The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-03-10
BY S. FRED HoGUE,
URING the last summer and au-
tumn j travelled 10000 miles

tumn travelled 10000 miles
~ and visited eighteen municipall-
ties in Great Britain and on the CONT
ncnt or Europe for the purpose OF
studying municipal and government So
cialism in communities where these
theories have been tested for NUMBER
of years.
| made extended stays in the cities
that have been advertised as shining
examples of operative municipai soclal-
ism, and studied the real conditions
there The results Of my investisa-
tions I have written from week TO week
in letters to The Times Dispatch. The
final conclusions reached on the com
p.etlon of my trip may be summarized
as follows:
Municipal ownership Of gas. electric
and tramway enterprises has failed
signaly to give cheaper or more
efficient service than that furnished by
private capital, even in Great Britain,
where private companies have been SO
hampered by timd Parliament and
by competing municipal monopolies
that the cost OF operation and mainte-
nance IL increased at least 10 per cent.
MUNICIPAL GAS HIGHER.
London receives cheaper gas from
q private company than Glasgow gets
from it's municipal plant The private
electric railways in and about London
and other English cities furnish In
many instances transportation at lower
rates than the municipal trans
Compared, city with city. in the same
part of the country, municipal rates
on the average are higher than those
charged by private enterprises.
The experience of English and Scotch
cities has completely dispelled the IL
fusion that because a city owns and
operates gas or electric plant 1t
can fix the price OF the commodity de.
livered. The price of gas and elec-
tricity in England and Scotland is reg
ulated by the price of fuel In the coal
fields. When the coal barons corner
the output, the price of gas and cleo
tricity must go mp or the city must
lose money. In 1908 an advance in the
price OF Scotch coal wiped out all the
profit of the Glasgow municipal gas
plnnt, and occasioned loss nf more
than 100000. This year there is an
other and even greater advance In the
price of coal. Glasgow must either
raise the price of gas or the product
will fall on the tax rates.
But there has been no appreciablt
advance In the price of Scotch coal out
side Great Britain. Private electrical
companies 1000 miles from Scotland
buy Scotch coal one-t third cheaper thar
the price paid by the municipality o
Glasgow. Gasgows coal bin approx
mates s2,000,000 yearly find million
of American capital invested In Grea
Britain--not In the public utilize
themselves. but in the coal fields, tina
supply the fuel for the municipa
plants The Yerlses millions, formerly
invested in the street railways of Chi
cago, are now a part of the combna
ton that Is forcing higher the pric
of Scotch GOAL. The capitalists find
just as profitable to furnish the fue
for making gas and electricity as
manufacture the products themselves
Municipalities must advertise for fut
In the open market and buy of the low
est bidder at q published price. The
have made 1t easy and profitable fc
capital to corner the OUTPUT OF I'll,
English and Scotch coal mines,
Municipal socialism has plunged II
cities of Great Britain so deeply I'M
debt that 1t will require at least III
years for the restoration of the publ
credit, The average municipal tradir
city in Great Britain has outs air
three times the amount of bonds whlt
California municipality would be pc
mitted by the State law f. '--,,o A
though sumo ~ the public utilities ha,
been owned and operated by the cit
for seventy years, ] have failed to fl
one clear of indebtedness---in fact,
have not been able to obtain a reco
of a gas or electrical plant or of
tram car system that Is half paid 70
borrowing for public trading has I
creased the rate Of interest chang