Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-06
THE PUBLIC UTILITIES
Public Ownership Favored by
Mayor Dunno of Chicago.
BEFORE ECONOMIC SOCIETY
His Argument Based on Statistics of
142 Cities.
BETTER PAY, BETTER SERVICE
Absence Of Strikes on Railroads
Operated by Municipalities-Elec-
trio Lights and Water Plants.
BETTER PAY, BETTER SERVICE

at the Arlington last night 1t was the first
public utterance that Mayor dunno had
made since the recent election In Chicago
which established the right of the people
10 own but not to operate the street rail-
ways.
mayor Dunno had his audience laughing
ABOUT haif the time and frequently had to
stop to let an outburst Of applause die
away. He had mass of interesting facts
and figures at his tongues end and when
ne made startling statements asked that his
hearers should not take his word for them
oul READ from the reports of the Depart
Ineht OF commerce and Labor and from let
ters that he had received from the munich
pal authorities of big cities In England and
scotland where municipal ownership had
already an established foothold
Twelve years ago, said Mayor Dunno
there was not city In the civilized world
owning or operating its own street car lines
NOW there are lS2 or the biggest cities in
the world which own their own street car
lines, while many of them operate them
as well.
Recognized as Economy.
Cities had come to a realization of the
economy in owning their public utilities,
and there are now waterworks. lighting
plants and even telephone lines owned and
operated by municipalities. Not one OF ali
these enterprises. in town OF any size
has failed TO pay and be success. Ihe
speaker checked or on hi, fingers siy
reasons why the scheme was a success
ana appealed to the communities
FIRST, he said. there is better service.
More cars are run, and better cars on
moro frequent schedules and with more
pohte conductors and motormen, and with
more regard to the convenience of patrons.
In nearly every case the fares were re-
duceo In most cases they were cut in half
In D4rt of this he read a list or the
ciies the united kingdom where the
ares oeen reduced from 30 to GO per
cent. cent, netimes, he said, there was q
quesuo lie benefit from the enterprise
paying profit which was used to reduce
taxatio But this, he said, he Thought
was listake: If a municipal enterprise
~ on ms SOFT paid profit over depreciation
ana Improvement. with decent raise OF
wages TO the employees. there Is someth' ne
wrong with It. Either the city was cha
e ene citizens luz too much for the service or
$685. Go sney were not giving them as good
service as the situation warranted
inen, he said, there was the question of
peter wages for the employed In the
us tist OF street car lines under discussion.
ne saia the wages of the employees had been
raised from 10 to 80 per cent The rnunici-
palities are not running the lines to squeeze
me me Iast possible cent in dividends out OF
the patrons and employees. They paw the
men better wages. at the same time Giving
them shorter hours, and thus assured bet-
e Ter service to the patrons and make the
ings and less automatoms 8
Absence Of Strikes.
There were no strikes, either. on the
municipality operated roads When a man
Is working for the government and has
a reasonable grievance he takes it to the
authorities, and If his complaint is rea-
sonable 1t is rectifed He has public opin-
Ion behind him and his grievance is not
long In being settled. II 1t is not reason
able he does not have public opinion with
him: and the public sharply tells him to
go back to work, and he goes. Did you
ef any city OF IN strike hs asS
or Of the teachers?''
This last query was met with burst of
laughter. as though there were a few pres
emit who thought the teachers in Wash
ton might possibly not prove good Illus
tration- Commissioner mcfarland, sitting
on the platform. joined in the general
smile. Then" said Mr. Dunno. best of
all there Is the elimination of graft bribery
and corruption. Opponents of municipal
pie are not At to trust with the enormous
sum of money that would be necessary to
buy up and operate the street car lines
or any other public utility But" he
said. "the common council of city oper-
ating under the glare of publicity. with
swarm of reporters present at every sitting,
are infinitely safer to trust with the ex-
penditure of public money than Is a board
OF directors of a private corporation, who
can and do lock themselves up in room,
with guards outside to keep the reporters
away, ana then, with the ala OF niBn-
priced lawyers. who can tell them how TO
do it and keep out of jail, capitalize their
enterprise for six times what it is worth
and get the money required to run it out
of the public.
Gives an illustration.
AS an illustration of the difference in cost
of publicly owned and privately owned pub
lie utilities the speaker said that they had
three water companies in Chicago one of
them owned by the city and two by private
companies. When he lived In a part of
Chicago where of the private com
panies operated he had a reasonably large
and thriving family, but was not running
either dairy or an ice plant. Yet his
water bill for three months was $24 Then
he moved Perhaps he said, the size of
that last water bill had something to do
with his moving. In the next six months,
while living In the area served by the
municipal company. his water bill was $40.
And give you my word ladies and gen
tlemen," he added, in the midst of general
laugh, "I kept that large and thriving fam
lily Just clean and used just as much
water from the municipal company as l did
from the private one.
Mr. Dunno spoke of the fight that the
people of Chicago had made for municiral
ownership OF street railways. He said the
fight had been long and unbroken series
of victories The only reason why the city
was not authorized at the last election TO
operate as well as own its car lines was that
the opposition had inserted a Joker" In the
law as passed at Springfield requiring 90
per cent majority to operate the lines and
while there majority of 10000 for
operation. 1t was not enough to carry this
part of the measure.
Acquisition Of Street Car Lines.
AS to acquiring the street car lines Mayor
Dunno said there was the possibility of Is
suing SIS 600 600 worth of bonds to buy
them. He would never be in favor of con-
demning and confiscating the property of
any pirate corporation without just pay
ment. But at the same time he would never
favor issuing a single bond while he was
mayor of Chicago. He said the lines could
be acquired and paid for out of their own
earnings and this Is what the city proposes
to do. It will issue certificates guaranteed
by all the tangible property Of the company
and by a first Hen all the fares paid.
There would be no trouble in disposing of
them either, as they paid per cent. while
there was $500 0Oo. 900 of the peoples money
In the savings bank that was only drawing
from to per cent and did not lave the
city's guarantee back Of 1t either.
Thus the lines could be bought and paid
for at a fair price and would pay for them
selves out of their earnings without costing
the city cent Further they would be able
to give better service, better wages to the
4 H. - IL