Connecticut western news., 1906-12-20
AN HONEST CRATER
A Glimpse Into the Future of Mu-
 nicipaI Ownership.


 Politieian"-The Profits of an All Around Servant of the People, Who
 Seen His Opportunities and Took
 'Em."
 Honest graft" will reach it's highest level when, as predicted by the en- thusiasts, the principles of municipal ownership are accepted by New York and the city controls the trolley lines, the electric light and gas works and all the ferries as we'll as the water works and the police, the fire and the street departments.
 Then such patriots as George Wash ington Plunkitt. for many years or ganiZation leader of the Fifteenth dis trict in New York. will reap rewards of greater magnitude than they have ever been able to gather under the present order. of things.
 Perhaps you have never heard about MT. Plunkitt's honest graft" schemes. He told about them himself in book published last year, which was intro duced by a paragraph indorsing him as veteran leader of the organization" signed by its greatest chief.
 Plunkitt was sore because there were some objections to graft being made out of the city by men like him. and In the first chapter of his book he uttered a vigorous protest. "Blackmailin' gam blers, saloon keepers, disorderly peo- pie, etc." he admitted to be wrong That was dishonest graft"
 But" he added, there's an honest graft, and I'm an example of how 1t works. I seen my opportunities and I took 'em"
 Mir. Plunkitt's explanation of how he did these things will illuminate the possibilities of future municipal owner ship days, if they ever come.
 After elucidating the ways he was tipped off, at various times by mem- bers of his party-the party in power when new bridges, new parks, new streets were to be opened, so that he might invest in real estate likely to rise in price from the improvements contemplated, he adds: "I haven't con fined myself to land. Anything that pays Is in my line" Then he gives a specific instance:
 Learning that the city was about to repave a certain street and so would have several hundred thousand old paving blocks to sell he was 'on hand to buy" and he 'knew just what they were worth" But a newspaper tried from Brooklyn and New Jersey to bid against him. MT. Plunkitt's own words tell the story best:
 "Was I done? Not much. I went to each of the men and said, How many of those 250.O00 stones do you wantT One said 10000. and another wanted 15,00o, and another wanted 1o,- 900. I said, All right; let me bid for the lot, and I'll give each of you all you want for nothn''
 ''They agreed. of course. Then the auctioneer yelled, How much am I bid for these f2e pavin' stonesT
 1.-Two dollars and fifty cents,' says I.
 1.-TWO dollars and fifty centsr screamed the auctioneer. oh, that's q joke. Give me a real bid
 "He found the bid was real enough My rivals stood silent I got the lot for S2.50 and gave them their share. That's how the attempt to do Plunkitt ended, and that's how all such attempts end"
 It is hardly necessary, in the light of this authentic statement of honest graft's" workings. to enlarge upon the extended opportunities that would come to the men of the Plunkitt stamp were the dream of municipal owner ship to come true. Plunkitt says most politicians who are accused of robbin' the city get rich the same way" he did. They didn't steal dollar from the city. They just seen their opportunities and took them"
 While in the legislature Plunkitt in- troduced the bills that provided for the outlying parks of New York, the Har- lem river speedway, the Washington bridge, the One Hundred and Fifty fifth street viaduct, additions to the Museum of Natural History and many other. important public Improvements. i He is now a millionaire. Under the l order of things, with city con- trol of everything, he might become a millionaire. Under municipal ownership of all public utilities in New York-and in . most other cities in fact-politicians ! like Plunkitt, who at different times i has been elected state senator. assem- ! blyman, county supervisor and alder man by his fellow citizens, besides | serving as police magistrate for one term, and who boasts of his record in . filling four public offices in one year 1 and drawing salaries from three of . them at the same time, would flourish . like whole grove of green bay trees.
 Go Slow on City Ownership.