Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-06-10
PUBLIC UTILITIES ABROAD
Committee OfAmeriCanS to Study Municipal
Ownership in Europe,
FACTS NEEDED FOR PUBLIC GUIDANCE
Determination to Seek the Truth
About Important Problems and
Present 1T without Par
tiaan COloring.
FACTS NEEDED FOR PUBLIC GUIDANC

Perhaps no similar work os greater i'm
portance or of greater magnitude has ever
been begun by any body OF men in any
country than that undertaken by the com
mittee of twenty-one, appointed by the
Civic Federation. which sailed from New
York last week to investigate public utili-
ties. transportation, lighting and water
supply in foreign cities. Investigating
these public utilities both under public and
private ownership and operation the COM
mittee will refrain from expressions OF
personal opinion, will keep the pros and
cons OF municipal ownership in the back
ground, and will confine its work to estab-
lishment of facts, facts that will. in the
opinion OF the committee give the Ameri-
can people deeper insight into conditions
at home and abroad, and anable them to
ameliorate conditions and make life more
worth the living.
What we desire" said DR.. Albert Shaw,
editor of the Review of Reviews, in speak
ing of the work of the committee what
we desire is to make conditions in the
United States better for ourselves our
children and those who will come after
US"
Speaking along the same line, Talcott
Williams, editorial writer on the Philadel-
phia Press and a member of the commit
tee. said:
1T is not a question of private owner
ship; II is not a question of whether this
method or that method is slightly more
economical in the governing of a city-it
is. at bottom. a question as to whether
at any particular period of our history
we would not be happier and healthier by
a full consideration OF the problems at
fecting the operation OF our public utili-
ties. and a determination to solve those
problems in the best light obtainable.
'It is not so much question of whether
taxes should be raised or lowered, but It
is more a question as to what is the best
solution for giving the people In our great
cities an increase in the number OF rooms
in which the average family is compelled
to live, what will give the greatest amount
Of pure water in the cities, the most ef-
ficient form of lighting. and the best kind
of transportation facilities"
All Glasses Represented.
With this purpose in view. the purpose
to obtain hard, unvarying facts that will
enable the American people to better their
condition, the Civic Federation appointed
a committee of twenty-one chosen from
almost every walk in life to carry out its
plans The committee is composed equally
ownership and so-called neutrals. men who
have been treating the great economic and
social questions OF the day in a cold, phil
osophical manner and have as yet made
no decision one way or the other.
With opinions thus balanced. the danger
OF the work OF the committee assuming a
partisan aspect has been avoided, and the
committee will therefore work as it was
intended IL should work as "A large tribunal
for the decision of what is, or what is not
so, and not what is the opinion of this
one or the opinion OF the other.
Having decided on what it was going for
the committee set about to discover ways
and means of getting ii. To this end an
elaborate scheme of investigation was
mapped out that has seldom If ever beer
! equaled by any previous investigating com,
missions. The general scheme is. in the
main, the same for all the fields to be
| looked into care being taken, however. tc
make the mode OF investigation applica blt
to the subject whether this be transporta
ton, gas or electric lighting OF water sup.
ply.
! The compTehensiveness OF the work un-
dertaken will be the better appreciated by
/ looking briefly at the methods to be EN-.
ployed by the committee. In the first
place, expert engineers will be employed
! by the committee to ascertain the condi
tons existing in the various lines OF trans
portation investigated. and in the variou,
manufactures and businesses visited; ex
pert accountants will compile facts as C
stocks. bonds assets. liabilities. receipts
expenses aud profit and loss. and hnalls
experts in political social and economic