Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1905-07-19
SOME SELECTIONS ON
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
From Golfers Weekly

"rhe citizen of Berlin" says a correspondent of the
London Mail. us provided with sanitary dwellings, with
unadulterated food, with schools and technical colleges,
and with insurance for sickness and old age. For a penny
he can travel almost from one end OF Berlin to the other
by electric tramway or electric railway. His streets are
clean, brilliantly lighted, and noiseless; his cafes and
music halls are innumerable. He lives in a palace. And
al this is the result of municipal government by experts
instead of by amateurs"
What Good Government Can Accomplish.
Berlin. according to Consul General Mason, is per
haps the cleanest, most progressive, and one OF the best
administered large cities in the world" With over half
the population Of New York its streets were kept beauti-
fully clean last year at a total cost of s52sOOO-less than
onetenth the amount spent in New York for keeping the
streets as we see them. Berlin filters its entire water sup
ply. Instead of polluting its rivers with crude sewage it
carries it's drains to sewage farms, which paid all ex-
penses last year and turned a net surplus of $91,750 into
the city treasury. Every animal killed for food in the
German capital must be butchered at the municipal
slaughter house where 1t is minutey Inspected and stamp
ed. Berlin finds work for its unemployed, and cares for
them and their families while they are getting it.
Cologne has a municipal street car system on which
you can buy a yearly ticket, good on all lines, for $3.50.
You can get a monthly ticket, good on all lines, for $2SS
and one good on any one line for $166. The highest
single fare is three cents and a half, and the highest fare
for a child under ten years is one cent and two-tenths.
At these rates the system paid the city a clear profit
which amounted to nearly 6 per cent on its investment
in the first year, 1898, and has been increasing ever since.
Meals at One Cent a Piece.
Nantes has municipal kitchens, in connection with
uOTHlIOTleS, TOT the destitute. other Kitchens are main
tanned for those who can afford to pay a trifle for Their
meals. The patron may take his choice of beef soup, boil
ed beef beer stew, beef with sauce, Goldfish, pork and cab
page, beef a la tripe at two cents a plate. Those whose
means will not admit such luxury may have a more mod
est banquet of water soup, beans and rice for a cent.
In England the municipal ownership movement reach.
ed such a height two or three years ago as to alarm cap
italists and cause a certain reaction. In 1900 English
cities had no less than 81 100000 900 invested in munich
pal undertakings, and in 1902 they had debts amounting
to Sl'lIoS2SlO-about twice the national debt of the
United States. They have been hampered by no ancient
prejudices about the proper functions of government.
Liverpool a few years ago bought up a lot of unsanitary
land and covered it with model dwellings for workmen.
established an admirable system of swimming and tub
baths, with salt and fresh water, and took over the whole
electric light plant and all the street railroads. A private
corporation had been running those roads by horsepower
the city at once substituted electricity. This has been
a frequent experience in Great Brtain-the notable case
OF Glasgow will occur to every one. 1t was not until 1896
that British Municipalities were allowed to run tramways,
and six years later ninety-nine of them owned their own
system. Two hundred and six towns had municipal gas
works ana one hundred and eighty-one municipal electric
light plants. There were no transfers on any British
municipal railroads in 1902, but Liverpool expected to in
troduce universal twocent fares.
bennington and Harrowgate own Turkish baths. and
Harrowgate gives free exhibitions of fireworks. Sheffield
has built income producing shops out of the profits of its
street-railway system. Chester owns a race course. and
Doncaster not only owns a course, but manages the races
and makes so much money out of them that it has been
able to abolish borough taxes. Some of the London
suburbs have bought the Alexandra Palace and give organ
recltals, band concerts, theatrical shows, and industrial
exhibitions there. Torquay raises rabbits and Colchester
grows municipal oysters of peculiarly d~electable flavor.
st. Helens sternizes milk; Hull runs a crematory; Bour-
nemouth keeps up a superb golf course; West Ham
makes stone flags; Liverpool and Bradford are in the
hotel business; Liverpool puts flowers and plants in the
windows of people in the slums, maintains public laund
rles for the poor, and keeps a great municipal organ with
a salaried organist. Many British cities run sewage
farms at a profit, and 22S of them have municipal mar
kets. Hull has a municipal telephone service, whose e-
adjustment compelled the private telephone monopoly to
cut it's rates in two.