The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1900-07-07
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP.

tric-light plant.
Carlisle, KY, Is considering the con-
struction Of waterworkh
Franklin, Tenn, is thinking Oh
sDending 5000 for waterworks.
WaynesviIle, N. c., win have a city
waterworks and electric-light plant
An ordinance has been introduced IN
the Kansas City council for the ex-
penditure Of ;l25.ooo in the building
or purchase Of an electric light plant
In buying the water plant from .
private company the first thing Taile
dega, Ala, will do Is to spend t15,OOo
In oyerhauling It and installing an
electric-light plant This through the
incentive of public ownership! Do you
see II, Mr.. Privateincentive?
France has municipal savings banks
In 45s towns and cities. They have
5000 900 depositors and over $3.50. OoO'-
900 on deposit. Besides Offering the
depositors an absolutely safe bank they
effect a great saving to the cities.
which are thus better able to borrow
money for municipal improvements.
A London cablegram to the St. Louis
Post Dispatch says: "A movement has
been started by the London munich
palities to follow the example Of Glas-
gov and Nottingham to insure them
selves municipality. Fifty-hve out OF
seventy-six local authorities In Lon
don pay s5S,000 annually to IRE in
surance premiums on municipal prop
erty, while the total Losses by IRE In
i've years have only been $4,000. The
scheme is to pay the amount Of the
last Eve years premiums into a COM
mon fund, the, eater an infnitesinal
annual contribution being suficient to
provids Ssains! loss.
The net income NJ the Toledo. Ohio,
waterWorks department during the last
fiscal year, recently closed, was 81
6S0.S5 over any previous year. The
net total profit of operation was s9c,-
243.71. not counting sS3.145.7i turned
over to the sinking fund trustees for
interest. All this is public money still
In the public hands, not in the private
pockets Of some capitalists. In ad-
dition-which you can wager would
have mostly been in subtraction under
private ownership-oyer 154 miles Of
new pipe were laid and thirty-six new
hydrants were put in to each four
miles Of pipe laid the previous year
as a Toledo paper says, every de-
partment of expense shows that the
waterworks people have been very
busy in making necessary improve
ments for the city"
The bureau maintained by the hold
ers Of public franchises for the pur-
pose Of discouraging municipal owner
ship in this country has been talking
about the Anticipated" street railway
system owned by Nottingham. Eng
land. The bureau has been extremely
careful hot to tell the whole truth. The
system is fearfully Anticipated because
1t was lately owned by a private COM
pany. As soon as the municipality as
sumed control large number of new
employees were given work and new
cars and horses were purchased. These
improvements were pending a change
to modern system Of electricity
which will give Nottingham heavenly
service compared to the old private re-
gime. To quote the words Of the U. S.
consul at Nottingham June Consular
Reports, page 1870: mo expense viii
eventually be spared in creating a
modern street railway system, with a
central depot and adequate suburban
service"
Nicaragua must be the richest coun-
try on earth. Dispatches tell how the
people down there have put a tariff on |
American goods that will make them |
all very wealthy. The duty on whisky |
Is S1s a gallon: on a SIS enameled |
1t Is $50; on a 81 ice box it
Is $4S; on butter. 40 cents. As the
foreigners pay the tariff in this coun-
Try. so the foreigners must pay the |
tariff, and such a tariff 4
will soon make all the people down
here rich II they are wise enough to
import enough goodsi That is what
he Republicans taught me when was
'ne Of that party-that tariff was paid
BY the foreigners and protected the
American laborers. It certainly must I
work the same way In Nicaragua. Or
Use the Republicans lied to me.