New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1919-01-29

cession, and neither the Liberal mol
{ the Conservative party has YET
made up its mind to refusal Of such
a new endowment Of profiteering II
{ what will presently be the life blood
of modern productive industry. The
Labor party demands that the produc.
ton Of electricity on the necessary gi.
gantic scale shall be made from the
start with suitable arrangements fol
municipal cooperation in local distri-
bution) national enterprise, to be
worked exclusively with the object 81
supplying the whole kingdom with the
cheapest possible power, light, and
heat.
4 But with railways and the genera
ton Of electricity in the hands Of the
public, it would be criminal folly to
leave to the present one thousand five
hundred colliery Companies the power
Of "holding VI" the coal supply. These
are now all working under public CON
troll, on terms that virtually afford "a
their shareholders statutory qua
rantee Of their swollen incomes. The
Labor party demands the Immediate
naturalization Of Mines. the extrac-
ton of coal and iron being worked as
"a public service with a steadily in
creasing participation in the manage
ment, both central and local, of the va
rious grades Of persons employed) !;
and the whole business of the retail
distribution Of household coal being
undertaken, as a local public service,
by the elected municipal or county
councils. And there is no reason why
coal should fluctuate in price any
more than railway fares, or why the
consumer should be made to pay more
in winter than in summer, or in one
town than another. What the Labor
party would aim at is, for household
coal of standard quality, a fixed and
uniform price for the whole kingdom,
payable by rich and poor alike, as un-
alterable as the penny postage stamp.
But the sphere of Immediate ma
tlonalization is not restricted to these
great industries. We shall never sue
coed in putting the gigantic system of
health insurance on a proper footing,
OF secure a clear field for the benefit
cent work of the Friendly Societies, or
gain free hand for the necessary de-
velopment of the urgently called for
Ministry of Health and the Local Pub
lie Health Service, until the nation ex-
propriates the profit-making indus
trial insurance companies, which now
so UNANIMOUSLY exploit the people with
their wasteful house toulouse indus
trial life insurance. Only by such an
appropriation of life assurance compa-
MES can we secure the universal pro-
vision, free from the burdensome toll
of weekly pence, of the Indispensable
funeral benefit. Nor is it in any sense
"class" measure. Only by the as
sumption by state department of the
whole business of life insurance can
the millions of policy-holders of all
classes be completely protected
against the possibly calamitous results
of the depreciation of securities and
suspension of bonuses which the war
is causing. Only by this means can the
great staff of insurance agents find
their proper place as civil servants,
with equitable conditions of employ
ment, compensation for any disturb
ance, and security Of tenure, in ma
tionally organized public service for
the discharge Of the steadily increas-
ing functions of the government in Vi.
tai statistics and social insurance.
In quite another sphere the Labor
party sees the key to temperance re-
form in taking the entire manufact-
ure and retailing Of alcoholic drink
out Of the hands of those who find
profit in promoting the utmost pos
sible consumption. This is essentially
a case in which the people, as whole,
must deal with the licensing question
in accordance with local opinion. For
this purpose localities should have
conferred upon them facilities (a) to
prohibit the sale Of liquor within their
boundaries; (b) to reduce the number,
of licenses and regulate the conditions
under which they may be held; and
4(c) if locality decides that licenses
are to be granted, TO determine wheth-
er such licenses shall be under private
or any form Of public control.
Other main industries, especially
those now becoming monopolized,
should be natiOnalized as OpnOrtl1nity