Evening star., 1924-09-30
Continued from First Page.)

Continued from First Page)
Government employees never can yield
that spirit of accommodation that en-
ployes OF private enterprise must
furnish in order to maintain the re-
pute of their competitive enterprise
and its standing in the community.
"A much larger issue lies III the in
equality with which facilities will be
provided over this continent 5000
miles wide. 1t is nightly important
to have cars and kilowatts when they
are needed. The economic life of
somebody is stif1ed every time they
are not available. Every fit of ma
tonal economy will cause them to fall
behind future need. Every district
and group of the politically weak will
have to do without some measure OF
their need. Today there is no remedy
FOR failure in service. there is no rem
edy against the Government"
With ownership of public utilities
vested in the Government. every tax
payer would pay every loss of capt
tai. directly or indirectly. from taxes
or rates. whether he liked it or not"
Mr.. Hoover added asserting that
when individuals enter upon d fool
lSh project they pay for it, but if
the Governme mt does the same thing
both the foolish and the wise must
pay for it, Today the combined util-
ltteS contribute about $500, GOO. 900 in
taxes to the Federal and local Gov
ernments. 1t is unlik ely that in gov
ernment operation our Federal Gov
ernmcnt Will pay taxes to the States
or the States to counties out of util-
lty rates. Thus the local govern
ments would need to find other
sources of revenue. If the customers
of these utilities and the taxpayers
were Identical in their participa ton
1t would not matter. but it happens
that utilities have d larger ratio of
investment and taxes in the farming
districts than they have in the big
cities. 1t would damage the farmer
OF Massachusetts but > or per cents
to denude the State of utility taxes.
but it would increase taxes 40 per
cent in many agricultural counties in
other States. And above all, if the
history of other governments oper-
ating utilities counts. the inetficiency
IN government would not be taken up
IN rate increase, by which the actual
user pays, but by Jumping il onto the
taxpayer.
Effect on Labor
The next question to examine is
whether the employees would benefit
hE beng incorporated into the Gov
ernment service. The first and fore
most result of such an operation
would be dispute over the right to
strike. 1t is by no means certain that
Government can continue as Gov
ernment and admit the right of Gov
ernment employees in vital services to
strike against it Nor can legislative
bodies delegate the right to settle
wages and salaries to any commits
SION or they will have delegated their
control over expenditures, which is
one basis of democracy. In any event.
under Government ownership en-
ployes must in final analysis bargain
with legislative bodies. and bargain
ing Will rest not upon economic need
or economic strength, but on political
potence. The present Federal en-
ployes, denying themselves the right
10 strike, have just now, after eight
years. succeeded in getting some of
their deserved increase in pay. The
public utility employees have had them
already for years. Their wages are
today the highest real wage in the
world
BY this vast venture that is pro-
posed to US We would at once increase
the total of national and local office
holders up to about 100000. The
r1Shtful interest of this group is in
higher pay, constantly better condi-
tlonS of service and better standards
of living. The rightful public inter
est Will be to hold down rates and
taxes. These interests will clash and
their clash must fight itself out not
on grounds of economic bargaining
between labor and employer, but in
the political arena. The voting
strength of this mass OF Office hold
ers, their wives and dependents, will
he over % per cent of the whole. 1t
is the balance of political power be-
tween parties in every district Either
every member of the legislative bodies
VIII be elected to do the bidding of
this bureaucracy or will be elected by
a public in rebellion against it.
Lose Democracy in Storm.
NO commission or any body of ad-
mlniStrdtorS can carry on these vast
operations efficiently in this political
maelStrom. We shall lose most of our
democracy in the storm
Some have assumed that the polit-
lcal strength of this gi eat mass of
employees will enable theIn to dictate
the election Of Legislative e. members
and thus secure their desires This
means the creation of another bloc
the arraying of class against class,
perhaps the most dangerous tendency in
our politics today.
1T substitutes internal pull and ex-
ternal politics for individual endeavor.
1t puts damper on achievement. a
premium on wire pulling. II penal