The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1918-01-31
EMPHASIZES EFFICIENCY
Speaker Shows the Need of a Govern
ment Conservation of Energy and
Holds That Private Ownership Is
Defeating This Aim.

Industrial and economic problems ag-
gravated by the Great War were the
subjects of discussion at an interesting
meeting of the Woman s Alliance, held
at the haywood Hotel on Tuesday af-
ter1oon. The main speaker for the ses-
sion was Carl D Thompson IF the Ch1.
cago Public Ownership League, a society
devoted to research along lines of social
and political reform. He made mas
terful address and deeply impressed his
audience with his convincing array Of
facts regarding recent activities in the
world of business and commerce.
| The hostesses for the meeting were
Mrs. B. F. haywood, Mrs. Ireton Jack
son, and Mrs. George M. Mcintyre. The
usual preliminaries preceded the main
address of the afternoon.
| Mr. Thompson in his plea for the pub
lie ownership of utilities emphasized es-
pecially the efficiency of the system in
time and money-saving, the distribu-
tion Of the unearned increment among
the people who need and deserve it
most, and the creation Of better CO.
operation between capital and labor,
which he declared would be an imme-
date result of extensive public owner
ship.
"The railroads have been a conspic-
uous example of the inefficiency of pri-
vate ownership, Mr.. Thompson declar-
ed in discussing this particular point.
l"Only recently they publicly acknowl-
edged lack of cars, engines, double
tracks, and other facilities necessary
to proper handling of wartime traffic.
Under normal conditions they could con-
tinue business by making society pay
for their ineficiency through a penny
raise here and there until their unea1ned
increment in 1916 was $1,043,G00,000
and in 1917 $1,o69,O 100000. But under
the strain of war and unusual weather
conditions they suddenly collapsed,
declared themselves financial failures
and appealed to the government for
aid.
SIN former situations of the same
sort, which have occurred frequently,
the government has responded with re-
gulation that temporarily relieved con-
ditions and put the privately owned
railroads on paying basis again.
When a total breakdown came, however,
the administration realized that the time
for theorizing had passed and took over
the railroads to save the people from
| national disaster. -
HThere is still another problem -, he
continued, Eto be met by public owner
ship. For lack of coal our schools,
factories, and some Of our business
houses have been closed all over the
country. The coal is in the mines,
thousands of men are begging to mine
it and yet, because of the ineficiency
of private ownership the public can
not be served and the whole country
must suffer from the drastic measures
| of the fuel administration which were
absolutely necessary to relieve the rail
congestion and coal-famine. And all
because private ownership was more
concerned with personal profit than pub
! lie welfare and accordingly did not
imeet the strain of war with the requisite
Improvement and sacrifice.
Further than this Mr.. Thompson
showed the waste in present systems
of private ownership and suggested
government ownership as the only feas-
! ible substitute In proving this point
he showed the wonderful results al
ready achieved in New Zealand, Kan
sas, and other places where the better
plan has been tried and asserted that
everywhere the ftnew' was supplant-
ing the 'to1d'' and succeeding splendid
ly.
In a ringing peroration Mr. Thomp-
sos plead for municipal ownership in
every form. Citing the postal system
as model Of efficiency he declared that
the same thoroughness and accuracy
should characterize all public utilities
and make our present day society the
real democratic economic system Amer
lea should and will have. He emphasiz-
! ed especially the need for municipal
water and gas companies and with the
latter allusion drew spontaneous ap-
plause from Kenosha women who had
known "the horrors of gas' and were
only waiting an opportunity to express
their contempt for the company that al