The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-15

cago. somewhat@bette than the wa
ter supplied in Cleveland and quite
as good as b water supplied ia Syria
cuse. The latter place is blest with
water from a source which down to
the date OF this report, has remained
pure without any special expense or
effort on the part of the water depart
ment.
1T seems that the citizen obtains
the cheapest water in Cleveland, while
New Haven is the second cheapest.
At Indianapolis the o MAJ gets wa
ter fairly cheap, but the cost increases
rapidly as the class of dwelling inn
proves. At both Chicago and Syracuse
the poor man pays a nigh price for
water.
Financial Results.
Under the heading Financial" an
exhaustive review of the economic
operations of municipal and private
undertakings t in Great Britain
and the United States is given by the
reviewers, who find that it is admit
ted by the advocates of municipaliza-
} ton that The debts of British cities
have been enormously increased by
its operations. 1--WE venture to be-
lieve" they say, "tnat the loss to the
communities whose municipal indus
~ We AdF0 AhNOoNA0at0o "a
management and lack of enterprise,
resulting in restricted service of mod
ern utilities, is many times the profit
these cities claim to have realized
from their Rip Van Wilkle methods
of serving the people.
1T is not worth while to discuss the
effect on the finances of American cit
les of the municipal operations of the
industries that we have here investigat
ed. Properly audited they have, with
one Dr. TWO exceptions, lost money,
and their plants are all inadequate
to good service and have, with the
exception of the water plants, little
more than a scrap value in view of
the present state of the arts. What
effect could such poor efforts as we
have witnessed have on public wealth
or public comfort? 1t cannot fail to
be bad?."
Mr.. Edgar and Mr.. Clark conclude
their present review as follows:
Whatever the subjective relation
of municipalities to their reform, their
objective relation, as we have e
is far from what it once was regarding
the commodities and services to be
m~unicipalized. They have been obli-
gated by the logic of events to cut
away from much that seemed precious
to themselves and to many VINO train
ed with them. Their opponents, TAX
ing cognizance of the projects aban-
doned, hoped that now municipalities
might be pinned down to the consid-
GRAFTON of ascertained facts relating
to undertakings which their %represen-
~tativesI have had an opportunity to
visit and to developments obvious to
all who are interested in the progress
of the debate on the question. The
voluntary movement of the municipal
izers to this not easily shiftable point
would, we submit. in itself have beer
a contribution to the cause of truth
and a source of qualification to their
adversaries. But the radical British
municipalizer has exhibited the S
ces of hope and fancy. if no of logic
and consistency. While his American
comrade is still shouting for munich
pal ownership, ne is to-day, in his lat
est frame of mind, looking expectant-
ly to 'municipalization by provinces
that is, for gas, water, tramway and
electricity he now wants national gov
eminent, appropriation ownership and
operation. He has dropped municipal
ism and ONE out for what he all the
time had in the background of his
thought-socialism.
Thus the familiar old song of state
SOCldllSm Is pd1dpu1 dSeu. ne pI1l1CI-
pie was accepted by leading munich
palizers of Great Britain, who appear
ed before our Commission in London,
and it is the logical outcome of NUM-
c~ipalizatin.
when ex-Mayor Dunno, of Chicago
came out last summer for twenty-year
franchises for the street car corpora
tons of his city he demolished his
platform, ignored his campaign prin-
ciples and returned to the system of
private ownership in the one industry
whose reform through municipaliza-
ton was the 1oudest cry that gave
him his office"
Prof. Parsons and Mr.. Bemis.
In favoring municipal ownership
Professor Parsons declares that in
most discussions of the subject too
much attention is given to the purely