El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-02-27
Public Ownership.

Buffalo Express.
In his address on Monday night Ma
yor Jones of Toledo made this remark
"The imperative demand is that we
shall set ourselves to the task OF so
changing our system that, through the
medium of public ownership, the
wealth of the people may again come
into the hands of those who have pro-
duced it, and the realization of the
dreams of our forefathers shall be full
filled, and we shall have the perfected
repub bile in which every man shall be
secure in the possession of the fruit of
the labor of his hands,"
This is an optimistic view OF the
possibilities of the future. The owner
ship of certain natural monopolies by
the public would be advisable and
button of wealth. But it is very doubt
full If perfect republic would
be attained, or whether every man
would be secured In the possession of
the fruit of his labor. Neither
the institution of private property nor
the socialization of industries can be
depended upon to produce ideal results
in q world made up of very imperfect
individuals. 1t is well for the advocates
opolies to temper their enthusiasm
somewhat and not to expect the i'm
possible. 1t is we'll to look at this
whole subject in the spirit of opportun-
ism.
Wherever conditions seem to be
ripe for taking an industry out OF the
hands of private owners and putting 1t
under the care of the city or the nation
let the experiment be made. In Buff
falo, for instance, interest now centers
in the proposed installation OF mu-
nicipal gas plant. The transforms
ton of that in dustry alone would beta
great undertaking. So the as
sumption of the telegraph service by
the national government In connection
with the postoffice department would
be an important change. If these in
dustries should be taken over by the
public, time would be necessary to get
them in smooth running order. Then
the lessons taught by them could be
utilized when other experiments should
be made. 1t is sometimes forgotten
that all governmental agencies are
burdened with great deal of work
and that a gradual development in
efficiency is imperative. Even when
every natural monopoly should be in
the hands of the public there still
would be people out of employment and
many men would be working for pri-
vate employers at low wages.
ship is not that it would produce the
millennium, but that it would give to
cities the management of those func.
tions in which practically all citizens
are directly interested. In
other words, the people through
their representatives would do their
own business and reap their own pro-
fits. Every line of work cannot be
done on that principle. The dividing
line must be determined by expedien
cy. Managed by the city, municipal
industries probably woold be econo-
mical to the people, but, at all events,
dividendss would not be paid on excess
sive issues of stock to private individu-
ais. Another result, referred to by
Mayor Jones, would be more certain.
Municipal ownership would arouse civic
patriotism, because every citizen
would have larger interest in the
government of the city. Capitalists
would think more of the permanent
welfare of the community than they
possibly can while they are stockhold-
ers in lighting and traction companies.
Mayor Jones did we'll to lay much
,stress upon this aspect of the question.
1t is the sentimental side of municipal
ownership, but it has weight.