Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-23

SHicdSo QeClSlpH 10 enteE ilito tHt cNpSa'
ment of city ownership and operation of
street car lines has given prominence In
this country to a question that has become
an old one in Great Britain and that is now
being solved in Germany. What is called
municipal socialism in Great Britain has
gone so far that there Is noticeable some
thing in the way of a reaction. British
cities not only become owners of street
railway lines, waterworks systems. tele-
phone, gas and electric light plants. t.t
they delved into all kinds of things that
American people would consider encroach-
ing upon private trading and enterprise.
In a number of English cities. Liverpool,
bennington and Harrogate. for instance.
the municipalities own and operate the
Turkish bath establishments, and there is
no finer In the world than the one in Liver
pool. Doncaster. Chester and Lincoln own
race courses and derive an income there
from; Colchester owns the famous Come
oyster fishery; Nottingham has large
sewage farm some miles out of town which
yields large sum from the sale of live
stock and milk: York owns the Foss canal;
Manchester is the principal shareholder in
the ship canal of that name; Liverpool sup
plies humanized sterilized" milk to
mothers unable to furnish their babies with
natural milk; many cities own their own
docks. The question has been just where
to stop. and many men in this country are
wondering how far the people of the United
States will go in this direction.
There are in great Britain at this time
996 municipalities owning and operating
waterworks; 125 owning street railroads;
29o owning gas works: nearly as many
supplying electricity; and many, notably
Hull. their telephone systems. In the
province of Ontario, Canada, nearly two
years ago. there were 10 municipalities own
ing their own waterworks. 30 possessing
their own electric lighting plants several
owning street railway facilities and a num-
her that Snnnlied electricity of Two
owned cemeteries and one owned docks.
Some of the cities and towns show profits
on their ventures, while others must make
losses good.
The British government it
self has entered the domain
Tendencies. of national socialism by It's
ownership of the telegraph
system and it's proposed gradual absorption
of the telephone systems Movements have
sprung up for naturalization of railroads,
the coal supply, as well as of storage of
wheat in case of war. but these do not meet
with popular favor. What the English people
have to fight hardest against is the spread
ing of SocialiStic municipal tendencies be-
yond enterprises and undertakings that are
by their nature essentially public or semi
public in their functions. The doctrine of
municipal ownership of street railways,
waterworks, gas lighting, electric lighting,
telephone lines and similar enterprises
which fall into the habit of becoming mo-
nopolies is generally recognized as a pretty
good one. especially in view of the success
that has been met with, but the ventures
have gone beyond these.
Liverpool builds and rents municipal
dwellings in the slum regions, and single
room can be had for as low as 40 cents
a week. But Liverpool was practically
forced into this step. The period was
reached when many buildings in the slum
regions became so insanitary and so unsafe
owing to age that 1t was necessary to de-
- them The thONSa n0S of peODle about
to be thrown out of homes did not know
where to go Private money did not re-
spond and offer to put up new buildings.
Liverpool. therefore, began putting up
municipal buildings for the people whose
homes were about to be torn down. The
corporation destroyed 10000 insanitary
houses in few years and private owners
and builders demolished 1000 more. There
are still 5000 more to be destroyed. The old
sIum houses in Liverpool are generally of
three rooms, one above another the third
being little more than garnet. An aver
age of five people live in each house. The
municipal buildings erected are flats, three
or four stories high. Blocks of buildings
are made ready so that the people can go
into them when insanitary dwellings are
torn down. over 1000 tenementS have been
erected by the city, each tenement contain
ing a suite of rooms. Three years ago
the city had paid out 81 .925, 600 for demol-
ished property, bought $335,S25 of land and
spent $732 S75 for buildings AT that time
less than 1000 buildings had been erected.
The total spent on construction to date
amounts to about 81 600 600 in round num-
bers 1t is estimated that it will take ten
more years to furnish homes to the people
who live in buildings to be destroyed. The
London county council is also struggling
with the housing question.
Liverpool bought the street
LlVerPools car lines of that city In Sep
Experience. TENDER. 1897, paying s., s36,s75
for everything, including
cars, horses, good will, vested rights, etc. 1t
has since substituted electricity for cars, do
ing away with 8 1923 horses. The work of re-
constructing the new lines commenced in
January. 1899, and one year later there
were 100 miles of electric road. Many
more miles have since been added. The
cars are of the English type, having seats
on top and a winding staircase reaching
them, In addition to those below. The fares