-s-——-——————
The Hin-ka» I
Published every Friday by the A N B. Publishing Co., Fetersbur
Entered in the Po3t Office in Petersburg as Second Class Mattel
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
iTe Alaskan, six months. 12.50
The Alaskan, ;>er year. $4 0*
A. N. H. PUBIJ8HING COMPANY
Louis F. Paul. Editor and Manager.
MORAL OBLIGATION
No member of the city coun
cil can make a decision relative
to a definite civic program un
less he makes it with an uncom
promising sense of his moral ob
ligation to the taxpayer. In the
case of the sale of the hydro
electric and water works, this
sense of obligation is at the very
base of the transaction. Sale of
the equipment does not mean a
transitory relief of civic obliga
tions for a given sum of money.
The utilities are investments
and good only if maximum pro
fits are returned for a given pe
riod. If they fail of best results
with a MAXIMUM of ECONOMY
then it is a bad investment. A
bad investment not because of
original cost but because of its
cost of upkeep.
There is only one way to make
the utilities valuable and that is
to put value into them. This re
quires efficient, scientific shop
management. The manager of
the utilities, the Council, has a
moral obligation to the taxpay
ers to maintain an organization
that will give its best effort to
the care and management of the
utility.
Of paramount importance is a
cost-finding system for it is the
Council’s moral obligation to put
a maximum value into the utili
ties to give value to the taxpay
ers at a legitimate price, strip
ped of all avoidable costs and
expense due to waste. Every
transaction of the utilities
should be shown and properly
charged to proper accounts!
No business can expect to en
dure on a haphazard system of
operation. No sane board of di
rectors of any business can ex
pect to find such a method pos
sible under any condition.
The question then is, Why
should a government owned
utility be expected to succeed
under such conditions and why
not apply the same conditions
and methods of management to
the business of each individual
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STOP! LOOK! LISTEN
-o
“There simply cannot be any
enduring profit out of an un
sound transaction. And there are
comparatively f ew transactions
that are worth while if they do
not mean future profitable,
transactions springing from the
first.” When the city purchased
its utilities, it wasn’t buying for
the immediate present. It was
not merely purchasing a light
and water plant. It was buy
ing the future years of service
whicli can be delivered to tax
payers at a minimum of expense.
No private corporation will
undertake purchase and opera
tion of a public utility with the
idea oi being philanthropic and
taking any load or responsibility
from the taxpayers. Not when
the masters demand their ten
per cent- net—or better.
WHY NO MAN CAN GO TO
HELL ON HIS OWN ROAD
-x
Because he cannot go there
without hurting his fellow-men
who do not want to go there.
Selling below cost is an economic
fraud and falsifies the whole
chain of commercial transac
tions that ensue. The most im
portant, and most evaded prob
lem of a manufacturer is to know
day by day, if he is making a
profit.—Prom March issue of The
Typathetae Bulletin.
“Titebuyer may think he has
; made a rich bargain when
Guesser ignorant of his costs or
?• desparate for business, sells him
something for a ruinously low
price. But if Guesser is to hang
on, he must get his losses back
sometime. He gets them back by
overcharging Titebuyer himself
on further business..
“Titebuyer will indeed be
lucky if that is the worst that
happens to him. The worst is
if Guesser ultimately goes
to smash, as the Guesser tribe
must.
ADRIFT WITH THE TIDE
-x
By borrowing and otherwise
raising money here and there,
by slovenly inventories and de
fective or reckless accounting
methods, Petersburg may con
tinue for a long time, always
hoping for the turn of tide. The
inefficient methods is leading the
city into a demoralizing state of
financial affairs. The taxpayers
in the end, pay the price.
At the present time, the most
important thing for the City to
learn is the problem of wheth
er or not the public utilities are
paying from day to day; from
month to month. If they are be
ing operated at a loss, it is tne
right of the taxpayer to know
that fact. If it is more than pay
ing its way, those figures should
be set forth.
There is no difficulty about the
management if the mental atti
tude • s management is ri^nt
The co. ,c., that is hard lrejscd
with mm managed utilit ham
pered by excessive costs is there
fore on unsound basis and too
often do not know costs and oth
er conditions too well.
HOW THEY FOOL THEM
SELVES
In a concern so managed, trial
balances, bank balances, and
other book accountings can be
made to look pretty, even tho
some where in the city’s opera
tions ignored organic troubles
may be eating out the life of the
institution.
