New Britain herald., 1914-07-07
MUNICIPAL ICE.

It appears that all is not well with are not what the authorities
 expected and the mayor Is demanding
 that there be some change or if not
 he will take possession of the whole
 thing. The committee might not
 feel as bad about such action as some
 may think. Their task Is not pleas
 ant one and they are obliged to do a
 great deal of work with no return
 except criticism, but that has ever
 been the lot of the man who is con-
 nected with public business.
 The chairman of the committee.
 Mr. Wagner, has been quoted as say- ing that he proposes to take up with
 the mayor the question as to whether
 the city should so into competition
 with private dealers and deliver the ice. The Herald raised this point last winter because the adoption of that kind of an arrangement is the only business policy for the city so long as 1t has decided to go into the ice business. The committee, however, said it did not want to compete with the private dealers and did not pro- ! pose to do so, but 1t is in competition with these dealers now and the plan has been to undersell them. There is more than one way to look at this matter, however. The private deal- CTS are taxpayers. they pay certain engaging in the ice business and then tho city turns around and goes into the ice business itself, proposes to sell in competition and evidently does undersell them, thereby giving them no protection in return for what they pay. This Is unfair on the face of 1t, but there Is another side to the ques- tion The claim was made that the dealers were charging 700 high price for their ice and in order to protect the people 1t was necessary that the city should go into the ice business itself and supply the people z at lower figure. This meant that the city should compete with the private dealer and the only way by which that can be successfully done is for the city to harvest sufficient ice for all the people and deliver it to them at their homes. Then if the city were able to undersel1 the private dealer the result f.~ 1.k driven out of business. That would be the only sensible kind of competition. That Is the only condition which should prevail when . city goes into any business in competition with private enterprise and the theory of municipal ownership Is sound. This matter was threshed out along this line when tho matter was first taken up but the policy of modest begin ming was adopted. it was claimed 1t would prove unsatisfactory and the l committee itself Is evidently willing 1 now to admit that the present ST. engagement is not what was expected. l It should be remembered, however, 1 that the common council favored 1t | and so did the city meeting.
 When a city starts to sell any com- modity it will mean, if the business is conducted properly, that there can not be any private competition, just as there is no competition with the water department The city deals in that commodity to the exclusion of all others, just the same as does a private corporation in some cities. Municipal ownership means or ought to mean just what it says, and when 1t goes into the ice business it means or ought to mean that all the people shall be supplied with ice at a minimum of cost Any other arrangement is a de- fusion and a snare and cannot be sen- sibly viewed in any other light.