Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1898-12-01
NOT AN EXPERIMENT.
EXAMPLES OF MUNICIPAL OWN
ERSHIP IN EVERY TOWN,
Streets, School Houses, Parks, Libraries,
Hospitals, Jails and Other Public
Buildings, are Familiar Examples OF
Municipal Ownership.

NIL his life without IL.
The benefits OF municipal ownership
can be seen in every city In fact, Il
ltwere not for the amount OF Municipal
Socialism that now exists, life In the
average city would be impossible
Yet the indlviduallsts will strut ur
and down these cities declaring that
municipal ownership is an impractlca-
bic dream
AS Sidney Webb says, in his book on
Socialism In Englund;"
1.-THE individualist city alderman
will walk along tho municipal pave
ment, lit by municipal gas, and clean
ed by municipal brooms, with mum
cipal water, and seeing by the NUM-
cipal clock on the municipal city hall,
that he is too early TO meet his child
rem coming from the municipal school
and municipal gymnasium, near by the
municipal asylum and municipal hos
pital, will use the national telegraph
system TO tell them not TO walk
through the municipal park, TO listen
to tho municipal band, but to come by
the municipal strect.car, around by
the municipal lodging-house, to meet
him in the municipal reNding-room,
close by the municipal gallery, where
he intends TO consult some of the ma
tional hand books, in order TO prepare
his next speech in favor OF national
ownership OF railways and canals.
"Self-help, sir, individual self-help,
hats what has made our city what 1t
B."
And so Mrs. Stetson says;
'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
businesses conducted by municipal and
national governments, and 225 that
ire controlled or regulated.
New York alone, in 1903, possessed
property worth $56O,OOO,OOO, without
inSluding streets, sewers and bridges
II owns over 900 large buildings
No one for moment wishes to adj
vertise New York MS model city, but
consider what an inferno 1t would be
II its parks, and bridges, and streets,
and fire departments, and schools, and
hospitals, etc, were owned and man
aged for profit by corporations.
There is scarcely business Of any
kind that is not managed in some
country by the government,
In France there are municipal pawn
shops, where the highest rate is 19
per cent The profits are spent for
charity, or are given to hospitals.
They were first established in Paris in
I777, so they are no new experiments.
Two OF these pawn-shops at Mont
pelier and Grenoble, are endowed, and
charge no interest at ALL
l would suggest that when Rookie
Teller and Carnegie have endowed suf-
hciOnt colleges and libraries, that they
set the fashion of endowing pawn.
shops and poor houses for the worthy
Door" of America.
Glasgow has municipal institution
called the "Family Home" for widow
ers who have been leltwith families Of
small children, At q very small cost
the children receive all the care they
had received in their own homes and
often more. There are at present over
100 in this institution.
In Liverpool the municipal flower
department sends two window-boxes
Of flowers to every citizen who sends
his name and address. These boxes
are to be placed outside the houses,
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 telephone and the cost per
year is only $50, about 5000 less than
in New York.
In Sweden there are also public tele-
phones and the cost is $40 year.
Tho Saxon government, in Germany,
owns and conducts the Leipziger Zeit-
Jung, daily newspaper
Berlin, Germany, has municipal
sewage farm, which contains 80 square
miles. 1t is worked by criminals chief
ly, and is beginning to pay surplus
revenue.
In New Zealand, each large town
contains bureau Of industries, at
which any unemployed worker can get
information as to wages and employ
ment in other parts of tho country
This information is given free of
charge, and in 1893 nearly 1000 men
were put in way Of employment
In 1890 thirty-two cities in Great
Britain owned their street railways.
The profits from these in 1893 amount
ed to 80, $4,000.
Glasgow, London, and other cities
have successful municipal lodging