CONSTRUCTIVE PLAN
-x
It is as necessary to give con
structive thot to civic affairs as
it is to criticize its management
Out of ali criticisms may come a
plan whereby management of
affairs may be bettered.
One Directing Head
Mr. MacKecknie is electrician
in charge of the hydro-electric.
Put full responsibility upon his
shoulders for management and
operation, hiring and firing of
employees connected with the
plant, purchasing of supplies and
making of repairs. His word to
be final and absolute.
The City Council should pro
vide a budget plan whereby all
interest on bonds will be taken
care of along with payment on
principal; a depreciation fund
and a repair fund set aside for
said purposes only, and such a
plan to be started forthwith;
out of operation fund will be
drawn such salaries as are on the
roll of the utility. If the prop
erty shows a loss due to manage
ment after Mr. MacKecknie has
been given fair opportunity to
prove his worth and ability, then
get another in his place with a
proven record.
Put the books on a business
basis; inventory all stock and
equipment belonging to the util
ity and make such charges and
credits as are due the plant or
stock sheet. An accurate and
complete record will show that
muncipal ownership will pay the
City rather than be a bag of
debts and worries to hang on to.;
THE COST OF ELECTRICITY
-x-*
Morris Llewellyn Cooke, na
tionally known consulting engin
perr and director for the Giant
Power Survey, has just made
public a study of the cost of dis
tributing electric current to do
mestic consumers.
Basing his conclusions on an
analysis of 64 plants in 10 differ
ent states, Mr. Cooke declares
that for the domestic consumer
who uses 500 kilowatt hours of
current per year, the cost of dis
tribution is not more than iy2
cents per kilowatt hour. With
the use of current doubled this
cost per unit is cut in half.
. .Mr. Cooke considers it proved
that 5 cents per kilowatt hour
for domestic use is the highest
average rate that can be justi
fied in this country. .At present
the average rate is 7.4 cents per
kilowatt hour, and the highest
ranges from 17 to 30 cents.
.. This proves, beyond question,
that the power interests are col
lecting hundreds of millions ii
excess rates from consumers ev
ery year.
The companies, Mr. Cooke
shows, have always tried to
mulct the domestic consumer,
where they have a monopoly,
in order to cut prices to the big
industrial consumer, where they
have to meet competition.
In other words, the little fel
low is made the “goat,” altho
he is least able to bear the bur
den.”—Labor, Washington, D. C.
The rate in Ketchikan where
the Foshay interests have ac
quired control of the utility is
as follows: For residences the
the first 24 kilowatt hours at 10
cents; the next 24 hours at 5
cents; the next 80 hours at 3
cents and the balance at 1 cent.
The cost of the first 128 k.w.h.
is therefore $6.00. The amount
used by one home where elec
tricity is used for cooking and
heating water is 1200 k.w.h. and
costs therefore $16.70 per month.
According to Mr. Cooke, the
cost of this service when only
500 k.w.h. are used per year is
1 y2 cents per k.w.h. and when
1,000 k.w.h. are used the cost is
cut 50 per cent.
The profit on the above ex
ample would be at least $9.00 per
t month.
We are told that the basic
rate in Fairbanks is 25 cents per
k.w.h. and since no financial
statement is ever published by
the power companies showing
gross income, expense and net
investment, citizns who have
created a monopoly do not know
whether they are paying too
much or not.
One thing is certain, even tho
power companies protest that
their return is only “fair” they
uniformly resist laws signed to
make them publish a financial
statement.
NAPOLEON
-x
We have been reading Lud
wig’s Life of Napoleon and be
gin to see why this man dom
inates all military men. It is
considered a compliment (for
which thanks is rue to mother
nature) whenever a man resem
bles the great Napoleon. Among
our many acquaintances, we be
lieve none resmbles him in ap
pearance than our esteemed
District Judge. If judges had
the power and authority of the
great Napoleon, their jobs
would be easier. Indeed it has
occurred to us that some judges
pursue the Napoleonic method
of dispensing justice. At least,
we suppose that was the basis
of the fi peal made by the Grana
Jury vl New York to Presided
Herbert Hoover for better judg
es.
