The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-31
ED17oRo1 PAGE OF THE EVENING FARMER
WHY HAS DE YER H. WARNER TAKEN
 PERSONAL CHARGE OF THE ELECTION?

Broadly speaking, two kinds of service of a public nature are render cd to the people of this city.
 Certain functions are performed by the city direct, upon a purely coop erative basis. The. charge to the citizens is the cost of the service.
 Certain other functions are per formed. for the city by Ethe public service corporations. These services are not cooperative. The charge to the citizens includes large profit.
 Functions of the first kind-those which are cooperative, and are fur nished at cost-are the schools, parks. policing. fire protection. care of streets and public works, sewers, care of public health, provisiSn for the poor and indigent sick, collection and reduction of garbage, general admin istration and the like.
 Functions of the second kind-those entrusted to private monopoly for which . profit is charged-are sup ply of water. supply of gas. supply of electricity. and transportation oy troll ley.
 The city employs in it's work more than thousand servants, school teachers, janitors, police. firemen. public works employees, members of boards, help in parks and so on.
 The city supports in whole or in part almost 2,ooo indigent persons. besides paying the bills of about a thousand more, in insane asylums and hospitals.
 The total cost of all this service. all this humanity, all this benevolence and orgs1ifeN c4 4christiapity.vin the current Veal. a! e!xsciusiveS e f of pigments to capital account-permanent improve ments-was less than $1,500.O00.
 The water, gas, electric light and trolley menopolies employ in the ser vice of Bridgeport many fewer per sons than. the city employs. They have ,ansiRdi diEsat persons on their pay folls, take care of no sick, support no injured, pay no bills for the care of the insane
 The cooperative public service given at cost-was had in all it's de- tails for a million and a half.
 The private public seryice-sold at a profit-took from the people of Bridgeport last year, about s2,ooo,- 900.
 About half of this $2,OOO,O00 was profit is one form or another, either as payment to investors in bonds, in- vestors in stocks, or as investment in additions to plant, or growth of sur plus.
 Private monopoly fights against two fhings. The first thing that it fights against is reduction of rates, and compulsion to first class service.
 The water monopoly wants to sell water at the top market price. It wants to sell it just as it comes from the reservoirs. perhaps yellow and dirty, or with all it's organic, and in organic matter in, it. teeming with colon baeilli and other germ life. Un- filtered water increases the risk Of typhoid infection, but filters diminish profits.
 The gas monopoly wants to sell gas for dollar a thousandswith ten cents for usury, if the payment is la ter than ten daysn aftaf the, bill is rendered. although gas is sold for less than a dollar in Hartford and New Haven, and for so cents a thousand in Haverhill and many places smaller than Bridgeport.
 The electric light monopoly wants to keep prices up- It does not want competition with gas, and gas does not want competition with electric light It wants to sell the smallest quantity of its commodity consistent with the highest price.
 The street railway, monopoly as to its whole traffic, much of which is suburban. or interurban and costly, makes almost two cents on every five cent car fare. The profit in a city like Bridgeport is undoubtedly more than two cents. It wants to take the full price. It wants to charge the full five cent fare for every ride, al- though the people of Waterbury, a smaller city, are able to get six rides for 25 cents from the same company.
 The second thing that private mo- nopoly fights against is PUBLIC OWNERSHIP, which means the ser- vice at cost to the people, and that the private owners can no longer take a huge profit.
 The people are, demanding gas, wa ter. electric light and trolley service by public cooperation at cost.
 The first step was to have been she requirement of the electric light fnonopoly, a way to which is provid- ed by law.
 SAVE MONEY ON