The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1904-02-11
Judge {. r. Dunno Speaks on "Munic-
ipaI Ownership" to Large Crowd
at Congregational Church.
PRIVATE OWNERSHIP MUST FAL.
Eloquent Speaker Presents Rights of the
Public In Very Attractive Manner
Gives Figures That Tell.

The Hon. e. +. Dunno, Judge OF the
Circuit court of Cook county, ILL.,, and
famous as an advocate of municipal
ownership of public utilities, was the
guest of honor at dinner given at the
Congregational church Friday night
by the mems league of the church.
After the dinner was over Judge Dunno
delivered noteworthy address on his
favorite topic.
For years the Judge has been stud
ent of the theory of municipal owner
ship and in pursuit of his study he has
made the widest investigation of pub
lie and private ownership IN this and
other countries. For this reason he
spoke as one having authority and his
utterances carried great weight with
the one hundred and fifty men and wo-
men that listened to the eloquent
speech. The mayor presided at the
meeting and the members of the Com
mon Council attended in body.
In prefacing his remarks Judge
Dunno spoke of the fact that the
United States was far behind other
countries in the matter of municipal
ownership. He spoke of the fact that
every one of the leading cities of Italy,
England, Germany and of the Scanda-
navian countries had de1ved deep into
municipal ownership and had made it
a paying investment. He spoke of the
| fact that there are only three civilized
countries in the world that did not own
and operate their own telephones and
all of these countries were on the
Western hemisphere. He spoke of the
work that had been done by these mu.
nicipal compa MES and showed by fig
ures that the reduction in prices had
been SO great as to save the people Of
the countries of the old world millions
OF dollars year. He spoke Of munic-
ipa1 water systems and showed that
the rate charged the people in towns
WI. ere the municipality owned the water
| system was just about one half the rate
charged by the private companies. He
spoke of one thing that was particular
| ~ interesting to Kenosha people and
that was the results attained by the
municipal ownership of gas plants. He
cited a dozen examples ia the cities of
the United States in which municipal
gas plants had reduced the rates for
illuminating and fuel gas and found
that the average rate, where the city
owned the plant, was only hfty-two
cents per thousand, while the average
in cities where private plants existed
was over a dollar per thousand. He
found that the same figures prevailed
in regard to electric lighting plants.
Much of the address was given to
the discussion of the conditions in
Chicago and the municipal ownership
of electric railways. He compared the
prices charged in Chicago with those
charged in other countries and made a
telling argument in favor of the cities
owning the railways. He 4 ave a great
deal of interesting information in re-
gard to the value of the Chicago Trac-
ton company's plants showing that B.
J. Arnold, the president of the Keno
sha railway company, had sent an ex-
pert report to the Council Of Chicago
showing that the tangible property of
all the traction companies was valued
at only $27, 100000, while the capital
stock of the companies was over $117,-
OOO, 900. All of this profit he claimed
could be turned into the city and in
this way the taxes could be greatly re.
duced.
After the address of Judge Dunno
| Judge Slosson, the new president of
the club, made few remarks and the
meeting closed with social hour.