The Power Grab: Tacoma Businessmen Battle Utility Monopoly
Prominent citizens organize to fight an electric franchise they fear will cripple local industry and inflate power prices.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Aroused by the danger with which the industrial growth of Tacoma would be threatened if the unconditional electric power franchise asked for by the T.R.&P. company is granted, prominent business men have organized to protect the city's interests. The group argues that granting the franchise in its present form would confer a monopoly on the grantee, prevent competition, and eventually drive the city out of the lighting business or force it to pay exorbitant rates for current. In a petition to the mayor and council, these taxpayers urge that any franchise must include safeguards, including a price cap of one cent per kilowatt-hour for municipal lighting. The movement was sparked by The Times, which called attention to loopholes in the ordinance, and culminated in the formation of the Tacoma Protective League at D.S. Johnston's music store.
“The city should not confer a franchise worth hundreds of thousands of dollars without at least fully protecting and guarding the interests of its residents.”
This 1904 battle over utility franchises and municipal versus private control mirrors contemporary debates about Tacoma Power's role and the ongoing struggle to keep utilities affordable amidst urban growth. It captures the era's suspicion of 'trusts' that still echoes in modern discussions of corporate monopolization of civic infrastructure.
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