The Washington times., 1910-03-10
SENATE'S GAS INVESTIGA-
TON OF NATIONWIDE SCOPE.

II VIII be most remarkable # there
is not determined hostility TO the
sweeping investigation Of the Wash
ington gas companies which the Senate
Committee ON the District of Columbia
Corporations has decided upon.
It is safe 30 assume that the political
and financial influence behind the mu-
niciPal monopolies al, over the country
wiz discover a tre1us ndous menace to
their graft, IN the Pr,posed inquiry IN
Washington
Under the resolution which has been
unanfmouGy reported by the commit
tsS - b proposed 10 so TO the bottom
Of Tho gas business Its history, fin
snnsA. management, win be subjected
to the m1uscops and ths acid test. A
vaf0at3on of the properties is part Of
ths plan, togethsr with a modern, SCI
entifo oodo Of regulation for the future.
Monopoly Of municipal frsndhises and
service II the basis OF more corrupt
machine politics than any other thing
Judge Lindsey story Of Denver IS sim
ply the story Of a community 6ebauch-
ed by the gr1bbes Of - public fran
chises IN order that they may force the
pubic 90 pay Observation-Disclosures for the
service an mrst have.
The story Of Cncagos decades of
lighting for decent government has
besn the sbuy Of struggle for smanci-
patton from ruie by the public service
nuonopoEistA
The municipal rut&onness Of New
York IN large part ira IS 70 the greed
for franchises and thu privilege Of
earning excessive returns on their
exploitation
And PhilsdsIphia's breakdown Of a
vile municipal system is simply the
story Of city Plundered Of that which
the people ought TO have kept; Of tre-
mendous overcapfta1ization of public
service corporations, ON which returns
must be earneds Of inability to pay
decent wages or give respectable serv-
ice. while earning returns on this IN
fated capital, and finally, Of the pro
test Of ilLpsid employees, the inevitable
conflict, the sympathy of the public
which understands the methods Of this
sort Of robbery, and realizes that IN the
largest way the strikers are fighting
not only for themselves, but for the
rights Of the whole citizenry.
To the extent that political machines,
based on this kind of exploitation,
are represented in Congress, just to
thta extent will there be Opposi-
tion 30 the Brown resolution and
its effort 70 reform conditions in Wash
ington- We are going TO learn-the
nation IS going to learn-to what
lengths the city hooters can make them
selves heard and felt in Congress.
No reform is more urgently needed
in this country than in the manage
ment and regulation of municipal utiI-
tiles. The Brown resolution looks. with
the eye Of a SPLENDID imagination, to
the possibility of making Washington
q, model for the nation. II is a step
TO nstionalze the movement ior mu-
nicipal reform; TO make the whole
country understand that in the end the
problems of all the cities are identi-
cal; to make clear that reform can be
effective only as It takes away from
the lOOters the prizes for whose sake
they debauch city government and rob
the people.
Yes. there viii be opposition, in an
probability, to the adoption of the
Brown resolution That opposition will
probably make it necessary to study
into the political and business affilia-
tions Of public men who fear to give
Washington a square deal in its long
fight with the Gas Monopoly.
The Brown resolution ought to pass
II will be REINFORCED by a powerful re-
port on which Senator Brown is at
work, and it viii be supported by the
real progressives. The peculiarly bad.
the utterly inexcusable conditions in
Washington, may make it possible 10
force the resolution to passage without
. serious opposition; but far more likely.
there viii be a debate which will mark
milestone in the effort to nationalize
the struggle for decenter city govern
ment,