, 1873-01-30

ing7 II The threo quotations. can 10 answorcl
n the Affirmative, !vho nhall lnterroao 4 nega-
ttonal Constitution Erohtbita tic Federal cor.
poration from transmitting lotters of lilo popnlo
by mail or n,osaaBes by telegraph for thofn, but
psrysss 9e sa staH to p0rlor hesS
work OH tholr part ns for tho general Gnyori,-
mont to do 1t. Tho whole 1naLtor turnH, yo,,
poreclvo, Oil tho tlaroo, points I ntated, VIZ. =:
Oonntitutionality, public good, aud permission
You condemn postal te1egrnphy, and affirm, in
general tormB that a,,oli biRfuoss in no moro M
| attribute OF, function Of government than for
Government to undertake. Ryston, OF odncation
lons infants, tho ind1gent aged, tho sok and dos
tituto, tho imbeoilo and infrm.
1 WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IB DOING.
Aro your ofloial duties 80 o'lgrosang or blind
ing that you do not know TINT all tl,oae things
dro performed by ono or tue Other Of o,,r po1itl-
cal corporationn7 Have. you navor hoard OF
State, county, Of city aey1nms for. orphans, for
the idiotto and inHane, tho deaf, dumb, and
blind, institutions for the support, of tho indi-
Tho sick and wounded, md froo schools for tho
youth Of all classea Of ,sooioty7 And yot they
abound in all parts Of tho nation.
Strange % It. mny % sound to 70 yous We haze long
of thom In this county, supported at publio, OK.
ponso, and managed on what you would call and
oondomn as the 7pnternal, but what cali tho
JJratet7,al system Of government. But In ad-
dition to these re nro carrying on by tho politi-
cal corporation OF Chicago, many entorprsos
| which will probably mako you allego TINT our
"sohomo Of city government appears to be a
grand Fourier phalanx-a sort OF Oneida COM
munity. on an Immense acalo." For instance,
tho patornal government of tho city has fur
niRlod municipal system Of wator supply at q
cost Of aoyornl millions, aud tho fluid ii sold at
remarkably cheap ratoB to everybody.
!, The Inspiring motive for tho oxerclao OF this
"patornaf function" was to 'proyido the poop1o
| with what wRs doomed good for their welfare In
larger supply, ut loBa cost per capita than would
aged by privato enterprise" |. T., poolnialy cor
porationn. We tried tho latter mothod, and nftor
rapaclty, pushed 1T aside nnd adopted tho
| principle which you 30 vigorously condemn.
Lot mo givo you anotllor cane, whore private
entorpriao has been made to giYo why to tho
"patornal" method. Tho political corporation
has built over tho Chicago RiYor md ito branches
two great road tunnels, Ill at . cost of two or
tl.roa 1nillionB How much toll do yo,t e,lpposo
is charged for passing over or through the1n
| Nothing! Thoy wero constructed and main
| taincd by assessment on the Bhareowners OF tho
! political corporation, and thor use Is rendered.
froo to stranEorsaa wol a8 citizons. "privato en-
terrpriso would gladly havo constructed those
bridges If permitted to o1aot what toll it
| pleased ......-..-
Wo hnyo crsoted some forty brick school
| houses at public oxpenbe, and aro educating
about forty thousand children ut tho ooat Of tho
political corporation; we have high schools sup
ported in tho same way, and Normal schools to
educate teaohera. And quite recently, the COR
poration has cstablishod q FREQ public library
| to furnish books and periodicals to everybody
who will read them
Nor is this all: tho Corporation of Chicago
has engaged in the insurance busnoss, and os-
tablishod q Fire Department, with manifold and
| elaborate machinery and appliance, operated by
soyera1 hundred men and horaos, for tho protoc-
tion Of tho property Of oitizena and promotion
Of tile general walfaro;" and all this IN tho
teeth OF your fundamental objection to political
corporate intrusion upon the domain Of pec1ni-
| ary corporation monopoly, Or what you Btylo
| "priyato enterprise"
| ouAs1-poL1T1oA1 CORPORATIONS.
| for the general political corporation to undor-
tako tho postal Telegraph business but thoro
| Ia nothing ut fundamental variance in 30 doing
with the theory or practice Of onr fratornal
private citizen to undertake, and it requires
| the combined efforts and capital Of Thousands
Of citizons to conduct it. Moreover, thoy still
cannot undertake 1t until tho political corpora
| ton grants them corporate priyiloeos md
powers, md ozgunizos thcm into qiasi form
Of Government modelled olosely after tho
political form. They must be invested with
a name and seal, a1d dirested Of a
| conscience and soul. They work undeT chnr-
tor, and employ the official organization In great
part OF a political corporation, as vol as many
Of it's powers and prlvilogoa. It is improper to
call such artificial machinery "prlvato onter-
prise" or private effort "a it is nothing Of the
sort. Private enterprise ia thai which is poc1-
liar to one's self, uuoonnectel with othore Bop
| crate, Individual.
It is just as much "privato enterprise" for
the people through ono OF their political cor
porations, National, stato, or Municipal, to
operate postal telegraphy as for several thousand
| persona organized rs tho WeBtorn Union Corpor-
ation under uuas-politicel oAartexa to do it, be-
cause the shareholders III oithor Corporation
| must furniBI tho capital, employ Boards OF Di-
rcctors, Suporintendents, servants, agents, and
exports, to manage tho business.
THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE.
! OF corporations il in tho motive aud purpose OF
tie respective members. tho auasi-politicaI cor
poration undertakes tho blauegs and Furnishes
tho capital for tho snko Of tho anticipated profits
ever they please Tor tleir services. Whereas the
political corporation undertake it for the sake