Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1921-11-04
HYsTERlA AND EPlTHET
CHEF ARGUMENTS AGAINST
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP

Public Ownership Press Sergiee1
Few people know and stin fewer re
alize the extent and success u munici-
pal ownership in the United States,
said Carl D. Thompson, secretary Oh
the Public Ownership League last
week in announcing the Public own
ership Conference 10 be held in Chi
cago November 10. 90. and Fl. Scarce
Ily a day passes. says Mr. Thompson,
+ that the people Of some city do not
send in TO rs samples Of pamphlets,
leaflets or editorials of local papers
Idenouncing municipal ownership. de-
elaring that IL has always failed,
j "th~. the experiment has been inyar'
! 3ably disastrous" that colossal inet-
aeiency and intoleTahla expense al
ways attend municipal operations"
md that. IN short. the proposal is
I"sheer luaacy."
/ OF course all hiatt sort of thing is
| not argument II is mere epithet and
/ hysteria. Moreover. 1t is absurdly IN
true. II what these presumptious gen
| Element say were true, then the firty
million people that live in American
cities must all be colossal idiots.
over three thousand cities own and
operate municipal water plants. More
over both the number and the per
centage of cities that own and oper-
ate their plants MAS grown steadily
from 6.3 per cent in 1900 to 69.2 in
1917, until today there isn't a single
one of the twenty-five largest cities
In America that does not own and op.
crate its plants.
Also, there are IBIS cit es in the
| United States that own and operate
municipal light and power plants. And
the percentage of cities that own their
plants as compared TO those that have
private ownership has steadily grown
from 1875 per cent in 1890 to 22.02 per
cent in 1900 and 35.43 per cent in
1917. Over thousand cities and viii
lages have taken over or established
municipal electric plants during the
last five years. We are not talking
about any "old, discredited plan of 20
years ago. as our contemporaries do,
but of this decade, now and today.
And they talk about municipal own
ership being sheer lunacy." Well, if
| that be lunacy then 1t would seem
that every important city in America
| is headed straight for the lunatic
asylum. we lHllh DtlltT VI AiHGIlCd
and the American people.
And what about the alleged ''ineffi-
cheney" ''intolerable expense" and
| financial disaster" which these gen
| Element say invariably overtake city
that undertakes the ownership or OPP
Grafton of public utility? Well, the
city of New York owns the greatest
municipal project in America if not
I'm the world-a 1867 100000 water
system. And it i,Gt sankrupt yet. 1t
makes a profit of $5,000,000 annually
Will our friends, the enemy, please
figure out for US just how many years
1t will be before utter bankruptcy will
overtake New York city at that rate?
/ Chicago owns and operates a $4,000
900 water plant and makes profit of
J S3.000,000 a year. Some more sheer
/ lunacy."
Here is the city of Duluth, MINI.
IL owns and operates a municipal gas
plant. The maximum rate for gas
now,-today, Ammo Domini 1921--is
rs cents per 1000 feet. And after pay
ing all expenses. interest and depreci
alton charges, the city made profit
of $76.0S6 last year The plant has
been running for over 16 years. Dur
! ing that time it has earned a large
proportion of the $993,99S that is set
aside for depreciation, and is now val
ued at 81 1900, 1891.
Owning a gas plant worth nearly
$2,000,000, buying gas at rs cents a
1000 feet instead of $3.50, and max
ing a profit of s79.0S6 year. may
seem like sheer lunacy" to the op.
! ponents of public ownership. but to
us II looks like mighty good business
and sound common sense.
The Public Ownership Conference
has been called for the very purpose
of assembling facts in regard to all
phases of municipal and public owner
ship and making them available to the
people everywhere.