Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-04
ON PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
Discourse Delivered by District
Lawyer at Ithaca.
AT SCIENTISTS SESSION
Position of American Wage Farmers
Defined
SHOW INTERESTING STATISTICS
Rights Of the Individual Exploited
Corelative Status of Every Employ
ing Government and Workmen.
SHOW INTERESTING STATISTICS
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
ITHACA. n. Y, July 4.-The closing ses-
sion of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science was held yesterday
afternoon at Barnes Hall, Cornell Uni
versity.
An Interesting and highly instructive dis
course was delivered by Mr. H. T New
comb of the Washington bar. His address
was entitled Public Ownership and the
Wage-Earners," and In part was as fol-
lows:
In Its efforts to convert municipal state
and national governments to particular por-
tons OF It's socialistic program the persist
ent propaganda OF public ownership, whose
ureless activities so visibly pervade current
American politics, usually demands the sup
port OF wage-earners upon the ground that
the employees of public enterprises will be
more favorably treated than those of pri-
vate enterprises in the same field. 1t is
claimed that public ownership means high
er wages, shorter hours of labor and, gem
orally, better conditions of employment.
The street corner socialist contends that
private profits are the consequence of ruth
less exploitation OF workingmen whose
wrongs, now vainly crying for relief, would
be transmitted into abundant blessings by
the simple device of oustng the private
capitalist and putting government in his
place.
Presenting a Contract.
Those who claim most for democracy as
system of government do not contend
that its perception of details is accurate. or
its wisdom in dealing with them precise
and practical 1t acts upon general prin-
cples, its moral enthusiasts are immense,
its general conclusions usually wise and
constructive; but 1t has no capacity for ex-
act measurements or for that form OF Spe-
cialization which consists in the minute
analysis of an industrial mechanism and
complete comprehension of Its smallest
parts and the conditions controlling their
operations The successful private employer
must possess precisely these qualifications.
He must know the business in which he is
engaged in It's every aspect. Pecuniary sue
cess, In private enterprise that memorable
condition whose consequence is efficiency
but In public enterprise wholly lacking, Is
proportioned to this knowledge and the
wisdom of its utilization.
Cost of Living.
From 1896 to 1904 the average retail cost
of the ordinary articles of food used in the
United States advanced no less than II per
cent O696. to be more exact. That is,
the purchaser of food for family had to
pay ILL in 1904 for the same quantity and
quality of food that 81 would purchase
in 1896 These official statistics COM
piled by the highly skilled. experts employ
ed by the federal government, and every
housewife knows that they do not overstate
the advance. Other necessities of life have
advanced In cost with approximate ly equal
rapidity. Internationally wages ought,
generally speaking, to have advanced some
what in proportion to the increase In the
cost of living. In private employment this
has apparently taken place, the average
tod I.x- hn fa1a ,-al
bureau of labor being II SO per cent higher
in 1904 than in 1896, and the average week
ly earnings 1916 per cent higher. The ad-
vances thus represented are spread all over
the country, they characterize every private
Industrial enterprise, and have benefited all
classes of workmen employed in private I'M
dertakings. How Is 1t with public employ
ment?
No Advance to Meet Conditions.
Throughout the postal service, among
the $1,000 clerical employees at Washington,
in the customs and internal revenue serv-
ices; there have been no advances in pay to
meet the rise in cost of food clothing and
shelter The pay of letter carriers for ex-
ample, remains precisely where 1t was fixed
nearly twenty years ago by an act approved
on January g. 1887 The largest printing
office in the world is that maintained at
Washington by the government. and there
the federal government employs a large
force of intelligent and highly skilled work
ingmen. A change in the basis of paymel4.
in 1899 from the piecework to the per hour
system prevents comparisons with dates
prior to the change, but wages have re-
manned stationary since March 3. 1899 al
though the official statisticians report that
the cost of food has advanced since the
rate of wages was fixed by statute, fully
1926 per cent. During the same years the
wages of printers in private book publish
ing or job printing establishments advanced
throughout the United States as follows:
Competitors, male, 14.67 per cent; compost
tors, female, 2030 per cent; press feeders
male, %. Al per cent; press feeders female
2l.27 per cent; pressnen, liz per cent.
Public Ownership.
Personal liberty and compulsory labor
obviously cannot co-exist. The facts which
they represent repugnant to each
other the terms themselves. The en-
ploye whose employer has power to COM
pei service is potentially a slave shall
make apology for using the strongest
language IN chardcteriZing a condition
which sVialscic agitators are daily asking
free workmen to substitute for their pres
ent freedom. Every government which be-
comes employer has the power to COM
pei the services of its employees upon terms
of It's own choosing, and experience has
shown that this power will be exercised
whenever the assertion of a right to the
contrary on the part of large body of
workmen threatens to interrupt the orderly
progress Of any business In which govern
ment is engaged.
Right of the Individual.
1.-THE right of every individual to work
terms satisfactory to himself is sacred to
those who know and comprehend the con-
ditions essential to freedom. and equally
sacred is the right not to work The work.
man who may not abandon his employment
for any reason sufficient unto himself is no
longer Free and he who is not permitted to
cease to work for poor reason may be
refused the right to cease when his reason
is good one. If any authority of govern
ment has power to review his decision. to
correct his judgment, and to send him back
to work or to impose pains and penalties
for abandoning his employment, or for the
ma nner of such abandonment. he has be-