The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-27

inequalities in the Furniture Exposition
building. BY tomorrow it is expected
there will be 200 more delegates present
making the convention one Of the largest
ever held by the league.
An address Of welcome by Mayor Palmer
Of Grand Rapids opened the morning ses-
sion. This was followed by an address by
President Charles S. Ashley, mayor Of
New Bedford, Mass. Mr.: Ashley said that
much thought and discussion had been
given to the subject of municipal admins
tration by the members Of the league and
they had been the cause, of provoking
concentrated attention to the question Of
municipal ownership. Continuing on this
topic he said: ,.
Home rule for cities; no dependency
Of the city upon the state should be in
sisted on. Each municipality should be
law unto itself upon matters purely 10
cal. We should have a right to own and
control the public utilities.
II ask you to note that say have the
right to own,' for I do not undertake to
say that at this time in every community
it would be a feasible thing to exercise
that right but in the very nature of things
it is a privilege which we should not be
longer denied.
Competition in the products Of the
public service corporations, to often means
that consolidation will follow and the con-
sumer eventually pay all the bills. Pure
monopoly means that the price demanded
will be far beyond the fair capacity of the
debtor to pay. Regulated monopoly
through the instrumentality of the state Is
a farce and practically amounts to legal
lied bunco. ,'-.
"The right. to enter into the field with
municipal ownership provides means of
saying to the oppressor, be square and de-
cent with us and we will pay proper
price to you; If not we ourselves will pay
to ourselves, buy of ourselves and the
amount expended will be that which Is of
itself right, and not what you extort.
"This would come pretty near being
regulation that would regulate and the
regulator is the party naturally and right
fully the one to do It. An experience of
eight years in the mayoralty has brought
me face to face with the state and its
servants as we'll as with the great com
panies and their officers; am referring
to the arbitrary acts of great organiza-
tions; to unreasonable schedules and ra tes
of charges; to high prices and poor SER
vice; to everlasting greed, big profits and
soft snaps. If it Is true that an indi-
vidual or firm is entitled to only what is
fair as a return on q business investment
it is equally true that great corporations
| which exist by the license of the state and
are the creatures entirely Of the law, have
no inherent right to receive more thar
what is right and just. a~. ..4.' T. S .e
| "Great public utility monopolies are
fertile in resources and learned in trick
cry. The field being granted to then
ostensibly to protect the people from the
ultimate. results Of competitive warfare
the supply Of water being enormous te
make large dividend shrink to figure.
nominally respectable, the bond issues be-
+ ing foated, and all the machinery and de.
vices for concealing assets having. beer
set in motion, the state in its wisdom
creates It's boards and bureaus to restrict
regulate and control.
"And the quality Of this supervision /.