The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-07
Treats It in lis Relation to
 the State
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
Is Guest of Honor of the Chicago Commercial Club and Is the Only Speaker at the
 Function.

Chicago, April 6.-Ambassador James c. Bryce was the guest of honor and the only speaker tonight at the banquet of the Commercial club in this city. His subject was ''The Modern City in Relation to the State'
 The speaker said in part:
 Municipal work seems to fall into three classes. There are certain functions which are vital and indispensable, because the individual citizen living in very large community cannot do them for himself or herself. They must be done by an organization which covers the whole city. One of these is the maintenance of pub lie safety; that is to say, the police. Among other functions are drainage, street paving and cleaning, the care of public health and making of sanitary regulations and general building regula- tions and protection from fire.
 "A second class of municipal functions covers those which might be left either to individuals or to large corporations in what we call in England publica com- panies Such are the provisions of wa ter, the provisions of light, whether of gas or electricity: street railways, the telephone and the provision and regula- tion of markets. There is also the care of the poor in public education.
 "A third class of municipal activities covers others which may or may not be given to public local authority and which in Great Britain are in few places only undertaken by such authorities. One of these is the provision of public lodging houses, the public baths and wash houses and of dwellings for the laboring classes. What has been done in this direction is still in the stage of experiment, and the mi ic not fyo1 ut to fhn dnet bility of making this part of municipal government
 Much depends on whether the particu- lar work to be done is In the nature Of & monopoly. For instance, the supply ot water Is almost of necessity monopoly. You canont have a number of water companies undertaking to supply each citizen by their own pipes. Still less can you have rival street railway companies laying down their rails in the same streets because, there would not be room. This must be already either taken over by the city or handed over to one corpora tion. which would become monopoly at least for one particular part of the city. And the same thing Is true of lighting. Now, where there is a monopoly 1t Is strongly urged in England that the profits which a monopoly may earn and the in- creased value which the growth of city gives to such a monopoly as that of street transportation ought to belong 10 the public The financial results of some branches of municipal work are much disputed and to present general conclu- sions on the subject would be at this moment premature This much, however, may be said: It is a pre-condition to the giving municipal authority of any control over public work and public utili- ties, which are not necessarily involved in the varying existence of that municipal authority that the authority itself should be honest and capable, that is to say that the administrators should be upright and intelligent men. Whether they are will depend upon the conditions. It will de- pend mainly on the public spirit of the citizens-and the sense of civic duty which anmates them. If there is lively sense of public duty and of the responsibility of each individual citizen for the good gov ernment of the community; If he gives an honest vote based on his judgment of the character of the candidates: if he watches the conduct of those who admin ister on its behalf, and calls them to strict account for any misdoings, it will be obviously safe to intrust the municipal function which might be desired to him.