The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-02-10
Numerous Failures Of the Social
list Expcrimcntcrs Have Caused
An Awakening.
POORER SERVICE TO PUBLIC
Properties Allowed to Run Down,
Taxes 1ncreascd-Gas Plants
and Railways Badly Managed.
BY S. FREp. AoouE.
---- \ n \ n D. = I'UIfUUTI, IsHEI if1tI'
E ONDON has sounded the death

Line tSOcknoy lalllnanS ulet an over
wbelming defeat in tho November cleo
1ions, and tho sturdy old Conscrva tives
IRE returning triunphantly to power.
Municipal reformers have won LIS OF |
the 1,36o seats in the City Councils. |
They now control twenty-five Of the
twenty-eight boroughs Of Greater Lon
don. Boss Crooks is about as popular
rs was his prototype Boss Tweed when
.rammany lost control of New York City. |
November elections affected only the
borough councils; Crooks, Shaw and
Kier-Hardie remain secure in their seau
in the County Council until March. Then
will come the elections that are to de-
eide whether London shall restore
to private capital the great trading en-
tcrprises which her councillors have
managed so disastrously as public util-
ties.
The municipal ownership bubble has
burst. while stands the London County
s Council municipal trading shall stand"
asserted lSicr-Harclie year ago. The
reform tidal wave now threatens to carr
AWAY the County Council itself and estnb-
fish in its place n new system OF borough
councils.
Service Deteriorates.
For ten years London has followed the
will-o'- the-whisp OF the Municipal Social
istA During that time the epublic ser
has almost doubled, and the tax rate has
increased fifty per cent. The awakening
so slow in coming. has arrived. 1t takes
the average Londoner about as long to
realize a civic extravaganza as 1t does
for him to see the point Of an American
joke.
Londons awakening was accomplished
by the workngmen themselves These
have revolted against the rule of the
municipal bosses; the Socialists and the
walking delegates have been alike re-
pudiatcd by the honest workers; and
the rule of the ring is broken. Twenty
five boroughs have elected councillors on
straight anti-municipal ownership plat
Y forms.
Those fine salaries would be all wen
enough. say the .workingmen, If we didn't
have to pay them. I discussed this phase
Of the wage question with n number of
workingmen who came to the rooms Of
the London Municipal Society, seeking
for information about the tax rates.
1T reads smoothly elr5<sh when on
paper said one hard-tisted carpenter,
but It doesn't work out we'll. My neigh
Dor Is employed by the city. He gets
receives two shllings a day more pay.
don't envy him his Vlace. but I do
object to taking part Of my meaS &c
wages to pay his fine salary. Not one
worknsman in ten Is employed by the
City Council. This means that at least
nine of us must pay higher rents in
order that the tenth man shall get a
soft snap.
II have read a great deal in our papers
of what Your President says about q
square DEAL If he were over here do
not believe that he would stand for a
scheme in which nine Of us give up part
s of our scanty earnings in order to pro-
vide the tenth man with an easy place
at a fat salary.
Tt spells a man to pVt a city job here,
anyhow He isn't expected to do more
than half days work If he does bet
ter than that he will get himself disliked
by the workmen about him. After he
has been with the city few months he
educates himself to be loafer. and he
can't 80 back on a private JOB and keep
pace with the other workmen.'
1t Is largely due to tho efforts OF the
municipal societies that the workmen OF
London have learned what municipal
ownership really costs them. They have
found that the. city pays about twice
as much as a. private company for an
# Improvement, and that the Improvement
when completed is seldom satisfactory.
Some Strikinh Facts.
London fns spent slo0OOOoo on work.
!ngmen's dwellings. The object was tc
clear away the slums. Many old build
q ings have been torn down and new ones
built in their places. but the slums still
exist. The city charges higher rents fol
the new houses, the old tenants cannot
afford to pay the increase and the result
IS that they are. crowded back one stree,
and new slutn district grows there,
In ten years London has lost $1,000 O0(
in rentals and taxes by taking the street
railways from private companies. She
~ 1.i,A
$50.000.000, and in place Of being repro
ductive, the operation of the lines in
Guiding street widenngs, has cost tn,
city about 100000 more than the in
~ come received from fares.
Two Years ago London established
feet OF municipal steamboats, on tn,
Thames. These boats cost about $4,000,
Wy 900. During The two years they wer,
used the cost OF operating expenses wa
100000 greater than the revenue. Nov
tho boats are tied up al docks rustins
8 out. The last of them was t>lsen off tn
river on the first of November. For thi
costly experiment tho taxpayers mus
subscribe $4,000, 900, including interest OF
the bonds. For that expenditure the cit.
~ could not now realize s250O00.
The City Council has already eXpendc
t6,O0O0O0 on q power generating plan
for the street railway system st leas
s3.0oO,00Q more must be spent before tn
plant is finished This plant is a marye
n in municipal extravagancc. Years hay
been devoted to It's building, and othc
years must elapse before 1t Is completed
There are come who asser, that eectrl
railways will be obsolete by the time thi
plant Is finished.
Competent electrical experts say tina
an electrical station adequate to suppl
the London trans could haze been bui
ZEE for at least half the sum that this plat
VIII cost. and in half the time.
This is one Of The monuments Londo
Taxpayers have raised 10 BIl Crooks an
81. his ring OF Standardization Union agila
tors, II Is doubtful II it's equal can
found even In tho records Of the Twce
regime in New York City,
The Storm,
y These things are now common talk
london, When ! wrote my FIRST lettc
three months ago. the metropolis ~
still asleep. Then the Socialiet-Lab
Union ring was corrupt and The city W
n apparently contSn,,d. n Is now e
tremely doubtful whether Crooks and i
n ~ = H.. a.