as they appear in the general table, will doubtless disclose why some companies have lost money and some have made more and others less, on their respective investments, but no very marked distinctions appear on the surface of the returns. It is true that all but one of the eleven larger plants were fairly successful, and that among the eleven smaller ones four were losers and seven were gainers, even greater gainers in proportion to investment than the larger plants, but this is conclusive of nothing so far as the relative size is concerned, and neither does it appear that the age of the plant, nor the fact that it may have changed hands, has had any influence for or against favorable results of operation. The general fact seems to be that the distribution of successes and failures in this group of enterprises is about as impartial and fortuitous as in any like number of ventures in any business, though it is evident that the proportion of successful companies is large enough to commend this sort of investment. Net profit in this table is expressed in total amount and in two percentages, one of gross income and one on investment. An examination of these columns is of interest as affording a quick reading of what the other figures of the table stand for. Thirteen of the 40 profit-making companies made a gain of less than 5 per cent on the total amount invested in each; seventeen gained from 5 to 10 per cent; five, from 10 to 15 per cent, and five from 15 to 27 per cent on investment. The percentages of gross income represented by the profits of these companies are necessarily much larger. Only five of these are less than 5 per cent; four are from 5 to 10 per cent; eight, from 10 to 15 per cent; five, from 15 to 20 per cent, and twenty-three are over 20 per cent, one being as high as 47.49 per cent. The aggregate of all the profits made by the 40 companies is equal to 22.89 per cent of the gross income of all companies, and to 7.44 per cent on the total capital invested by all companies. The aggregate losses of the 20 companies which failed to make profits is equal to 4.89 per cent on the total amount invested by those companies. Table IX of the general series is a special elaboration of the statistics of prices and cost; that is to say, of the various prices paid by those who buy electric light or power, either of public or private corporations, and of the cost to municipalities of electric service rendered to themselves. The output of the electric plant consists of the are light, the incandescent light, and motive power. Foreach of these it is desirable to show the prices paid by the citizen and the city to private corpora tions; likewise the prices paid by the citizen to the city and the cost. to the city of service rendered to itself. This alone makes rather an involved tabular statement, but it is further complicated by a terminology not readily understood, by the difficulty of establishing a unit of uniform application, by varying prices for the same thing, by the difference in price to private and public users and for commercial and domestic service, by the character of current, type and capacity. of lamp, the number in service, the hours of service, and finally by a great variety of arbitrary discounts contingent upon the prompt payment of bills. The unit determined upon to express relative prices for arc lamps is the kilowatt-hour. Prices per lamp per month or per year are not comparable because of the different watt capacities of lamps and the great variation in the hours of service rendered in the month or year. Prices for incandescent lighting are based both on candle-power and duration of service, and are expressed in the table as per lamp per month, per lamp per hour, per lamp-hour, per ampere-hour, per watt or kilowatt-hour. Terms not reducible to any of the foregoing, such as those made for groups of lamps in dwellings, stores, saloons and public buildings, at special contract prices, and also sundry discount conditions, are recited in foot-notes. Terms for motor service are, per motor per month or year, per horse-power per hour or month, per ampere-hour, and per kilowatthour. All prices, moreover, are modified in some degree by the character of current and type of lamp, and distinctions are accordingly made in the table between prices for open and enclosed arc lamps, and between lamps maintained by constant amperage, constant voltage and alternating currents. The necessary complexities of this table make it somewhat difficult to institute desired comparisons between private and municipal plants in respect to prices and the cost of lighting, and the following figures, drawn from the columns of the greater table, have been grouped in such a way as to facilitate an examination of relative cost and price of service in the establishments under consideration. Here are grouped in adjacent columns corresponding facts relating to 23 municipal plants and the same number of private plants. Owing to obvious difficulties in attempting to define the relative importance of electric plants by their output or the amount of capital invested, and for lack of a better rule, the plants in the series of tables for electric light plants are arranged and numbered according to their power-generating capacity. Therefore, in selecting private plants for comparison with municipal, those have been taken which use approximately the same horse-power. It is observed that in some columns of this table the data is rather insufficient, notably in those showing the prices to private users and more especially in those on the municipal side; this is because so many public plants have no business with private users. It also appears that certain prices to private users are stated as averages; this is inevitable, owing to the diversity in prices, more fully set forth in the general table. The respective columns for price per arc lamp per kilowatt-hour are, however, substantially full for both public and private plants, and the differences between price and cost, among plants approximately alike, are clearly observable. Brought together these two columns present the following appearance: Prices and Cost of Electric Lighting per Arc Lamp per Kilowatt-Hour. Although in two instances the cost to the municipality of are lamps per kilowatt-hour is greater than any prices paid to private companies for the same thing, yet in much the greater number of cases the municipal cost is less than the private price. The average of all prices paid to 23 private corporations is $0.0779, and the average cost to 23 municipalities is $0.0579 per arc lamp per given unit. It is true, however, as noticed previously, that the given cost of production in municipal plants does not include the estimated rental value of quarters occupied rent free, nor the taxes which a corresponding private plant would pay into the treasury, nor the interest on investment, bonded or otherwise. By reference to Table VII it is seen that the item of rent is small at most, and is chargeable to only 10 of the 23 plants, the others occupying quarters in the plant buildings proper. The amount of taxes which could be levied upon this municipal property if it were in private hands is estimated and tabulated for each plant; likewise the interest charge against municipal plants is computed and stated. But the item of interest on investment is not included in the cost of production of private plants, the profits of the business representing. whatever interest that capital has earned. With public plants also whatever reduction is secured in the cost of public lighting constitutes the profit in the enterprise and the measure of the interest. earned on the municipal capital. Omitting therefore the item of interest from municipal cost, for the sake of establishing conformity of statement in the two sets of accounts, and increasing that cost as given in the preceding table by the amount of the two theoretical elements, rent and taxes, the cost to municipal plants, per arc lamp, per kilowatt-hour, assumes the following proportions: Prices and Cost of Electric Lighting per Arc Lamp per Kilowatt- |