Evening journal., 1913-04-23
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
THE REMEDY SUGGESTED

Editor Of THE EVENING JOURNAL,
Sir: The controversy over the re-
lusal of the Street and Sewer direc-
tors to grant an electric light fran
chise to the Peoples Heat, Light and
Power Company should force upon
the public conscience the necessity
for seeking a rational and permanent
solution of this much-mooted ques
ton.
Competition does not solve the
problem, for competition in public
utilities always leads to private
monopoly. to concentration No well
informed economist advocates COM
petitive enterprise In the public util.
tiles of a municipality Competition
leads to wastes and distractions, and
ultimate failure through open OF
secret combinations of the competing
companies, with high rates fastened
upon the community by double cap
italization. Has this not been the ex-
perience of Wilmington in the past?
And has this not been the experience
of every large city in the country? A
carload Of facts could be produced TO
prove the absurdity Of competition in
the supply of water. gas and electric
light or i'm street railway service.
Regulation is not a solution of the
problem of monopoly. and wherever
tried has met with difficulties and
] failure. The experience of Boston IN
connection with the Bay State Gas
case is only typical of what has and
will happen in every municipality
which tries regulation, and proves in
all instances that the interests to be
regulated generally regulate the reg
ulators. According to Prof Frank
Parsons, the best authority on muni-
cipal government in the country the
following are a few of the difficulties
with which regulation has met:
1T let's one set of men do the work
and employs another set to determine
how il shall be done, and a third set
to watch the first, and see that the
regulations provided by the secono
set are properly obeyed.
1T leaves the antagonism Of inter
est ranking underneath. The monop-
olists and their agents resent the out
side control. and scheme to evade OF
defy the law. The managers regard
the gas plants, street railways, etc,
as the property of themselves and the
stockholders who elect them and pay
them: they regard effective regulation
as a violation of their property rights,
and ondeavor to nullify il; and, il
compelled to serve the public instead
OF the stockholders. they do so in a
half-hearted, rebellious way. perpetu-
ally seeking a path Of escape,
~The added impulse to fraud and
evasion emphasizes the corrupting OF
public officers and decentralization OF
business men The most powerful
and INSCRIPTIONS corporations. the
very ones most in need of control
are able to avoid the law. They get
their vassals appointed as scommis-
sioners, or they capture the regula
tors by their intelligence, wealth and
courtesy. or they block them by false
accounts. or tie their hands by i'm
perfections in the law, introduced
through tho force of their money and
influence and the cunning of keen
attorneys. There arc very few laws
that the great corporations are bouno
to obey, and the power of the com
panies to defeat the will of the peo
pie is growing every day through
t, combinations. consolidation and the
increase Of corporate wealth Sc
there is the control of the big mon
j OlOntc ONtI lIt uldtulNtIl Oh ItBuid
ton that even in States where thin
method has been most fully tried the
giant companies regard the system
as a protection and not as a menace.
The courts are apt to interfere to
prevent the enforcement OF any reg
ulation that cuts near the bone in the
financial quarter Overcapitalization
and the innocent purchaser are an
infallible vaccine to keep off an cpl
demic OF just rates. which the cor
porators fear worse than the plague
'As long as the monopolies can
keep their excessive rates. they can
buy the fulfillment of their wishes
the rest of the way
In short, regulation fails at the
vital points. IL leaves the monopo-
list in possession. with right OF
property and more or less control. He
has full purse, cunning lawyer
and a flexible conscience bowing be-
fore the business maxim that prop
erty is TO be managed in the interests