by the Conseil itself.
The objections to this plan were set forth very freely,--in the first
place, it prolonged an intolerable situation, and just at the moment
when the capital was inviting all the world to visit her. In the second
place, nothing is more doubtful than the future,--it is quite possible
that in the course of fifteen years electricity may be superseded by
some other power, as the utilization of the solar heat; if the Municipal
Council are so convinced of the excellence of their system, why not put
it in practice at once, as they have the power? Moreover, it is very
doubtful if the financial condition of the city will be better in 1907
or 1908 than it is at present; it will be necessary at that date, at the
expiration of the concessions, to purchase the plants of the companies.
The municipal debt, so far from diminishing, has, so far, steadily
increased; it is estimated that the city will have to borrow, in these
ten years, the sum of four hundred and seventy-five millions of
francs,--twenty millions for the conversion of the loan of 1886, forty
millions for the water-supply, a hundred and sixty-five millions for the
Metropolitan railway, fifty millions for education, and two hundred
millions for the opening and maintenance of highways. It is, therefore,
highly probable that the municipal control of the electric lighting, so
far from bringing any amelioration of the lot of the consumer, will only
be considered as another source of municipal revenue, like the State
monopoly of tobacco, powder, etc. It is recalled that these monopolies
always incite the public administration to draw from them the greatest
possible profit,--as in the case of the water-supply, the price of which
has doubled since the city has assumed the management of it. One of the
immediate results of this augmentation has been a great increase in the
number of electric elevators.

In this connection, the experience of the city with the gas company is
recalled. In 1888, the Compagnie parisienne du gaz offered to lower the
price to twenty-five centimes the cubic metre for lighting and to twenty
for motive power, in return for certain considerations which involved no
pecuniary cost to the city. The Conseil Municipal refused this offer.
The result was somewhat as follows: in 1888, there were consumed in
Paris and in the banlieue, in round numbers, two hundred and
ninety-eight millions of cubic metres of gas, and in 1897, three hundred
and fift