The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-02
UNCLE SAM OUTD0ES
 HIS BRITISH COUSINS
Public Services Better Developed and More Efficient Here Than Over sasTeephone Generation Out of Dae and Electric Lights and Troeys Lacking Altogether in Some Goodsized English
 Cties-An Americans Practical View of Several Municipal Enterprises.

does not appear in the departments public reports. If per cent. were all lowed for depreciation. to take the low est figure allowed by any Bell com pany in this country, and the prelimf-
 nary and general expenses of the sys-
 tenn, which have never been charged
 off, were added. the two items deduct
 ed from the balance or hand, in the sinking and depreciation funds would
 leave total deficit in five years Of operation of about s3o0.00O, instead of
 the apparent prosperity to which the supporters of municipal ownership point with pride.
 The creation of a tremendous pofft- ical machine by office holding voters cfpal ownership In Great Britain. in MT. Burdett's opinion. It Is easy to guess what its effect would be in this coun- try, where the public serevices are so much more elaborateIy developed than in England. Here In New York, for example. there are about 50,000 em-
 ployes of public service corporations, exclusive of those in the telephone ser vice. and there are already fully 50,0G0
 municipal employees on the city pay rolls. r. the former should be added to the latter, the combined force would constitute one-sixth of the total vot- ing population, and if united and aided by their friends and relatives, such combination would be inyincible. Hard American sense will not consent to the taxpayers business being run by any such inexperienced captains of indus try as this body of interested persons would be.
 'If, and so far as. the municipal own ership of public service utilities of Great Britain has been successful" Mir. Burdett declares. "it has been because
 of the character of the local civil ser vice in that country. The rigid limf- tation of the voting franchise. with
 other causes. has operated to put into city and town councils and other local legislative bodies men of a superior
 type. who regard public service as an honor, and whose services are retained
 by the public practically as long as they are willing to serve.
 But as excellent as is their general
 character, I think it is beginning to be understood and generally admitted that the local governing powers of the larger British towns and cities are be- coming less. rather than more. efficient. This result naturally accompanies the
 multiplication of the duties imposed upon those bodies. While willing to give much of their time gratuitous to the public service, business men are beginning to find that the draft upon 1t is more than they can meet without ab- solute disregard of their private affairs.
 "whatever may be the national poll itics of the members of city and town councils. politics finds no place what ever in the administration of local af- fairs, particularly in the choice and re- tention of public administrative ser wants and officials. Not only is the mu- nicipal civil service in Great Britain totally different from that in America. it's character and tenure upon a wholly different system of laws and administration, but the public sentiment and education of the people of the two countries upon the subject is so opposed that the conditions in either country could not be repro duced. by legislation or otherwise, in | the other"