The Advocate and news., 1898-08-10
municipal Ownership Necessary.


At the second annual convention OF
the League of American Municipalities
held at Detroit August Q, President Mac
Vicar, who is Mayor of Des Moines, took
a strong position in favor of municipal
ownership. in his annual address. In
part he said:
American cities must be made whole
some in every sense of the word. They
must, il such a thing be possible, be
made to conserve and not consume the
energies they draw from the country.
They must have no slums to pollute
the currents Of their own lives, and the
life Of the nation. The garbage Ques-
tiOn, the tenement question, the water
question, the franchise question, the
question Of parks, public baths, play
grounds and other means and instru-
ments of public health and recreation
must be studied in their larger relation
to the preservation Of the life and
health of our great republic
I'VE are at an early age of the
movement; the country has but recently
awakened to the need of it. Some of the
matters alluded to are for future gen.
erations to adjust.
"At the threshold Of the agitation we
are more concerned with the vital issue
Of the sovereignty of cities. 1t seems
necessary as a preliminary to eliminate
from our cities the private ownership Of
franchises for the monopolized use Of
the streets. The public must own and
operate all plants for the supplying Of
light and water. Probably it should ex-
tend its powers so as to take in street
railways, heating plants, telephone and
other means Of instrumental communi-
cations. At all events there must be an
end to the controlling and corrupting
of our city governments by those inter-
ested in the manipulation Of public COM
fort, even if the last vestige of private
ownership in them shall be uprooted.
If these valuable franchises, these splen-
did privileges, were reserved to the
cities, would not this source of Corup-
tiOn which has caused legislative bodies
to become by-wOrd among the people,
cease to exist?
ITO my mind it would be suicidal to
enlarge the functions of municipalities
without providing for the thorough ap-
plication Of the merit system in appoint
ments, promotions, and removals. We
who believe in municipal reform are in
the paradoxical position of proclaiming
that our cities are doing badly that
which they are doing, yet urging that
they assume new duties. But the logic
Of our contention is better than it seems.
Nothing could do more to bring out the
latent virtue Of the Indifferent citizen
than to freight the ship of state, al
ready as he fears, overloaded, with still
dearer interests. l am not afraid to
startle our money-making voters by pro-
duCing situation which will alarm
them into state Of perpetual political
vigilance. They need to be alarmed.
Arouse them to the seriousness of the
prevailing conditions, and the spasmOd-
ic energy which now cleans the Augean
stables of municipal corruption once in
ten or fifteen years will be harnessed by
unavoidable necessity for regular actv-
ity.
80 long as the corporate interests
operate these public utilities for pri-
Vate gain, just so long will we have un-
compromising opposition to civil SER
vice and good city government. Remove
first the incentive to this opposition,
which to my mind can be accomplished
by removing our public franchises from
the public mart and a new era will
dawn in which the best citizenship will
be the dominant force of municipal gov
ernment."