The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-05-21
SOCIALIST LOGIC,
False Premises Lead to Absurd
Conclusions.

House Cannot Be Made the Basis of
an Argument For Public Ownership.
Private Enterprise Is Always the
Pioneer In Fields of Public Utility.
In a recent issue Of Wilshire's Mag
azine (Socialist) the municipal lodging
house lately opened in New York Is
made the text for comparison OF
public and private enterprise" the
foil being a Bowery ten cent lodging
house. The comparison is, Of course,
and doubtlessly Correctly, very much
to the advantage of the municipal lodg-
ing house in the matters Of cleanli-
ness and comfort. The writer neg
lects, however, to mention that he Is
comparing a charity with a business
enterprise. Nor does he tell us how
much each of it's nightly guests costs
the city. Certainly that cost exceeds
10 cents. Therefore the comparison is
an unfair one. The ten cent lodging
house must limit its accommodation to
what it's guests can afford to pay. If
they can pay more they go to "hotep
where they can get private room
with bath privileges) for quarter.
If, as is possible, each Of its guests
costs the city quarter, then the COM
parison should be made with one Of
these hotels, and the publicity Of the
city's open dormitory, with its scores
Of almost contiguous beds, does not
compare favorably, in that respect at
least, with the privacy Of the cheap
hotel.
Another point must not be lost sight
Of. Private enterprise has provided
cheap lodging houses for the homeless
poor for half a century. Until the
present year the municipal lodging
house was Of type which even mu-
nicipal Socialist would not choose for
a comparison with private enterprise,
and prior to 1897 the city's only pro-
vision for them were the benches in
the parks and the cells in the police
stations, neither of which appealed to
the man who had any self respect and
quate had not private enterprise taken
care of most Of the homeless ones.
AS basis for advocating public
ownership-in view Of the half century
delay one can scarcely say public en-
terprise-the municipal lodging house.
desirable as it is, scarcely supplies the
necessary argument. In fact. Mr.. Will
shire's use Of it shows to what ex-
tremities the municipal Socialist is
pushed.
If you told the average patron of
municipal electric plant that he diff
fered only in degree from the home
less wanderers whose nights lodging
is provided by the taxpayers he would
smile incredulously or get hot under
the collar. Yet the statement would
in most cases be true, for he is get
ting light at less than the cost Of pro-
duction and is therefore recipient Of
public charity, for it is a rare case
where, sooner or later, the taxpayers,
direct and indirect, do not have to go
down into their pockets to make good
the financial losses Of municipal plants.
There is, however, one noteworthy
difference. Most electric light users
are we'll to do, while most Of the poor
do not have electricity in their houses;
hence one has the edifying spectacle
of the poor being taxed to provide a
partial charity for the well to do, in
stead of the latter being taxed to pro-
vide beds for the very poor.
The municipal lodging house is also
typical Of the way in which public "en-
terprise" follows private enterprise at
a more than respectful distance. State
Socialists talk glibly Of the state rail-
roads of continental Europe, forget
ting apparently that they were built
by private enterprise, which was gen.
erously permitted to operate them so
long as there was uncertainty as to
their being financial success. The
same statement may be made in re-
gard to the telephone system Of
France, the telegraph and the tram
way systems Of Great Britain and the
lighting plants Of that country and our
own. 1t has always been private en-
terprise which has blazed the way,
incurred the initial risks, demonstrate
ed the. possibility Of success, only too
often to be held up and forced to turn
over to unenterprising public officials
the business which It has carefully
nurtured and which usually soon stag
mates under the lack Of enterprise
which is the distinguishing character
istic Of a bureaucracy.