The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1905-05-19
. REAT BRITAIN is in the throes

ton. From out their ruins there is
rearing the framework Of an edifct
which may typify a new civilization
The revolutionists are in absolute con
troll, yet their numberless victories have
been won without a blow struck il
anger.
l claim credit for a discovery. Thu
United States is the most conservative
nation on the globe, and Great Britain
is the most radical. We smile. at the
visionary and Hesitate to grant his tile
cries the favor Of a bored tolerance
Great Britain elects him to Office, in
dorses and adopts his fancies 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 Kingdom the right of pri
vate ownership in public utilities has
been repealed by legal enactments
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 it portends not to England alone,
but to every civilized country on the
face Of the earth.
Even more startling is the paradox
that this municipal radicalism has de-
Veloped among a people who yet stu
pidly cling to obsolete customs and ira
ditions and whose commercial and man
ufacturing prestige is menaced by their
refusal to adopt methods and devices
Of proved superiority. 1t shall be my
purpose to show in accurate contrasts
the products of the new radicalism and
the time worn institutions which sur
round them.
1t had been represented to me that
our English neighbors were divided
into two classes in the matter Of pub
lie ownership of such undertakings as
street railways, gas and electric light
Ing plants, baths and w~ashhouses, ten
ement houses and cottages, docks, mu-
nicipal farms and other enterprises
which have been completed or are in
progress Of construction. I had been
led to believe from reiterated state
ments in various publications that a
powerful and aggressive minority Of
the English people were arrayed
against any extension Of municipality
owned works and that through their in
fuence a 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 monOpolize control. There are indi-
viduals who protest against what has
been lone 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 it as a fixed in
stitution. They act and speak as If
they have forgotten that any other sys-
TEN ever existed. They do not consider
new projects as experiments, but as
investments. The few privately owned
street railways are looked on as cur1os.
tiles.
The intelligent observer Of this de.
velopment is almost bewildered by the
paradox which it presents. The Eng.
lish individual-as an Individuals the
most conservative in the world. He is
devotedly welded to that which was.
He venerates that which is old. An.
Hqu1ty is a standard Of value. He re.
veres that which an American scorns
as obsolete and SCOTS at innovations OF
demonstrated utility. He prefers a res.
idence guiltless Of plumbing and an of.
flee building without an elevator OF
any of the modern conveniences. Be.
his ancestors did not know how
to heat a building in winter or VENT.
late 1t In summer he Is content to suffer
from the inclemencies Of both seasons.
Politically and economically all Of his
teachers were Of the individualistit
school. In fact, there was no othe,
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 commended
for the supremacy Of collective owe in
dividual effort. But the writings O,
such men made no impress in England
against the sober logic of Adam Smith
John Stuart Mill and more recent,
Herbert Spencer. All Of these ant
scores Of lesser dogmatists treated thu
theory Of public ownership with cru
dite contempt or else ignored it as no,
worthy of attack.
How comes it that from such q sol
and in such an atmosphere the stat.
and the city have set themselves up al
the superior of the private owners o,
vast enterprises? How comes it tina
the conservative and unimaginative
Englishman has boldly initiated a pro
gramme which would stagger til,
adaptable French and confound tn,
practical and progressive German7