The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-18

New York, July 18.-Mulicipal op-
Grafton of public utilities in Great
Britain, as observed by a committee
Of experts sent abroad last year by
the National Civic Federation, is
treated at length in a series of re-
views by members of the committee,
which -ere made public today. These
reviews of the experts reports, writ
ten by Milo r. Maltbie, Walton Clark,
vice-president of the United Gas I'M
provement Company of Philadelphia,
and Charles L. Edgar, President of the
Edison Electric and Illuminating Com
pany of Boston. are divided in opinion
as to the success of the undertakings
as a whole. Mr. Maltbie, is one OF
the members of the newly created
Public Service Commission for Great
er New York. This body has the wild
est powers and the great responsible
lities of any commission to which the
regulation of corporations has been en-
trusted, up to this time, in the Ulited
States. Mr.. Maltbie spent six months
in Great Britain supervising the work
of the eXpVrt accountants and engi-
neers. He says that municipal oper-
alton of public utilities in Great Brit
ain has passed the experimental stage
He declares that the gas and electric
plants operated by municipalities,
generally give a superior service at a
relatively lower cost, as compared
with the privately owned companies.
This condition ne finds to be due prin
cipally to the higher rate of Interest
and profit and the greater amount of
liabilities of the private companies
By far the most interesting part of
Mr.. Maltbie's conclusion, however, is
that actual ownership and operation
is not necessary for the success of the
municipal ownership idea. He says
that the power to operate, if necessary
or desirable, in many instances, has
been as effective as actual operation
that the mere fact that city has the
power to step in and operate al un-
dertaking itself often makes the exer-
else of this power unnecessary. 1t
has been found in Great Britain tnat
no system of control or regulation is
complete without the power in the
hands of the municipalities to pur-
chase and operate" says Mr.. Maltbie.
IF one company may be succeeded on
ly by another or only hedged about
by restrictions, there come times
when action, not repression, is want
ed, and then no remedy is adequate
unless it be the power of the city to
step in and operate the undertaking it.
self. But the mere fact That it has
the power often makes its exercise un-
necessary, and what the Britisher de
sires is not the universal adoption of
some method of producing results, but
the results themselves.
I'm the following analysis of the re-
suits of public and private manage
ment it should be borne in mind that
such a comparison is not compari-
soa of municipal with private opera
ton subject to no restraining force,
but with private operation under sys-
TENS of regulation which are claimed
to be the best which have yet been
devised in Great Britain and with pri-
vate management that has been chas-
tened and bettered by the fear of pub
lie condemnation, by the restrain of
government regulation and the possi-
lbiIity of municipalizatiol. Thus the
low price at which gas is supplied by
the Sheffield company is largely the
result of the avowed determination of
the men in control to head OF munich
palization. II municipal operation had
not been a possible alternative loom
ing above the horizon, 1t is likely that
even now the consumers would be
paying very much higher rates; and
the present low rates so far as they
are due to the desire to prevent muni-
cipal operation should be counted as
one Of it's indirect results"
The reasons that have lead to Brit
ish municipalization, Mr. Maltbie finds
are many. First among them, altho
not the most general nor the most i'm
porta1t, is the desire to secure for
the public the financial profits of the
undertakings. Second, there Is the de
sire to keep the city from being mule
ted by q private company and third.
the general demand for better service