The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-11-16
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
How 1t WOrks-Reduces Exuenae md
Enftches the PeOple-Read and
Think,

Many an opponent of municipal own
ership is like the man who liked prose
all his life without knowing it.
The benefits of municipal ownership
can be seen in every city. In fact, if it
were not for the amount of municipal
socialism that now exists, life in the av-
erage city would be impossible.
Yet the individualists will strut up
and down these cities declaring that
municipal ownership is an impractical.
BILE dream. q
AS Sidney Webb says, in his book ON
Socialism in England"
"The individualist city alderman will
walk along the municipal pavement, lit
by municipal gas, and cleaned by mu-
nicipal brooms, with municipal water,
and seeing by the municipal clock on
the municipal city hall, that he is too
early to meet his children coming from
the municipal school, and the municipal
gymnasium, near by the municipal asy-
the national telegraph system to tell
them not to walk through the municipal
park to listen to the municipal band, but
to come by the municipal street car,
around by the municipal lodging house,
to meet him in the municipal reading
room, close by the municipal art gal
lery, where he intends to consult some
of the national hand books in order to
prepare his next speech in favor of ma
tional ownership of railways and canals
:" Self help, sir, self help; that's what
has made our city what it is
And so Mrs. Stetson says:
1--WE shut our eyes and call it night;
We grope and fall in seas Of light"
Municipal ownership is no longer an
experiment. There are already 337 busi-
nesses conducted by municipal and ma
tional governments, and 225 that are
controlled or regulated.
New York city alone, in 1893, possess
ed property worth $56O,0O0, 900. without
including streets, sewers, and bridges.
1t owns 300 large buildings.
No one for a moment wishes to adver-
tise New York as model city, but con-
slider what an inferno it would be IL its
parks and bridges, and streets, and fire
departments, and schools, and hospitals,
etc., were owned and managed for profit
by corporations
There is scarcely any kind of business
that is not managed in some country by
the government.
In France there are municipal pawn
shops, where the highest rate is 12 per
cent. The profits are spent for charity
or are given to the hospitals. They
were first established in I777, so they are
no new experiments.
Two of these pawnshops, at Montpe-
lier and Grenoble, are endowed, and
charge no interest-at all.
l would suggest that when Rockefeller
and Carnegie have endowed sufficient
colleges and libraries that they set the
fashion OF endowing pawn shops and
poor houses for the worthy poor" of
America.
GLASGOW has municipal institution
called the Family Home" for widow
ers who have been left with families of
small children. At very small cost.
the children receive all the care thew
had received at their own homes, and
often more. There are at present over
400 in this institution.
In Liverpool the municipal flower de-
partment sends two window boxes of
flowers to every citizen who sends his
name and address. The boxes are to be
placed outside the house, where they
can be seen by the passers-by, and they
do much to relieve the dingy appearance
of the city.
In $50 German towns and cities there
are public telephones, and the cost per
year is only $36, about 5000 less than in
New York.
In Sweden there are also public tele.
phones, and the cost is $40 year.
The Saxon government in Germany
owns and conducts the Leipziger Zeit
ung, daily newspaper.
Berlin, Germany has municipal sew
erage farm, which contains 30 suuare
miles. It is worked by criminals
chiefly, and is beginning to pay sur
plus revenue.
In New Zealand each large town con-
tains bureau of industries at which
any unemployed worker can get infor
nation as to wages and employment in
other parts of the country. This in
formation is given free of charge, and
in 1893 nearly 1000 men were put in the
way of employment.
In 1890 80 cities in Great Britain
owned their street railways. The prof
its from these in 1893 amounted to So
S42, 1000.
Glasgow, London, and other cities
have successful municipal lodging
houses; and many cities have torn down
slum districts, and built comfortable
houses, which they rented FOR very little
more than the private landlords had
| charged for the slums.
Dublin built block of dwellings for
| I C00 noOn1o af a cOct Of &c00 C(10 and