Denver labor bulletin., 1918-03-02

lions, possibly hundreds of millions
of dollars
The only objection heard is that the
government is inefficient. Is this as
sumption justified by experience? Is
the government bad administrator
That there are evils in bureaucratic
administration all will admit. But is
the parcels post less efficient agency
of service than the express company?
The fact that in a few years time
the parcels post has become a carrier
of 100000 packages a year indicates
that the public prefers it to the private
agency. And its cost is far less. Is
the Panama Canal an exhibit of
wastefulness or inefficiency? Has
there been any suggestion of graft ?
Is it not run for service and is not all
America proud of that achievement?
Does the postoffice department inter
fere with our politics as do the rail-
roads? a single official receiving
one-tenth the salary of a railroad
president administers the postal sys
tenn with a S2O0,000,0 900 budget and
with stations in the most inaccessible
parts of the country, while the hun
dred or two hundred railroads each
maintain a great staff of highly paid
individuals to perform a similar serv
ice.
But the efficiency of the govern
ment is not demonstrated by the Pan
anna Canal or the parcels post alone.
We are building battleships as cheaply
as private contractors. The federal
government is erecting public build
ings all over the country and they
are the most commanding in every
community. The construction work
upon the Great Lakes and rivers and
harbors may be governed by pork-bar-
rel methods but it is well done. Our
forestry and reclamation service has
the spirit of the army. We are spend
ing tens of millions of dollars on good
roads. And, on the whole, it is being
well done. Moreover, practically every
railroad in the country has been in
the hands of receivers and operated
thru receivers by the government. 1t
is fiction of the press that public
ownership is wasteful, eXtravagant,
corrupt. If we could make an honest
comparison we would probably find
that measured even by cost the gov
ernment is more efficient than private
agencies, while measured by service
rendered and the burden on the COM
munity, the government service is far
less costly than that of railroads or
private public utility corporations
anywhere
Finally, America is the only great
state in the world that does not own
its transportation agencies. England
and France took the railroads over as
soon as they entered the war. And in
any state where the railroads are
owned by the people it would be diff
ficult 70 find a corporal's guard willing
TO go back to private ownership.
There are complaints and protests but
no demand for the old profit making
motive. And this is the best evidence
of all of the efficiency, the social eff
cheney. of public ownership. More
over, in all those states where the
railroads, with their ramifications into
the banks, press and the business in
hands, Renaissance of public spirit
followed. A spirit of service, of
terests, have been taken out of private
eagerness to enter political life, to be
identified with big things, took the
place of the old conflict for private
profit. sychologically this is the
greatest gain of all. For it means
that the mind and the talent of Amer
lea is now able to think in terms of
America. The freeing of America is
! the greatest gain of all from public
ownership of the railways