The Advocate and news., 1898-10-19

are being taken to gain possession OF tho
other public service plants.
The Wellington, New Zealand, Clly
Council has imported a dynamo, decid-
ing to run the electric lighting Of the
free public library. itself, the charges OF
the electrical syndicate per annum being
9110, while the Council can do the work
for G3O.
Many Swiss communities supply
school utensils and the means of instruc-
tion free In the canton of Zurich, OF
57,657 primary and grammar pupils, all
but 3,O16 enjoy this privilege; and in
the secondary grade it is extended to
5,812 pupils out of total Of 1895.
Glasgow has five large public bathing
houses, in which for the trifling sum Of
two pence an hour person is allowed
the use of a stall containing an improved
steam boiling arrangement and fixed
tubs with hot and cold water faucets
The city also conducts general laun-
dry business
Detroit owns its own waterworks, owns
and operates an electric lighting plant,
fixes the price of Illuminating gas at s.
and fuel gas at 80 cents per 1000 feet,
and has secured a Scent car fare during
working hours In an interesting ac-
count Of this progress in municipal So
cialism, Mayor Pingree declares that nc
one dreams Of returning to private own
ership.
In 1894, the Department Of the In
terror paid the Bell Telephone Co. an
average (including salary of woman op-
erator) Of $75 for each telephone. The
department put In a system of its own
140 lines connecting scattered buildings
in Washington-and the cost to the de-
partment now (including extra electri-
clan and help is only $1O.25 per tele-
phone.
wealth have succeeded In gaining con-
troll Of the political management Of mu-
nicipal affairs. If the city owned its
water, gas, electrical and other public
works, as well as its street car lines, the
saving per annum would amount to mil
lions, and might, in time, make 1t pos
sible to dispense with all direct taxation
besides removing the greatest source
and occasion Of corruption"
The dangers and possibilities Of evil
resulting from private ownership of all
the telegraph lines In the United States
is appalling, when considered In con-
nection with times of financial, social
or political peril. No private corpora
tion should have the power to pollute,
pervert or destroy the streams OF infor-
M q ttou M, which kha nanD1a v,o,1eA do
pend and the government act. The
postal telegraph is necessary to our ma
tiOnal welfare.-COngressman Gibson.
The testimony in favor of public own
ership Is the same everywhere. AT
Bradford, England where the gas works
were bought by the municipality in 1871,
the price Of gas has been reduced S6 per
cent. and $1,8OO,OOO turned into the
treasury. Under private ownership
that amount would have been turned
into private purse for the possessOr to
play aristocrat and exploit labor with.
This is a kind Of socialism that hurts
nobody. It limits the opportunities of
mOnopolists to rob the people, insures
more efficiency and greater economy,
and we are going to have more Of it,
The city of Macon, Ca, owns and op-
crates a farm. 1t contains sixty acres,
and is devoted to the raising of food for
the fifty horses and mules which the city
uses in Its works on the streets. These
animals are used for working the farm
when not otherwise employed. Hence
the cost Of the labor employed in plant
ing and harvesting is practically the
only expense. The forty acres which
were planted in oats yielded a crop Of
$500 bushels, valued at $3.50, while
$4,000 worth Of hay was obtained from
the other twenty acres. Formerly the
city rented the land at IS an acre, but
now its receipts are $50 an acre.
A writer in the Century says that "the
average English city spends about half
as much on its government as an Amer
ican city Of the same size, and gets about