The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-08
Municipal Ownership.

| muntcfpni
One of the questions which is being dis
cussed a great deal. both in this country
/ and Europe, is the advisability of cities
/ owning street car lines and lighting and
water works plants. one the one hand IL
is claimed that a city can provide street
car service and supply light and water to
its citizens at much less cost to them than
the same things can be supplied by prl-
! vate companies. 1t Is understood, of
course, that the quality of the articles fur
nished by the city is in every respect as
good as that of the articles supplied by
private corporations.
In this country and Europe there are
many cities which have had experience in
municipal ownership in lighting plants or
water works. or in both, and in Great
Britain a few cities have had experience
in municipal ownership Of street car lines.
The conclusions drawn from these expe-
riences are so different that 1t is still an
open question whether or not municipal
ownership of these things is advisable.
Mr.. Robert Porter. who has been making
an investigation of these matters, had an
article in a recent Issue of the New York
Sun, in which he stated some rather in
teresting facts. We call attention to them
because the ACCESSIBILITY of purchasing an
electric lighting plant for this city is be
ing considered by the city council. Speak
ing of the ownership of electric lighting
plants by cities In Great Britain, he said:
At the close of 1895 there were about 12O
electric lighting plants in operation, and
of this number the cities owned about
pTtVatp companies ABOUT
fifty. l was told of dozen or more towns
that originally started In the electric
lighting business, but subsequently, decid-
| ed to transfer the business to private COM
| panies. To offset this, we have perhaps
half the number of cities where the re-
verse has taken place.
The comparison of the municipality own
| ed electric lighting plants with those own
| ed by private companies has brought forth
no startling results in favor of the former
| that is, in England. A fair statement
! of the results would be that the privately
! owned companies have been the more en-
! terprising, giving the best and most eff
! cient service, while the munich
palities charge or cents
| per unit less for the current.
! When carefully weighed, however, the re-
| suits about balance. 1t must be distinctly
| understood that this article is in no sense
| a plea in favor of private ownership and
| against municipal ownership of certain
classes of undertakings. The object is
! simply to get at the facts in relation TO
| these matters-facts which have been so
distorted by those advocating municipal
| ownership that 1 believe the time has
| come to clear the way for a fair discus
! sion based on facts not assumptions.
Half the water works of England are
! owned by private companies and half by
| local authorities; two-thirds of the gas
! plants by private companies and one-third
| by local authorities; about So per cent. OF
! the electric lighting plants by local au-
| thorities and AZ per cent. by private com
| panes. OF 1909 miles of tramWays, less
| than 100 miles are owned and operated by
| the municipalities. OF the total mileage,
! 335 miles of track is owned by local au-
| thorities and leased to private companies,
| which operate them, paying the cities for
| the privilege of running over their tracks.
! A dispassionate view of the facts indi-
! cate that the question of municipal or pri-
! vate ownership of the four classes of
| profit-making undertakings we have dis
cussed is still a debatable question, even
in England While much can be said in
favor of Individual instances on both
sides of the question, the data at present
| obtainable are entirely insufficient to war
rant the dogmatic statement INDUCED In
by the friends of municipalization of
great industrial undertakings.
1t would be a safe conclusion, probably
that if politics could be kept in the back
ground it would be cheaper, and, as gen.
eral thing, better for a city to supply it
self and it's citizens with water and light,
but the trouble is the management of the
| plants is likely to fall under political in
fluences. In that case inferior men are
chosen to operate them. The service be-
comes bad and the plants are not kept in
repair. AS a consequence, the cost to the
people of water and light is greater than
companies.