Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-08
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP ABROAD
REPORT OF THE NEW YORK COM
MISSION.
Two Sides to the Question Treated by
Prof. Commons and Editor
J.. W. Sullivan.

| CATION extending over nearly two years
and embracing many of the principal cite.
both of the United States and Great Britain
the national civic federation commission or
public ownership and operation has com
| pleted it's duties The important and inter
esting reports on labor conditions are tht
first to be made public.
| There are two reports on this subject. ont
by Prof. John R. Commons 81 Wisconsin
University and the other by J. w. Sullivan
editor of the Clothing Trades Bulletin OF
| New York The report of Prof. Commons
! under the title of Labor and Politics." Is
| more favorable to municipal ownership Of
public utilities than Is that of Mr.. Sullivan
| made under the general heading. THE La
Dor Report
| Mr.. Sullivan makes caustic reference Il
political rottenness evidence as to which
he declares. was conclusive in Syracuse
/ Allegheny and Wheeling. Prof. Commons
der municipal control was no greater thar
| under private ownership.
| The Cities Investigated
| The commission has made most ex.
| haustive investigation of public and pr.
| vate operation of the four leading public
! utiitiestgas. water. electric lighting and
| power and street railways-in all the cities
| visited. both in America and Great Britain
! Fifteen members of the investigating COM
mittee sailed for Europe May % last year
and returned to the United States in Au-
gust
| Among the cities visited abroad were
Glasgow. Newcastle-on-Tyne. London. Liv-
erpool. Norwich. Manchester Birmingham
| Dublin. Leicester and Sheffield. Investiga-
| tons in the United States were made In
Cleveland. Chicago. Philadelphia, Wheeling
! Detroit. Indianapolis, Richmond. Atlanta,
! South Norwalk. Syracuse, Allegheny. New
Haven and Hartford. staff of engineers
over twenty, of national reputation. were
employed to examine thoroughly every I'M
dertaking visited by the committee
| The Movement Abroad.
| Certain effects of the municipal owner
| ship movement in Great Britain on the pri-
| vate companies are evident. says Prof.
Commons The Sheffield Company. under
| the far-seeing management Of Sir Frederick
Mappn. has directed it's policy for many
years with the distinct purpose of meeting
! the arguments for municipal ownership. To
avoid agitation it has refra:ned from going
to parliament for permission to increase its
capital stock Consequently 1t has d:strib-
uted its large surplus profits In the form Of
reduced prices for gas and betterments 10
| It's plant
! Most instructive Of all Is the attitude of
| the companies towar1 their employees. With
| the sentiment of municipal ownership ready
to explode. the companies cannot afford to
risk a strike. The Newcastle gas company
has met this situation by a ". ling recogni-
| ton of the gas workers union and by a
resort to arbitration. through which wages
have been materially raised. The South
Metropolitan Company has developed its CO.
partnership scheme with astonishing
| shrewdness and careful attention to de-
| tails. so that every disaffected workman is
silent or dismissed.
The Sheffield Company. although It's pres
ident had openly attacked and wrecked
| trade unions in his private business con-
tented itself with gradually undermining
the gas workers union through the pay
ment of wages and Bonuses superior to
those paid by other private employers OF
| the district. and even in the case of I'M
skilled labor superior to those paid by the
corporation Of Sheffield.
influence Of Wage-Earners.
The influence of wage-earners through
their unions upon the conditions of mu-
nicipal employment in the United States
| has been complicated through the pres
ence Of activity of practical politicians.
The views express ed by Prof. Commons
are in many resp scts favorable to munich
pal ownership. He finds. however. that
the proper method of dealing with EN-
ployes is the most difficult and critical
problem OF municipal ownership. AMI he
favors recognition of organized labor as a
safeguard against the pressure Of outside
(politcaD recommendations
4u0 StA0I 0AoS Va -.
Mr.. Sullivan sums up his observations
with the conclusion that In all but the
! most poorly paid forms Of labor. and for
tramway employees. municipalization has
not raised the wage or improved working
conditions of the employees above condt-
lions in the private undertakings. With
respect to common, unorganized labor.
however. the investigators found differ
ence some what favorable to British mu-
nicipal employees. The report cites two
causes for this condition; first, that the
municipal laborer is a picked man. and
second. that this class OF labor Is capable
of exerting on city councils a com lined
pressure which obtains for them better
terms than thu employing councillors &C
cord to the men they hire In their private
capacity for similar work.
mo street car undertaking In Great Brit
ain has ever been private enterprise In
the sense in which the word Is applied in
this country" says Mr.. Sullivan. The
twenty-one-yea term Of the franchise, the
veto Of company petitions by village author
tiles. the enormous cost of parliamentary
powers and local assents and various other
restrictions nonresident in the United
States shackle and impoverish British
tramway company management and conse-
Quently forbid an Intelligent investigator to
employ British example through change
from private to municipal ownership"
Project to Restrict Men.
On examining multiplication as exhib-
tied In the LABOR reports, MI sullivan de-
clares, 1t is seen to be a project to restrict
men in their activities by methods foreign
to the American genius. while in practice
it has failed to make out the case of its
advocates as In the least measure a step
forward In promoting the best interests Of
the employees of the enterprises Investigated.
or of the occupations most closely inter-
woven with them. or of the nations broad
ening masses.
Mr.. Sullivan In his report says:
my colleague and myself, in closing our
! joint inquiry as to wages and conditions
| In the British gas undertakings visited.
| agree in saying:
" Summarizing what precedes. with the
exception of the twelve-hour stations OF
| the South Metropolitan Company, and TAX
| ing into account the general level Of wages
| in the several localities. 1t cannot be said
| that there Is any material difference be-
! tween the public and private undertakings
| In the wages of stokers or in the average
| wages of the shfftworkers in the retort-
houses
CUT HIS THROAT WITH A KNIFE.
|