The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1903-03-11


1t seems that the Glasgow expert
ment, to whom many hopeful Social
lists have heretofore pointed with
pride, has turned out thus early to
be little better than costly failure.
AS the intelligent reader knows, the
Scottish metropolis has "muniei-
palized" more industries than any
other city. Even the friends and
advocates OF ''municipalization"
admit that Glasgow has "overdone
good thing, with the result of
greatly increasing the dead weight
of debt and taxes upon its citizens,
while few or none of the municipal
industries pay, if profit be calcu-
lated in the manner customary with
private firms"
The News does not pretend to be a
prophet, but if the calculations
found in these columns some years
ago relating to the outcome of this
heroic work of the politicians are
now recalled it will at least be found
that time has fully verified their
correctness. If there is anything
that strikes the fancy of the thought
less 1t is novelty, and scheme to
relieve man of the old, old duty of
paying taxes naturally touches the
heart; hence, thousands of people
are ready to believe in and approve
new method like that hit upon by
the politicians of Glasgow. They
find it easy to believe anything that
they prefer TO believe.
1.-The corporation of Glasgow sup
plies it's citizens" says a cores
pendent of the London Times, with
water, gas, electric lights, tramways
and telephones; it controls eleven
public parks and galleries, thirteen
baths and washhouses, a fruit and
vegetable market, two foreign cat
tie markets, a cheese market, a
bird and dog market and an old
clothes market, four slaughter
houses and offices, four hospitals
and one burying ground; it is the
owner of 2,4SS municipal houses,
seventy eight lodginghouses (of
which IT manages seven itself fam
lily homes also managed by the cor
porationD, 372 shops, forty-nine
stores, forty-three warehouses,
workshops twelve halls, two
churches, two hotels, one theater,
one studio, one pawn office, one
nursing home, one powder mill, one
panorama (site), one laundry, one
bakehouse, one golf course and one
gospel tent; ii farms over 600 acres
of land, where large crops are grown
including all the hay used in the
stables of the cleansing department,
as we'll as large crops of oats,
wheat, turnips, etc. it converts the
it sells to the farmers for manure
il carries on business as market
gardener; it possesses stone quar-
ries and has 900 railway wagons; il
builds tramcars, reclaims boys, con-
ducts a civic gTanary; raises 81 ,0N
year on the clinker from the re-
fuse-cremating furnaces, collects
and sells waste paper, and is not
above melting and disposing of the
solder from the old tin cans 1t finds
in the dust heaps-all these things
being done or supervised, in their
leisure time, by the miscellaneous
group of persons who constitute the
Glasgow corporation"
All this reads well enough, but
only a little common sense and
knowledge of politics is required to
enable one to see that these lines
are apt 10 be neglected or poorly
managed, and that for the city to
take over all kinds of private bust
ness is for the city to deprive tax
payers, upon whom it must at last
rely. of any means of paying taxes.
So we are .old even thus early that
&he taxpayers supply the capital for
these various enterprises, but they
begin to grulnble and affirm that
their affairs are wastefully managed
that the managers are incompetent
finaneiers, and that they are max.
ing losses right straight along. Cap
ital expenditure has grown from
$3.50 900 in lSS7-lSSs to s. $50 600 in
| lgOO-l90l, though annual revenu,
| has little more than doubled in thai
time. The assessable rental has in
creased from SIG, S22 $40 to ga ,7G4
$50, but debt has increased from S2G
900, 900 to s64 ,0O0, 200.
1t was claimed at the outset tina
the investments by the city in vari
Gus kinds Of industrial plants wouli
reduce rates, would relieve the tax
payer entirely, and a preposterou
report went the rounds of the Amer
lean press TO the effect that such n
vestn-ents had already worked
miracle OF this kind. The truth