No Monopoly on Gaslight: Spokane's Council Draws a Line

At a special meeting of the City Council held Tuesday evening an ordinance (published in another column) was passed, granting certain parties the privilege of laying pipes through the public streets and conducting gas works in this city, and as the parties were in earnest when they asked the right, it may be expected that the city will be lit with this volatile illuminating fluid by next spring, as we understand it is the intention to commence work this fall. The gas company has asked no favors from the authorities that they could not willingly grant, and nothing is allowed that would prevent them from securing the same privilege to others desiring to enter into the same business. The gas company only asks to be allowed to lay pipes, with no exclusive right, which shows that the projectors have no motive in the movement beyond a legitimate business transaction. When an incorporation asks for 'exclusive rights,' you can set it down at once that there is a determination on the part of the projectors to cinch the consumers. They then become monopolies, and as such the poorer classes are constantly made aware of their power. When a city gives a company rights that exclude the possibility of competition they are fettering the people they represent, and creating an incubus that it is impossible to shake off. We are glad to see that our mayor and councilmen are opposed to granting any body of men privileges of this kind, and for their thoughtfulness and integrity the citizens ought to be thankful. The gentlemen who propose to introduce gas into Spokane Falls have stated that they will make the rates so low that people cannot afford to use any other kind of light, and on that principle when the works are once started they will never be troubled with competition. It is the intention to manufacture the gas from pitch pine, which is said to make gas equal in brilliancy to that extracted from coal. We are anxious to see work commence on this new project.