Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-02-16
THE DELAYED REPORT.
The Pubic worked Up Over That
 tliss.ns D.cumsAs.

The public is now pretty well work ed up over Lne Dach assesslnent queS- uOn, DuI that uOssn seem ,o amount to any .ulns 50 lar as put,his IL Wlil- Ill reacu oi tue peop,e. oe,eral cOnl- municaliOns have been received on the suuJecI at the Democrat once, all sp-anlig ill no uncertain terms or the Way tne tning has ueen alu stlll Ia kept ill the bacAgrounu. "COlne ol with that report demands One citi- zen, "anu Il anyDOdy owes the city money anu IS nuL wllllnS to settle let him work it out Gh \vlaiiey avenue, just as others would have to do sup posing they got holu of nothing more
 valuable than loaf of bread and re- fusau to make goou.~ It is q strange case, anyway. A committee appointed to investigate and report the situation as they found it, stale that receipts have been presented to them showing that large sums of money have been paid for street and sewer assessments, but there is nothing to show that the cash was turned over to the city. All the evidence which this committee gathered after nearly two years labor is now withheld from those who paid in their good money, but for all any body knows it is available to whoever received the cash and neglected to handle it properly. While things may turn out all right in the end, still it is no wonder that the public feels angry at the way it is being cloaked over. Supposing the directors of factory discovered big shortage in its office and after thorough investigation traced the missing funds to- certain point, what would be the next step? They might not make any arrests, but as a matter of business they would undoubtedly ask somebody to furnish a bond for the full amount until the thing was cleared up. A board of di. rectors who would shut out the stock holders of concern from all the facts would be apt to find themselves fn q peck of trouble. But that's different matter. Manufacturing concerns are run on business principles, but it is different with municipalities. Whats everybody's business is nobody's busi- ness. and 1t is no wonder that the ad vocates of communism claim that their ideas are being worked out by a few, not in the interests of the public but for the special benefit of small portion of the community. What is communism?" inquiries another seeker after information. He answers his own query by stating that it is a scheme which contemplates remedyme the inequalities in the posse . ion of property by the holding of wealth in common for the equal use and advan. tage of all, and adds that citizens who stand for that sort nf reform are dubbed as robbers and fanatics while the parties who hurl these epithets from all sides are practcing the sys. tenn in most effective way for their own personal benefit. In support of his contention he points to the appli
 cation of the Naugatuck Valley Water Co. which aims to have a legislative enactment passed which will transfer the ownership of the Nnugatuck river from the public to private corpora tiOn. Communism from our stand
 point" he states, "equalizes, but com
 munism as it Is being practiced by it alleged foes systematically robs every body of something, adds all these something's together and makes then the personal property of favored few" He would like to hear Colonel Burpee. the attorney for the new wa. ter company. give his version of com. munism from his company's point of view and then let every thinking man decide for himself.
 The ideas of the communist may be all right in theory. but the logic of experience proves that they are utter. ly useless in practice. He should chance his dictionary and have the meaning of the word read: ITO get there first: to seize and hold for your. self everything you can lay hands on; to he the pOssessOr of q very elastic conscience: believer in the public be damned doctrine: one who succeeds in making his neichbors look upon him as great public benefactor while a, the same time planninc 10 relieve them of their vested rights"