Omaha daily bee., 1894-08-28
MUNICIPAL oTNbRsHlP.

The embodiment into the state platform of
one Of the principal political parties Of Me-
braska Of a declaration in favor OF municipal
ownership Of street cars. gas and electric
lighting plants and water works must be
taken as an indication OF the great growth
of the popular interest in this question.
Municipal ownership whenever brought for
ward as definite proposition is always a
purely local issue. peculiar to the cities and
towns. Yet no municipality can undertake
to conduct any enterprise of this character
without first securing enabling legislation
from the legislature. SO that to this extent
the broader question becomes necessarily
state issue.
The drift toward municipal ownership in
this country has been quite perceptible in re-
cent years although 1t has been extremely
irregular and has been confined to but two
or three features of municipal service. City
owned water works are almost as common
here as abroad. about half the water works
in the United States being publicly owned.
while the proportion OF people served
by public and private works Is still more in
favor Of the former. This is explained by
many by the fact that the earlier water
works systems were built before the great
development of the speculative stock COM
pany when the municipality was the only
party able and willing to undertake the i'm
provement, and that the precedent thus set
has had a considerable influence Gas
works in the American cities on the other
hand, are usually private concerns operating
under express franchises, there being less
than a dozen which are managed directly
by the municipal government. Street rail-
ways were developed at time when the in
dustrial corporation reached the height OF its
power and as consequence they are with
but one exception universally owned by pri-
vate companies in all the American cities.
The introduction Of electric lighting, still
later in point of time came just at the
turning point in the agitation for municipal
| ownership. Electric lighting therefore has
been field most hotly contested and a field
in which experiments with public plants
| have been numerous and for the most part
| entirely successful.
Along with this movement there have been
| many attempted compromises between the
| two contending forces and many devices by
which the conduct of these enterprises has
been left in private hands upon conditions
intended to protect the public and to give
the public an adequate return for the valuable
privileges conferred. These have generally
| taken the form of a premium for the fran
| chise a division of profits, or desig-
| mated share of gross receipts for the city,
| Many OF these arrangements are proving
fairly satisfactory and the franchised cor
porations, needing the warning cry for
municipal ownership, are becoming more
willing to consider propositions of this kind
| 1t is certain that the sentiment is strongly
against any more free grants OF unconditional
franchises to corporations for the mere ask
ing. Municipalities will hereafter insist
upon a just compensation for the use OF their
streets for these municipal services. Whether
that compensation shall be derived through
municipal ownership or through grants o
conditional franchises to private parties
each city will have to determine as the oc
casion arises.