Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1905-03-04


tion. From out the ruins there is
rearing the framework of an cditicc
which may tyr,fy a new civilization.
The rcvolutloujsts are in absolute con
troll. yet their numbcrlcSS Victories have
been won without a blow struck in
anger.
| claim credit for Il discovery. The
United States is the most conservative
nation on the globe, and Great Britain
is the most radical We smile ut the
visionary and hesitate to grant his the
orics the favor of II bored tolerance
Great Britain elects him to office. in
dorScS and adopts his fancicS and by
the expenditure of countless millions
of treasure, willingly raised, transforms
his dreams into monumental and seem
ingly practical realities.
In more than 100 of the larger cities
of the United X Kingdom the right of pri-
vatc ownership in public utilities has
been repealed by legal cnactmcnts
Those of us whose knowledge of what
has happened is confined to occasional
newspaper comments have not the
faintest conception of the stupendous
momentum of this movement or Of
what 1t portendS not to England alone
but to every civilized country on the
face of the ,strth.
Even more startling is the paradox
that this municipal radicaliSm has de
velopcd among people who vet stu
pidly cling To obsolete customs and ira
ditions and whose commercial and man
ufarturinG prestige is memaced by their
refusal to adopt methods and devices
of proved superiority. 1t shall he my
purpose to show in accurate contrasts
the prsluctS of the new radcaliSm and
the time worn institutions which sur
round them.
1t had been represented to me that
our English ncighborS were divided
into two classes in the matter of pub
lie ownership of such undertake ngs as
ing plants, baths and waShhou.cS. ten
emcnt houses and cottages, docks. mu-
nicipal farms and other enterprises
which have hccn completed or are in
progress of construction. | had been
led to believe from reiterated state
mcntS in various publications. that n
powerful and aggressive minority of
tln Ii,,l,
against any extension of municipality
owned works and that through their in
tlucncc Il halt had been called
The simple truth of the matter Is that
there is no organized opposition in
Great Britain against the public own
ership of utilities which naturally tend
to monopolizc control. There are indi-
viduals who protest against what has
been done and who sound warnings
against all that is proposed. but their
feeble activity makes not the slightest
impression on the collective English
mind.
The citizens and taxpayers OF that
country have accepted public owner
ship and have installed ii as Il fixed in
stitution. They act and speak as IL
they have forgotten that any other sys-
tenn ever existed. They do not consider
new projects as experiments, but as
investments. The few privately owned
street railways are looked on aS curioS-
tiles
The intelligent observer of this de.
velopmcnt is almost bcwildcred by the
paradox which ii presents. The Eng
liSh individual as an individual-iS the
most conservative in the world He is
devotedly welded to that which was.
He VencratCS that which is old. An
tiquity is n standard Of value. He re
vercS that which an American Scorns
as obsolete and SCOffS ut innovations of
demonstrated utility. lie prefers res
idenCe guiltlcSS Of plumbing and an of
flee building without an elevator or
any OF the modern convenicnceS. Be
cause his ancestors did not know how
to heat n building in winter or vcnti-
late 1t in summer he is content to suffer
from the inClcmcncics of both seasons.
Politically and economically all Of his
teachers We're of the individualiStic
school In fact. there was no other
school in Great Britain. Germany was
forced to listen to the radical theories
of Karl Marx and Ferdinand La Sale
France was agitated by the teachings
of st. Simon, Louis Blanc and others
more or less visionary. who contended
for the supremacy of collective over In
dividual effort. But the writings Of
such men made no impress in England
against the sober logic of Adam Smith
John Stuart Mill and more recently
Herbert Spencer, All of these and
scores of lesser dogmatiStS treated the
theory of public OWNERSHIP with cru
Gite contempt or else ignored it as not
worthy of attack.
How comes it that from such a soil
and in such an atmosphere the state
and the city have set themselves up as
the superior of the private owners Of
vast enterprises? How comes it that
the conservative and unimaginative
EbgliShman has boldly initiated pro-
grammC which would Stagger the
adaptable French ana cOnfOmd the
practical and progressive Germani