SOCIALISM
-x
This word frightens the Unit
ed States, and yet, the Conserv
ative British Nation has just
placed the Labor Party in pow- i
er altho the Labor Party ran on
a platform of socialism. This
platform promised among other
things the nationalism of cer
tain industries.
In tne United States we have
a limited socialism aitho we shut
our eyes to this fact. The post
office is an example of this. But 1
so are the various supervising\
Qoards like the Interstate Com
merce Commission, the Com
pulsory Arbitration Board, tile
taws virtually guaranteeing the
railroads shall earn 6 per cent
on their valuation, old age pen
sions, and many other things.
SCHEME TO DISCREDIT PUB
LIC OWNERSHIP, BARED
-—x
Details of a scheme to educate
the public and industry on the
alleged disadvantages of public
ownership of industries were re
vealed on the 14th in testimony
by W. J. Sylvester, Chicago, be
fore the Federal Trade Commis
sion.
Sylvester, who is secretary of
file industrial conservat ion
board, told the Commission his
organization was created in 1928 '
after he had discussed the pro
ject with Martin Insul, brother
of Samuel Insull, the Chicago
utility magnate.
Subsequently, a conference was
held in Washington, attended
by Martin Insull and a number
of other business and utility ex
ecutives. A “declaration of prin
ciples” agreed upon then was
cited by Sylvester as including
the two following itms:
“To inform the people that
government in business means ;
the establishment of a socialist
ic state, and that the ultimate
destruction of all individual op
portunity.
“To oppose every existing or ■
proposed intrusion by govern- .
ment into the proper field of
private enterprise.”
Publicity methods the board
hopes to use in its campaign
against public ownership, Syl
vester said, will include the
press, radio broadcasting, mov
ing pictures and schools and
colleges.
Contributions towards support
of the board have aggregated by
utility groups. Sylvester said
he had not but was confident
he could obtain the amount
mentioned for the purposes stat
ed.
Up-to-date, he explained, the
sole activity of the industrial
conservation board has consist- |
ed of sponsoring two addresses
by Judge V. H. Stone in Marion,
Ind., and Batavia, 111., on the
subject of “Your Business.” A
former newspaper man has been
engaged to write articles but
none has been sent newspapers
so far, the witness said.—Seattle
Star.
HOW OLD IS THE WORLD?
-x
Dr. James Young Simpson of
the University of Ediburgh de
clares that the world is 5,000,- ;
000,000,000,000,000, 000, OOo, ooo *
years old, granting a thousand ■
or two years difference. He de- ;
dared that while scientists ;
found the problem a hard one 1
to play with yet they solved it. ;
“The thing scientists have ;
found about the universe which ;
is even more impressive than its ;
size or age is its orderliness. ;
There is no chaos in the whole ;
system,” he said. ;
Wonder how many will be able ;
to read the age arithmetically?
FAMOUS SAYINGS i
-o
“If they sell the hydro and ]
water works, they should get rid !
of the city hall, fire truck and
department, schoolhouses and \
all city property and some of J
the stores for good measure.”— j
Bob Ketchison. \
-X- i
“If the city does sell its hy- ♦:
dro plant and water works and J ♦;
has $50,000 “in the velvet,” how ! ]
long will it last?” asks a citizen. ! «j
A voice on the side: “The city j
will be bankrupt by Christmas.” ]
’ $>4 A
The New yorl^
Pool Billiard And Card Room
Choice Cigars, Tobaccos And Candies
New Tables And Equipment
Dick Kuwata, Prop.
I
Satisfaction Always
Guaranteed
A complete line of men’s
furnishings for work or
dress. A fine line of
Goods for women
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ATTENTION !!
Boat Owners
We can take care of general repair in wood and caulking
and all the blacksmith work on any boat up to 100 feet in
length at
Petersburg Marine Ways
t J. C. Holton & Ed. Walwick
'\dzxzzx S\\id\os
portraits ,s^KVr Hlacka
l Lanasc^pes Views
|: COPYING AND ENLARGING
|: TINTING AND COLORING DONE IN OIL
? FRAMING DONE TO ORDER
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$cr«ic« first
S Oxo-Acetylene Pipe Fitting And
-h Cutting & Welding Sheet Metal Woik
5 GENERAL fF
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i BLACKSMITHING
'Jo
i John R. Kolstrand.
u! Front Street. - Petersburg, Alaska
[Try TONCAN Matal For Your Stove Pipes