Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1899-06-01
FAR BEHIND THE TIMES.
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP MOVE
MENT IN THIS COUNTRY.
fhs United states. Bolivia aud HOnduras,
tho Only Three Countries of Civilized
World In which Private Individuaia
Control the Telegraph Lines

The New York Times recently made
the following utteranceA in an editor
Ial upon municipal ownership; "Mun-
lcIpal ownership OF public utilities has
become fad with certain half-baked
college professors and slim'minded
young men who have taken up the
study OF the problems OF city govern
eminent from sense OF what they are
Iond OF calling civic duty, Telephones,
Ielcgraphs, gas and electric light
works, street railways nre
not properly subjects OF municipal
ownership control and operation"
To this the New York Voice replies
rs follows; without entering now
into discussion OF the merits or de-
merits Of the system Of municipal
ownership, attention ought 10 be call
ed TO n few OF the many facts which
60 TO show either the Times was speak
ing with undue rashness and In disro-
gard OF the facts, or else that "hAlf-
baked college professors and slim
minded young men" have most won
derful following in tho prosperous
municipalities OF Europe, and that
their views have been substantially
adopted, In many respects, by the
leading governments OF the world,
In Great Britain, municipal owner
ship, whether fad Of the "half-
baked" and "slim.minded," or other
wise, is no longer theory, but has for
years been nm accomplished fact The
city OF Manchester has owned It's gas
works for moro than 90 years, aud al-
though furnishing gas at less than
half the rate paid In the average city
Of the United States is laying aside
net profit Of over 5000, 900 per year;
End Birmingham, charging even less
rate, or SOC per thousand cubic feet,
clears an annual profit Of S35O,OOO,
Glasgow not only owns and operates
lis gas works, and has done 30 for
thirty years butsupplies cooking stoves
mitItse for the consumption Of its gas
10 consumers, and lights the common
halls OF apartment houses free. II also
operates through It's municipal author
tiles the manufacture and distribution
Of electric light and power, and since
1894 has operated its street railroads,
giving halfpenny or cent fare for n
miles ride, with an even cheaper rate
upon long routes in the hours Of work.
ingmen's travel.
But these cities arc not alone among
British cities. Under an act OF par
lament passed almost thirty years
Igo, one.thrd Of the mileage of all the
street railroads of Great Britain Ia
now owned by the municipalities, and
rs fast as franchises terminate NUM-
pal control is being taken OF other
Inca Nor is Great Britain alone in
lis devotion to the ideas OF "half-bolsed
college professors, In Germany there
Is believed to be no exception to the
rule that the municipalities own and
control their water works, instead OF
being at the mercy of private corpora
lions, as are many American cities, for
one OF the prime necessities Of life; and
two-thirds Of the larger cities OF Ger
many own and control their own gas
works also, with much more satsfac-
tory results than are obtained by
American cities under the system Of
corporate ownership here In vogue
And II Is also worth while as u side
light upon the theories OF the ''slim-
minded" to notice that today the Unit
ed States stands with Bolivia and Hon.
duras as the three countries of the civ
ilized world that allow the telegraph
system to be controlled by private cap
ital; while the citizens of this free
country pay for the use Of telephones
owned by private corporations twice,
thrice and even, in instances, ten times
as much as the people of Germany,
France, Great Britain, Switzerland,
Belgium and Austria pay for better
service under government ownership
| and control.