The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-04-20
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
Examination of Tendencyin Cities
For Public Control of Com
mon Supplies
fNiIsiam Allen White in American
Magaizne)

Lung the last nNe years the Amer
icaD people in cities have been in
Nes,ng something like 100000 a
yeaE in public utilities. Some utili-
ties they have bought. Some they
haVe built. But in either sense they
have taken business that was private.
anQ made It public. The movement
toward municipal ownership is strong.
~detiDlte, ~unWaverin2. 1t has been
growing steadily since the first year
Of the new century. How has he
transfer Of business been conducted ?
Has any one been wronged? Have
tO]us51ces to the former owners been
doHef Is it not a. mOst remarkable
teslrnony to the sense of justice and
generosity of the American cities tina
i'm ali this municipal trading no one
has been reported as having been seri-
ously injured: The people must have
been fair, or there would be now an
accusing party to bear witness to
their ruthlessness, and their greed.
But they seem to have replaced pri-
Nate greed by public kindness.
TIE people living in American cit
les have a billion and a third of debts.
These debts represent largely their
industrial activities. They represent
~suhv,ays constructed. lighting plants
bouG7t, docks and wharves acquired,
parks Laid out upon confiscated
ground, schools established. market
Dldtte lCtdleu, HOSpltdIS .Dulll, equip
PED and operated, Fairgrounds and
farms for boys and girls maintained,
sewers and garbage ~desicating plants
constructed, w~ater-WOrks and heat
ana power plants taken over or erect
ed. Surely if the people were unfair
some one would organic the com
plainL against their business meth
DDS They have been e~Xtravagant.
they have been even prOdigal and
foolish in some of their industrial
ventures. But they have not been IN
Just The public sense of American
cities has justified in the kindness of
the people whatever of unSelfish ef-
fort has been devoted to them. And,
moreover. with the manifestation OF
the fairness of the people, a respect
for mem has grown up among politi-
clans.
There must always be- a ruling class
il An9eTica-the class that makes pol
jtics rs business. And that class will
not be reformed by putting its mem
herS in iail-nOt particularly. 1t IS
being reformed, however. in our
American cities by the growing moral
intelligence of the people. Our gov
is representative. Our rul-
ing classes will be of our own kind
And as the municipal researchers
rise. Tarnmany will fall, not because
ItS : 30 1itSA' -
men than Tanimany men, but because
the average man is better thai Tam
many. Hence in q score of our Amer.
ican cities the power Of the local. boss
is waning. The whole tendency OF
municipal politics is away from the
IRRESPONSIBLE boss to the
rulev, from the ariStOcracy OF the ma
chine TO representative government
The meaning of the DeS MOineS plan,
and the real significance OF the move
ment for uniform municipal accOunt
inc. is TO simplify responsibility IN
municipal affairs, and to fix it definite
" where it belongs. 1t is not a move
mert fer cheap government, Tor lower
taxes. for better service. so much as
il is q tendency that must follow the
enlightenment of the DeOple-a tend
ency toward real self-gOvernment. 1t
is the intelligent rise of the lndlNld-
ual. and so far from being socialistlc-
in the sense that socialism Is COM
monty supposed to be the submission
OF the man in the mass-the modern
movement in American politics IS
briStlinE with militant un-
hammered men crowding out OF the
mass for individual elbow room.
The problems before American cit
les nov are Fundamentally propleHls
arising from aspiration struggling
with ignorance and greed. TheSe
problems manifest themselves in many
for71s. The gravest problems are
those that come from the regulation
and control of public utilities. fof
the boss gets his money from the man
who is after g franchise, or has one
to protect. and the evils Of bailot-pox
stut1ng, of l~awbreaking, of vice, OF
petty grating, follow in the tram OF
the boss and the men whom ne ere
Yates with his tribute levied upon the
public service corporation. BanisI
the boss and the protector OF Sann-
ling and organized vice is gone. IL Is
easy enough to say that Wneh tne