The Washington herald., 1907-03-03

London. March Socialism suffered a
decisive and overwhelming defeat to-day
at the hands of the London electors. The
result Of the county council election is
the choice of seventy-nine Reformers.
thirty-six Progressives. and three Labor
ties. The last council consisted Of eighty
three PrOgressives. thirty-four Bfoderates
now called Reformersl, and one indie
pendent
Never in a great community in this
country has there been such an extreme
reversal Of the popular will with regard
to a party or policy. The Progressives
have controlled London since the creation
Of the county council. eighteen years ago.
FROM the outset they have engaged in
constantly broadening policy OF municipal
ownership, and il was this policy that
formed the sole issue Of the present cam
paign- London has now condemned and
repudated it in a decision so emphatic
that its revival is impossible
Policy Given Patient Trial.
The old councils record Of extrava-
gance waste. mismanagement. deception
by false accounts, and general incompc-
tence was perhaps the worst ever made
by a public body whose members were
not accused of personal dishonesty and
corruption. Englishmen. however are III.
most patient people on earth in their
treatment Of public officials and their
willingness to give any policy entered
upon a fun and fair trial Municipal OWL
ership. or, in OtI words socialism. has
had such triaI in I4OndOn. and it has
utterly failed That and nothing else Is
( the meaning of LOndOns verdict to-day
/ The nsures of the popular vote make
the decision even more emphatic They
are not quite complete, SO the exact totals
cannot yet be given, but the general
proportion Is more than two to one
against municipal ownership. There was
an enormous vote east. but despite this
the total Progressive vote shows a sub
stantial reduction from three years ago
when only 45 per cent OF the enrolled
voters went 10 the polls
For SOciaIistIc sunday schools.
The Progressive defeat extended even TO
labor constituencies. WooIwich, for in
stance, where there is a large majority
Of the working class. turned out the Pro-
gressive representatives and elected Re
formers. Woolwich Is a district where
the taxpayers have been outrageously
mulcted by electric and other municipal
enterprises.
The last week OF the great campaign
against municipal socialism was the keen
est political struggle In the modern his
tory of the metropolis.
/ Some developments OF the week have
/ been important as indicating the extent
to which socialism pure and simple domi-
mates the present ofiiciald0m OF the city
it has been shown, for instance that
many public schools have been used on
Sundays for sO-calIed Socialist Sunday
/ schools. The discrimination by the au-
thorities is illustrated by the fact that
| when the vicar of q parish applied for
the use Of a schoolrOom for a church
Sunday school he was told first, that the
caretaker must have a day Of rest. He
applied again and was referred to the
/ district managers. who took no action at
/ the time. \ week later the room was in
use by a Socialist Sunday school
/ An interesting by-product of the pro-
gressiye Socialist policy has been the in
| PRODUCTION of municipal billiards al the
| taxpayers expense. The public reading
room and baths at Battersea have been
filed with young men playing billiards.
I bagatelle, dominOes. shove haIf-pcnny.
/ &c all the material being supplied aC
| public expense.
/ 1t has been explained that the reason
why the progressive Socialists have fog
so long held a majority Of two to one in
/ the county council s that the average
I LOndoner does not vote on the local .l-c-
! tons. At the last election in 1904 only
about 45 per cent of the electorate went
| to the polls. Then. too. the large exteu-
sion of municipal industrial enterprises
has created an army OF public employees.
/ who, of course, voted en masSe for their
official employers. This is one of the
most serious features of the situation. for
/ il the present control continues and car
rtes out its extensive programme of cleo
trical transportation aud other schemes.
il would not be long before the public
I employees would be sufficiently numerous
TO hold the complete balance Of power Ia
London and the city would be at the
mercy of the Socialist element
1t would naturally be supposed that the
! bright spring weather which prevailed
to-day would c0nduce TO an enormous
I vote, which would mean a decisive VIC
tory for the Reformers but the exact
/ contrary was the fact II is the habit or
well-to-do LOndoners to fee to the coun--
| try and seaside for the weekend when
the weather is favorable. and hence the
selection of Saturday as the polling day
was great advantage to the Socialists.
Bath UnIOads Light Plant.
I AtsiS wen : AtttiN 81 ldliuf%S IN uunlcf-
pal ownership include an important case
/ in Bath. The city authorities there voted
/ 4 to ?, to sell the municipal electric plant.
/ which has been a failure, to a private
| syndicate. The transaction means the
| immediate reduction Of the local rate Of
/ taxation. The auditor of the local gov
ernment board, after an examination OF
/ the WOOlwich accounts, reports an even
worse state of affairs an was previously
| reported in these dispatches. The cost of
street lighting has been more than twice
what it should have been. and the losses
on the electrical enterprise much heavier
/ than was acknowledged.
| Lord Avebury issued another brochure
on municipal ownership this week, in
which he again condemns the whole prin-
cipe as false democracy and bad policy
/ His conclusions are; ''AIonOpolies are
bad. but especially municipal monopOIies
/ because thev are the most difficult =.
regulate, control. ar abolish doubt
whether the paper profit which munich
palities claim TO have made has any real
/ existence. Municipal trading must in
| crease our rates more and more, while at
the same time il raises the price OF neces-
saries so that it cuts down incomes with
one hand and with the other makes life
more expensive