The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1900-07-06

boVu 5of'liitiiCilt dit llpl tue rdlOOil-. :.
the dives, the dcus OF iniquity and
the criminals.
These are the result of laxncss in
enforcing police laws. The laxness
Us the natural result Of incompetent
Officials.
Most of our trouble can be traced
TO the temptations which are offered
to city officials when franchises are
sought by wealthy corporations, or
CONTRACTS are to be let for public
works. Honest men will not grant
a franchise without adequate return
10 the people III the shape of rea-
|sonable fares or rates.
Therefore, corporations seeking
franchises find it necessary to elect
dishonest men to public office.
When they succeed, the incompe-
ltence OF their creatures in pubic Of
Ifice naturally breeds incompetence
lin the administration OF the police
and other laws. So it is, say, that
We have not been placing the blame
for bad municipal government where
'it befongs-namely, upon those
lseeking franchises and other special
privileges, without honest return to
the people.
think many have clearly seen
the source Of the evil, but have not
cared to take the consequences of an
exposure Of it. do not say this in
q spirit OF hostility to wealth; far
from it. | have references to the
abuses Of the power which wealth,
and especially the wealth which cor
operations without consciences and
without souls, possess.
know that the answer which is
nade 70 this is that private corpor-
ations seeking public franchises can
not get fair treatment, because the
lcla . OF men who are poYe full iu
Iponrics and city councils "hold them
iup,' as the phrase goes.
They say they cannot get these
franchises upon fair terms withou,
buying them. That If politics we're
clean, and honest men placed in Of
fee, they would be we'll satisfied
with any franchises which such pub,
lie officials would, in spirit Of fair,
ness, grant them. ! contend tina,
this position is a false one. l as
sert, in the first place, that privil-
eges which are commonly asked fol
from city councils are not fair to The
people. The corporations applying
for the franchises do not propose tc
lgive the people a fair return for the
privileges contained in the fran
lchises.
/ This is true of wnter-works franch
lises, electric light franchises, street
railway franchises, telephone fran
chises and any other franchise:
(which involve the use Of the streets
which belong to the entire people
1t is common knowledge that pri
lvate corporations applying for these
franchises endeavor to secure tht
privileges of charging rates higl
enough to return dividends OF {
large per cent. upon not only th,
capital actually invested in the plan
itself, bat also upon large quantities
Iof "watcr" capitalization.
The movement for municipal ow
Inership Of public utilities surel,
means something. 1t has grown
with amazing rapidity. In fact, il
a large number of our best cities i
is the controlling issue in municipa
Ipolitics.
j Its further growth cannot b.
lchecked so long as private corpora
ltions, made up Of men to whom III,
public have a right to lcok for ex
amples Of integrity, employ all sorts
of questionable methods to secure
franchises, permitting them to charge
exorbitant prices for public service
such as light, water and transporta
Ition. The sentiment for municipal
Ownership is a natural result OF tho
abuse Of the franchise privileges b,
lprivatc companies.
i People are coming to believe tha,
avarice aud greed and ambition t
make money will always rule in thu
management Of these quasi-publi'
enterprises.
! For that reason the sentiment TO
municipal ownershipis looked upor
Ia a permanent thing. In othe
words, it is getting more Difficult
every day to make people believ'
that it will ever be possible to &c
the same good results out Of thes
|pubtic utilities, for the benefit Of tn
|entire people, under private owner
'lship as under public ownership.
il Stage mauager--"By jove, there