits of the undertaking) of the tramway, such value to be in the case of difference determined by a referee appointed by the board of trade Greatest Opportunity for Easy Money Making Known in the United States for Years The state of Kansas, through the courage of its legislature and the de termination of its people, will reap a rich harvest from its oil producing fields. The new legislation was passed with the emergency clause attached and is already effective. It has re sulted in reducing freight rates on oil about half and guarantees a market for both the crude and refined prod ucts. It has been a big victory tor the owners of oil producing wells in Kansas. It happens that the Kansas crude oil is of a better quality than in almost any other oil region. The Standard Oil company has recognized this and is now paying a higher price for the Kansas product than for any other except Pennsylvania. All these conditions have increased the value of the Bueno-Ventura Oil and Gas Co. holdings as it has all other good oil lands. The market for the product is assured. -The Bueno-Ventura Oil and Gas Co. own 160 acres of as good oil land as there is in the great Peru district. To develop the property it has been sell ing stock at 20 cents per share (par value $1.). None has been sold for less. Every stockholder has been treated the same. All will share in the profits according to the amount Invested. Already two-thirds enough Ths hnnaine work of the London on the application of either party, county council is under the direct There were fifteen private street rail charge of S. G. Burgess, who has way companis operating in the county served as manager since 1901. -There is of London. The first one which, had no civil service in the American sense its franchise expire was promptly noti nf the word in Ensrland. Therefore fied by the council that its plant would when the county council formed a be purchased. The company made a housing department and wished a man- claim for $3,000,000. The county scoffed thov . advertised for Mm. For at this price. A referee was appointed twpntv vears Mr. Bureess had been ac- and awarded the company $322,000. tively engaged in the construction of The company appealed to the high m,iia riasa dwellings. He had served court, which set aside the award. The with distinction as manager of three council appealed, and the court of ap great private companies. The London peals affirmed the referee's award, and rmintv council decided that he was the their decision was confirmed by the house of lords. That settled it. This was in 1894. The tramways act did not permit the local authorities to operate street rail ways. It was inereiore necessary 10 best man for the place. They therefore offered Mr. Burgess a certain salary, and after due consideration he accepted their offer. He had just completed the .nnatnifHon of " five laree lodeine vmiaoa tnr Lord Rowton. designed for lease the line for a short period, which providing better accommodations for was accordingly done, the lease explr- 4 500 men. These structures are of the ing in 1900. The council then proceed- same type as the Mills hotels of New ed to purchase other plants as the fran- York which are occupied by about 1,500 chlses expired and also introduced a male lodgers. Mr. Burgess is an ac- bill giving them power to operate lines. has been sold for the construction. At the rate orders are being received it will only.be a short time until the . work of sinking , the, well will begin. After that no more stock will be sold. Those Who have money for specu lative investment can not do better than purchase shares in this company. There is little doubt but that big divi dends will be paid monthly. That has been the experience of almost every oil property that has been judiciously and honestly developed. . The Independent endorses this com pany and the stock as a good invest ment. The stock is fully paid and non-assessable. There Is absolutely no lia bility of stockholders beyond tho amount paid by them for their shares of stock and they can not be called on for payment of any sum after they have received their certificate of shares. Twenty cents per share is the price: 25 shares .' ....$ ; 5 00 50 shares 10 00 100 shares 20 00 250 shares 50 00 500 shares 100 00 If further information is desired it will be furnished on application. Make your remittances and drafts or money orders payable to The Inde pendent, Lincoln, Neb. We will seo to it that your stock is properly issued, recorded and forwarded without delay. ORDER. BLANK I C INDEPENDENT Lincoln, Nebr. 1905 Enclosed find for which send me.. shares of non-assessable fully paid stock in the Bcesa Ventura Oil and Gas Company. Name. Poitoffice . 20 cents per share. State,