Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-02-28
MOUNTAIN AND MOUSE
National Civic Federation Report
Is Disappointing.

after Two Years OF Labor the Com
mttee Brings Forth Report Which
Proves Little-lnvestieatoH Allow
Their Prejudices to Blind Them &c
the Facts-labor Unions Are Warned
of Danger.
For two years committee or the
National Civic federation has been
making n study of municipal owner
ship In the United States and Eng,
land. the investigators having been
selected impartially from the advo'
Gates and opponents Of municipal own
crShip. The report embodying the
findings of this committee will be pub
!iShed this month in two parts. one
of which will he devoted to the opin'
ions Of the Investigators. the other to
the statistical Information upon which
those opinions are supposed to be based.
Half Truths.
We use the word supposed" ad-
visetlly, for from the advance sections
that have been given to the papers II
appears that some at least OF the mu-
nicipal ownership members Of the COM
mittee have not considered 1t neces-
sary to make their opinions square
with the facts. For instance, Mr..
Bemis holds up the Wheeling CIV. Va
gas plant as an example OF successful
municipal ownership because its net
rate Is Is cents. while 81 Is charged
by the companies In Norfolk, Va. and
Atlanta, Ga. According to tho news
paper reports. Mn Bemis does not In
form the public that the average price
Of coal In Norfolk and Atlanta is at
least GO per cent higher than In Wheel
ing and that the latter city uses natu-
raj gas as fuel in its retorts. nor does
he call attention to the important fact
that the average candlepower In the
two cities named is IS per cent higher
than in Wheeling.
Charity Begins at Homo.
Where Mr.. Bemis does use figures
he uses them shrewdly. As superin-
tendent Of the Cleveland vaterwOrks
lie Of course knows that IN that city
the average death rate from typhoid
In the thirty-two years preceding 1905
was 81 per 100000. So he uses
for comparison with cities that have
private waterworks only the years
19O5-O0, when the typhoid death rate
In Cleveland averaged only 17.G per
100000. Two years Is Of course far
too short period upon which to base
such u comparison. since the rates
vary widely In different years. the rate
in Syracuse in 1906. for example. be-
ing only about half what 1t was In
1906, while Cleveland dropped from
iii In 1908 to Is In 1905.
Hope Versus Experience.
Professor Parsons. another Of the M.
o. members Of tho committee. seems
to prefer the future to the past as a
basis for determining results. He ex-
presses his conviction that municipal
ownership would develop a higher
class Of municipal administrators. but
when he is faced with such conditions
as existed in Philadelphia under the
notorious gas ring he promptly side
steps the issue by declaring that Phila-
delphia did not have public owner
ship. but only ownership by political
Rrafters. The humor Of this Is ap-
parent when ono considers that one Of
the principal objections to municipal
ownership Is that 1t tends to result In
Ownership by political grafters."
Politics Versus Efficiency.
On this point the opinions Of Pro
fessor Commons are worth quoting
Although he also has a prediction
for municipal ownership. he evidently
assumed that 1t was his duty to give
verdict In accordance with the facts
His sincerity must be recognized even
by those who do not accept all Of his
conclusions. He and Mr.. Sullivan, edi-
tor Of the Clothing Trades Bulletin,
consider the labor aspects Of the sub
ject. Professor Commons admits that
some municipal plants are politically
honeycombcd" and adds:
THE appointment, promotion and dis
missal Of employees and the wages to
be paid offer peculiar opportunities for
political and personal influence incon-
sistent with efficiency"
Professor Commons finds that II 10
not unusual for public service COM
panies to appoint employees at the
behest of political bosses, but he notes
that in such cases the employee has
to make good In order to hold his po-
sition, while In the case Of city plants
the politicians influence is expected to
keep the man In the position even II
he Is Incompetent or negligent.
Municipal Employees Pull Together.
In Great Britain Professor Commons
finds that municipalizntion has pro-
duced "a spurious form Of trades union
ism." which was repudlated by u prac-
tically unanimous vote of the trades
union congress in 1906 on the ground
that the Municipal Employees associa-
ton Is class rather than n trade Or
ganiZation. Speaking Of the advocacy
by some councillors Of the disfran-
chisement Of municipal employees be-
cause Of their tendency to support can
dldates who will concede their de-
mands. Professor Commons says that
this is not the true remedy, though
ut goes without proof that such q
remedy Is needed. for municipal en-
ployees sooner or later cast their votes
for candidates who promise or have 60
cured betterment Of their condition
regardless Of Its effect on the enter
prise as whole"
A Menace TO Unionism.
Professor Commons considers that
trades unions will check this tendency,
but such has not proved to be the case
In England, and Mr.. Sullivan, who IL
evidently friend Of the unions, points