The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-10

rtt,. ,s ~ asrsaev NJ suta,r tHHiss
,f,rv n ansn M typical americans
r~srtrmNSiNa shieiv difereW eslks
b. no. sfs rHaHina . h'islnsas tfie ahfpa,t
t4 ne ttti 10 ~ faruiiHf Interest IN
rsrs.uf. Me COUNTRY fhsv asr srstlaa
t, no american reprlc ~ nunicipai
..HH..
.. 90 sHiNa ~ mako W. = anft N tests
,.. w stbier' nllai vim fav,s sashsfst
a. ..Is iNtfv anil atrtad rhrif frpeft
.. .aaontri iirine tho Nruina snfnHsrr
a., ...r H nav letent Tho pulicv ~ many
f. IH'ri
.. tu, ienntv tne urn Afnkrt lrf
.a Hilina thts invrat igat tuu th~y
~. 40 tho rutru' eating oDmtnttte~ ~
o.. .r. eaton ~ wihlic ownership and
c...H..o = Tho National Civir Federation
OH, .. s,rl1n 10 rnvius all th~ir ett~na~s,
rs going Nv ~ heavy
u,.r II tho loai eSrerts IN ths world
ra.. -ou employed 10 assist them Much
st,.r rt.rev. n IL understood, has been
,gnse..nni Nv s~althy men Interested In
ma .,.-t u getting mora light ON what
r,s '~r,mo n subjec, ~ much agitation
a. 'mr.danc"
lna -,mmi''ce has spruna from . derlFs
NJ rc.uIr ~ an clasara and all aectiona
20 ~, % morn about a subject that haa
loon NJ. tci mp and talked down ny men
v-, have formed opinions from their ~
lr.os'I gattors ono way or the other. This
committee ia eyprcasly charged TO get not
opinions hr' facts, and not ~ express any
crutn On tho subjec, eitha' way when
/ rr'- no fac's,
The .nvest gators ara after facts and
hcta alone For instance, where there
Il municipal gas plant in some particular
ctv. they ARE going TO got all the facts about
THIS gas plant and then they are going TO
get all the facts about q privately owned
gas plant in the same city and present
them 70 tho people They are going to do
the Same thing in other cities. comparing
always the municipal enterprise with the
private enterprise, whether II be q gas
plant or a street car system.
The larger commission OF which the In
vestigators are a committee Ia made up
OF a hundred men selected from all over
the country. At it's head ia Melville E.
ingalls,. II Ia the committee Of twenty-one,
however, which will do the real work n
whose labors are fraught with interest Just
now.
Mr.. Ingalls, Ia at the head OF this COM
mittee, too. The other members are Tai
colt Williams. editorial writer on the Phila-
delphia Press; W. D.. Mahon. president Of
the Association OF Street Railway EN-
ployees, and one Of the leading labor men
Of this country; Frank j. Goodnow, pro-
fessor Of administrative law at Columbia;
Walton Clark, vioe-president Of the United
~ I..-o1o.oop Copnpapu ~ philoIaIphia
the company that stirred up all the row
there in politics; DR.. Albert Shaw, editor
OF the Repiew OF Repieps, who has given
much study TO municipal ownership; Ed
ward W. Bemis, superintendent Of the
Cleveland municipal water works and a
great Tom johnson man; John H. Gray.
professor at Northwestern University;
Walter L. Fischer, secretary OF the Num-
cipal Voters League Of Chicago and re-
earded as a municipal ownership man;
Timothy Healy, president Of the Inter-
national Brotherhood OF Stationary Fire
men; William j. Clark. foreign mana ger
Of the General Electric Company and AZ
exert on electrical matters; Il. B, F. Mac
farland, president Of the commission that
governs the District Of Columbia; Daniel
j. Keefe, head of the Longshoremen's
National Association at Detroit; Frank Par
sons. president Of the National Public Owner
ship League of Boston; John R.. Commons.
professor at the University Of Wisconsin;
J. W. Sullivan, editor Of the Clothing Trades
Bulletin and a labor man.; Prof. Lew 8.
Rowe Of the University Of Pennsylvania;
T. j. McNulty, head Of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers: Albert
+. Winchester, head of the electrical works
Of South Norwalk; Charles L, Edgar, presi-
dent Of the Edison Company of Boston,
and Milo R.. Maltbie, an expert on fran
chisss and a former editor Of the paper
called Municipal Affairs.
Al least six of these are well known labor
men, who want to study for themselves
the effect municipal ownership has on the
lRboring class.
Six Of the members OF the committee
left here a month or more ago for England.
The others sailed on the Caronia on May ~.
The commission expects to finish its work
over there and return by the middle of
july.
ii il not the intention Of the commission
to go into all the existing forms Of public
ownership. What the commission believes
the public is most interested in now Ia the
municipal ownership of such things as gas,
water and electric lighting systems, and the
transportation question.
When the committee gets through it will
have visited a hundred or so plants in about
twenty-five cities.
In this country it has visited Chicago,
Philadelphia, Pittsburg. Indianapolis, Fort
Wayne, Wheeling, Richmond, Allegheny
CITY. South Norwalk, Atlanta and Norfolk.
Just now it is in Ireland.
1t began at Dublin, where there are
municipal tramways, and it is going to
Glasgow, London, Manchester. Birming-
ham, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield.
The method Of the committee is to wait
before visiting a place until the experts in
Its employ have gone there and made care
Jul and technical examinations of the plant.
In the case Of gas works, for example, there
Is an examination nae by two or more
expert gas engineers, and there is also an
examination made by several expert ac-
coUntauts and franchise experts.
They put together all the facts they get
and present them as a sort Of guidebook
for the members OF the committee when
they arrive. Some Of the best experts in
this country have been engaged. and there
has been just as much care taken to make
the corps of experts an impartial body as
the commission itself.
As there are no municipal gas works in
this country OF any size, the committee went
hs a 1N