The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-27
Zach McGhee Writes Of
 Trade and Tariff in England

council. The Councu was practicaliy unanimous In the vote to take over the operation of the lines. The private company spent . million dollars or more to equip and operate motor busses. and on the day the city start ment and organizing It's force, every line in Glasgow was paralleled with more motor buses than cars. The old company confidently expected that municipal operation would De fail- Council would be at their feet begging them to take back the lines. The re- verse was the result and in six months the private corporation was bankrupt. municipally operated street railway in Britain. Now, with the exception of Edinburgh, and one or two compara- lively unimportant towns in England. ain has followed Glasgow's lead, after a similar method, with similar reduc- tions in fares, similar improvement in service ami similar success from every operated street railway system, and is not now either on these isles or on the continent of Europe, which has been cipsi fines of dlsseow. Manchester. Birmingham and most of the others.
 And what has this to do with the tariff question? A workingman. who has wide influence in his and all allied was a feeling among the workmen that if England should enact protective tarim 1t would mean the corruption of public officials. for. said he. the inter- protection nthis product or one that would get their representatives not only into Parliament. but into all poe the country. In which case it would be impossible to keep their municipal enterprises free from graft as they now are.
 But there is another connection. closer even than that more or less "theoreticar' one. It Is that in Brit ain the consumer is not 6 myth" The street car system Is not making any any millionsires, and if you tell them town wealthy. they will stare at you as If they thought you were crazy. Why, our tram ways (thats what they call them) make the millions you speak or. but we ourselves get 1t. What Is more. the wealth that they don't take In excessive fares remains in our pock- cts. No wealth can be made by a tram we we do is v,y to see eo that it doesn't % consume % any more of our wealth in pennies than Is necessary. We see no advantage in piling up our pennies over wonder in keep them, paying as nearly as prac- ride"
 And it Is the precise argument which the protectionists here run up against when they propose to abolish free trade. We want to keep our pennies and use them as we think best, in- stead of turning them over to some manutactnrers to pay out in wages if people talk, men of all classes and you can preach to them till you are black and blue in the face about free trade being a theory. and about protection increasing the nations wealth. They just stare at you and in a way pity you.
 Now 1t is difficult to give an ade- Consumer here owns the Government He is not Hooked after" you under stand; he looks after himself. For. as little as the average American knows sense. Whenever and in whatever way these people can get any of these ''cheap goods" the floods of which Senator Aidrich and his crowd have here get it. But I shaJli write again about municipal ownership of other things than street railways.
 For the benefit of those satisfactorily motormen and conductors of the Glas-
 First year. ss cents to q a day.
 Third year ,i.iS to si.is a day day.
 Fourth year. Si.20 a day.
 Thereafter, SIPS q day.
 They each. of course, have a day off, without pay, a week. There Is no chance for any stealing, because each man who pays his fare must receive a ticket, properly punched, for which the conductor must account.
 The cost of living in Glasgow is about the same as that hereafter given as to other places, probably little cheaper. But I shall treat of that again. This letter has already ex- ceeded the limit In length.
 Copyrighted. 1909. by Zach McGhee.)