The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-04-04
zETS GET AWAY WITH
BACON In TALK BOUT
From Saturdays Daily.

of the judges, the Zethamathian de-
baters defeated the Philomathian
takers last evening at the high
school in one of the closest. hottest
waged contests of its kind that has
ever taken place between the two
societies. The trophy of victory was
large. beautiful silver loving cup,
presented some time ago by the So
cial Science club of Mankato. Since
| its presentation the cup has been
! in the possession of both societies,
although the Philos have won it ii
greater number of times than the
Zets. including last year.
! The debate last night was not in
the least bit devoid of the enthusi-
asm which usually accompanies it:
and although the "can and cane
rush. and scrapping nature of it
which was brought out last year was
out of evidence. the product of lungs
and cheering was well enough adver-
| tised and persisted in by either side to
more than make up the other deficit.
Perhaps what struck the outside oh
servers most was the sharp lines
| of contrast in the decorating of the
| big lower assembly room where the
debate was conducted. The Zets were
given the north side of the room,
while the Philos took the south side
and each society showed it's loyalty
toward the team in beauty and pro-
fuseness of trimmings. The Zets'
side was a thing of beauty, long
blue streamers extending across the
room and the side walls decorated
with blue bows, and pennants. while
the Philos' side was given the same
consideration, only that golden
trimming reigned supreme with them.
Debate Begun in Earnest.
The debate was begun in earnest
when Judge Lorin Cray, the presid-
ing officer. read the instructions and
rules under which the debate was to
be conducted, and then stated the
question: Resolved, that American
cities should own and operate all
public utilities" He then introduced
Robert Cooper as first speaker for
the affirmative. Cooper based his
arguments on municipal ownership
as a function Of the government, in
that public utilities are for public
service and should be conducted for
the exclusive benefit of the public.
He argued that monopolization, dis
carding competition. would be a
benefit in this respect, that 1--WE
would have benefits Of consolidation
without suffering evils of monopoly
He gave illustration of the evils
and burdens Of competition in saying
that business men were obliged to
subscribe for all the telephones in
town when one would be sufficient.
He stated that now private corpora
lions in cities are well nigh SOW
ereiGn as to their line. "a sovereign
power in private hands" Cooper con-
cluded his appeal for municipal own
ership as function saying that mo-
nopoly and liberty cannot live to-
gether.
Winfield Smith was then intro
duced as first speaker for the mega
tive, who in the beginning of his
speech outlined the points that would
be taken up by his side. Smith
dwelt considerably on proving that
municipal ownership is unnecessary
and furthermore that it would be un.
wise. He stated that in case Of a
municipal failure. the failure will
continue on and OH at the expense
of the people in the form of taxes
while under the present system of
private ownership when there is "a
failure the company would go into
bankruptcy and the public is UNI
Obliged to support the failure. He
cited Toledo, Ohio, failure in the
natural gas business as an example:
he also proved that under munich
pal ownership policies would be
corrupted, while now when private
concerns own the public utilities
there is a safeguard against corrupt
politics. Smith also suggested a
plan for lettering utility conditions
b. state supervision and control in
that companies operating these pub.
lie utilities would be granted an in.
determinate franchise substantiated
by a public service commission.
Second For Affirmative.
Cecil Snow was next called as sec
ond speaker for the affirmative. In his
argument Snow fOrcibly showed that
the great evils under the present
system of private ownership demand
change to municipal ownership alb
solutely. Private monopolies are
DAY by day and week by week eX-
tracing millions of dollars from the
public in return for which they give
cheap and inefficient service" He
also stated that the over-capitaliza.
ton of private companies is vulner.
able. AS an example, he stated that
1t has been found that in Milwaukee
the street car lines are over-capital.
lied to the extent of $4,000. He
said that there was nothing too low
flor private concerns to do when dol
lars and cents are at stake, they are
instrumental in corrupting our poll
tics in that city officials become
Servants of the interests and be-
trayers of the people" The only way
to effect d remedy or "to remove the
evils we must remove the cause
| Archie Kramer then came to the
rescue of the negative Krame,
stated that municipal ownership would
be inefficient In management as, in
4 private concerns linen are especially
trained for the business by serving
the Service for life time. He stat.
ed that IL cities should take over the
public utilities they would be con.
fronted with the problem of over.
valuation and this must be met by
taxation" He further claimed that
the spoils system would be brought
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