New-York tribune., 1906-11-28
MUNICIPAL PHILANTHROPY.

The city's little experiment in municipal own
ership the Staten Island ferry. continues IN
structive. 1t gives New York a first hand ex-
pertence of such enterprises, and it does so
on a scale which the city can we'll afford Ii
1t proves a constant drain on the public pocket,
the drain will not be so great to Involve
the city seriously, London has been involved
by It's extensive ventures. II 1t has q deter
rent effect and makes the voters think twice
before committing New York to all the ex-
travagances Of municipal radicalism, the losses
on the ferry will be a gain IN public prudence,
We had last year official statement show
ing that the Staten Island boats were run at
a loss to the city. We now learn that there
is an additional heavy expense for repairs.
The engines Of the new boats are defective.
Whether or not the economy of the present
administration in revoldng the contracts made
by the previous administra ton for constructing
the boats and making new contracts for cheaper
vessels is responsible for the trouble with the
engines does not appear. All we are told Is
that the salt water In the condensing pipes leaks
into the boilers, where It creates an excess of
steam, the constant blowing off Of which
fairly deafens travellers the municipal ferry.
Worse still. the salt water does not stop with
corroding its way through the condensing pipes.
but is now at work running the boilers. The
old ferryboats. too, need extensive repairs. Mr..
Bensel, the Commissioner of Docks and Fer
r1es being asked how great the loss to the city
had been on the municipal ferry, placed it ap-
proxtmately at S250.000. That is a cOnsldera-
bic deficit for a little more than n years op-
Grafton. Not all municipal ownership expert
ments turn out badly as that. Some in
deed, are profitable A few Of Londons vent
ures paid Most of them did not and the total
result to the city was loss, with increased pub
lie Indebtedness and taxes
Va IN,
Island experiment in that the local administra-
ton is not committed to the municipal own
ership policy. There Is no attempt to conceal
the financial status Of the venture. The losses
are not hidden from the voters. They are not
wiped out by optimistic bookkeeping. This has
been too commonly the experience Of cities
engaged in municipal trading The fate of a
local administration depends usually upon the
showing the municipal projects make and the
showings are invariably good until conditions
get so bad that the truth has to be confessed.
In an Ohio city recently political bookkeeping
was abandoned and the utter failure of mu-
nicipal venture was at once disclosed
1t will be said that even at a loss the mu-
nicipal ferry is good thing. Staten Island
needed adequate transit facilities and the mu-
nlclpaI ferry was the only way of affording
them. 1t is desirable that the urban popuIa-
ton should have means to reach the sparseIv
setued ooroughs. Undoubtedly, but that puts
the Staten Island ferry on the same basis as
the City Charities Department. Rapid transit
becomes an eleemOsynary institution The IN
herent right of any citizen who lives in an
inaccessible part of the city to have facilities
furnished for getting to and fro rapidly AMI
commodiously, even though at a loss is prac-
ideally admitted in the case Of the Staten Island
ferry. How would it work out if the CITY were
generally to go into the municipal ownership
or traction? The outskirts Of New York are
1uIl OF property owners clamorng to have tlln-
nes built to them, which would double or
treble the value of their real estate CapitsI
cares little for votes and will not build tlln-
nels unless there is a prospect of profit But
the city, municipality speculating would have
10 Yield TO the same demand that Staten Island
made. So long the citys credit lasted #
would have TO build tunnels without regard TO
pfont or loss, recognizing the right of the unde-
Veloped to be developed. It is this phiIan-
thropic character which municipal business IN
eVltably takes on that is the greatest danger
OF municipal trading. London in It's recent
craze for municipal trading went on from COM
parauVely harmless to the most eXtrayagant
forms of municipal philanthropy in the guise
of municipal ownership. The selfishness which
is the automatic safeguard of private capital
does not exist to check municipal capital. The
Staten Island ferry is municipal philanthropy
under the name of municipal business IT navs
lesson