The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-05-19
Many English Cities Own
Their Public Utilities.
ELIMINATION OF THE SLUMS
Local Interests Developed Under Official
Mansgement-Some Peculiar Lines of
Activity-GeneraI Approval of New
Century Methods.

as municipal trading OF, more correct
y, municipal socialism, is the subject
of a lengthy report to the State DEPART
ment by James Boyle, United States con-
sui at Liverpool Many pertinent facts
regarding public ownership of public util-
tiles are commented upon, in part, as fol-
lows:
Municipal socialism does not mean di-
vision Of private wealth or property
share and share alike but the owner
ship and operation Of certain undertake
lngs and enterprises On America general
" described as public utilities'O by the
municipality fer the public good, as
claimed As generally explained, the en-
teTpTises within the proper sphere of Tnu-
nicipal socialism are public necessities"
But here arises the question, Where is
the line 10 be DRAWN This line is by the
great majority OF advocates OF the system
drawn at those enterprises and under
takings which by their very nature are
essentially public OF semi-pubIic in their
functions and which are of necessity
mere OF less monopolies-as. for instance,
street railways, watcrworks gas lighting
electric lighting, and electric power In
cidenta lily, II may be mentioned that the
domain Of national socialism" has been
entered into by the British government
by its ownership of the telephone system
and movement has sprung up for the
naturalization Of the railroads, and even
OF the coal supply, as well as of storage
OF wheat for use in case OF war
In 1915 the capital invested in municipal
undertakings in Great Britain was S465.-
100000, while in 1900 it aggregated 81, 500
600. coo.
Cities Active N a Business Way
There are now in Great Britain s31 mu-
inequalities owning waterworks, 90 owning
the street railroads Cor 'tramways," as
they are called here. 24O owning the gas
works, and Isl supplying electricity. Most
Of these are in England Municipalities
were not allowed 70 work the tranaways
until 1886 II is estimated that half of the
gas users in England use municipal gas
In number Of plaCes-LiverpooI among
them-the municipalities supply electric
fly for lighting and power. while the gas
supply is still in the hands OF private cor
porations- In the case of Liverpool the
gas company is quite willing to sell to
the municipality but the latter will not
buy; first because under the charter of
the gas company the municipality would
be compelled TO pay q perpetual dividend
OF 10 per cent to the stockholders. and,
secondly, because it IS believed that in the
near future electricity will practically su-
peTsede gas as an illuminant
The municipalities of bennington and
Harrogate own Turkish baths. two OF the
best at present exciting il Great Britain,
and Harrogate also gives fireworks dis
plays at municipal cost Glasgow, like
Liverpool, owns its wateTWoTks and trans
and provides municipal lectures. Glasg
has quite recently reduced the fares on
the tram cars, so that there are now not
only half-penny Q-cent) fares, but dis
lance Of ~ miles can be travelled for 2
al nv f1r .v-s9g
probably shortly be introduced in Liver
pool. The transfer system, as prevail
Ing IN America, IS net used in Liverpool
nor in any other British municipality, so
far as I know Glasgow was the first city
20 establish a. municipal palace" Man
chester owns shares in its ship canal Out
Of its municipal tramway profits, Shelf
field has appropriated SIS, 600 for the cree
ton Of shops and business premises.
which it viii rent Quite recently, the
northern townships outside Of London
bought the welI-knoHn Alexandra Palace.
where the municipal authorities maintain
an auditorium and give organ recit2ls and
theatrical. military band, and variety en-
tertsinments cf ali sorts, and industrial
exhibitions.
Torqa2y Owls rabbit warren; CoIches-
ter Possesses an oyster fishery; St
Helen's "a chemical center in this con-
suIaT districtl supplies steTiIized milk:
Hull owns 3 G=emetorium; Doncaster and
Chester own race courses (the former ae-
tualiy managing the races; Bourne
mouth owns one Of the finest golf courses
IN Great Britain; West Ham, a borough
OF London. owns a stone-fag factory; and
Bradford owns a hoteI-as also does Ljv-
erpool Ton its Waterworks property in
Waies). Bristol has munieiPalized its
Seeks and harbor, at 2 cost Of between
,S1o. 000. 600 and $4,000. coo.
The Liverpool Dock System.
The docks Of Liverpool are municipal
lied II modified way. The system is Pc
culiar to Liverpool This vast estate,
valued at several hundreds OF millions Of
dollars, is administered by a public trust,
nearly all the members of which are
elected by those who pay dock duties, and
the profits, after deducting expenses and
payment of interest on capital account.
90 TO the Improvement. and TO the benefit
Of a private corporation. The probability
Is that the London docks will before many
years be managed under either the BTis-
tol or the Liverpool plan. NottiH CHAM,
n addition 70 owning parks, markets ar
tisan dwellings baths and a hospital. has
bought a castle and a forest and has a
natural history museum and a school Of
art and was the first municipality in Great
Britain 10 have university college. The
last item gives occasion for the statement /
that several English cities have within
the last year or so taken up the question
of local universities. Birmingham has es-
tablished one, and Liverpool will shortly
follow suit.
Liverpool is one Of the foremost cities
in municipal socialism It owns the wa :
teTworks (6ne Of the best system in the |
world: 1t operates the street cars; II sup
plies the electric light and power; it has
one OF the largest and best public bath
systems anywhere and proposes TO erect
the finest Turkish bath in Europe; IL pro-
Vides public IaundTies for the poor dis
tricts; Il furnishes flowers aud plants for
the windows in the slUms; it sells ster-
flied humanized milk for the children Of
the poor at cost price: it has 4 salaried
organist 70 play its famous municipal or
gan; it gives municipal lectures-and all |
these in addition TO the usual undertake
ings OF municipalities. such as parks with
concerts, technical schools, etc. But the
greatest socialIstic undertaking by the
Liverpool municipality is that Of proyid-
ing dwellings for the very poor. the dis !
possessed tenants Of demolished unsani-
taTy dwellings OF the slums.
Eliminating Bad Tenements.
The one great predominating question
IN connection with municipal socialism is
the housing question that is. the de-
molition Of "slums and unsanitaFy
dwellings anc the erection by the mu-
nc Il