Evening star., 1934-07-05

There are three positions which
can be taken with respect to the pub
lie ownership or operation Of public
utilities One position assumes that
Government is essentially corrupt or
incompetent. or both, aid that buSi-
ness is properly the affair OF private
initiative which Government has no
right to usurp. Those who take this
position hold that Government should
keep its hands off the ownership and
operation of public utilities and other
business, except to supply private mi
tiative with necessary or desirable
powers, such as the power to condemn
land for right of way or. in some
cases, to regulate prices and service.
Many men who take this position hold
that if any Government activity COM
peteS with private business done for
profit, then that fact alone should
lead the Government to withdraw from
that activity. AS an example, the
printing of return addresses on Gov
eminent stamped envelopes can be
done more cheaply and more con-
veniently when the stamped en-
velopes are being manufactured than
it can be later by private industry, yet
there is a constant drive, widely sup
ported, to stop the Government from
printing return addresses on stamped
envelopes, on the ground that 1t COM
petes with private industry.
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Another position is that Of the So
cialists and Communists. They hold
that the one and only right purpose OF
public utilities and other public serv-
ices is to meet the needs Of the whole
people and that for public-service
properties to be owned, operated, ma
nipulated and speculated in for private
profit is wrong in principle. They
hold that it leads to exploitation of
the public, to economic despotiSm and
to political corruption through the i'm
proper influencing Of public officials
when an increase Of privilege and
power is wanted. They believe also
that it leads to the development of
false social and economic ideals, so
that the attention Of people, rich and
poor, is diverted from productive work
to social and economic competition,
speculation and stock gambling. They
hold that so long as highly honored
men who control industry and who
present themselves as leaders to be re-
spected and trusted are actively en-
gagged in the manipulation Of securi-
ties for the sake of profits, the average
man will initiate those whom he trusts
and admires and speculation will con-
tinue to be a national disease, under
mining morale and destroying interest
in productive work.
X Il X
When it is pointed out that. in
spite of fine theory, government own
ership or operation often Is corrupt
or incompetent, and that the result
ing waste may be a greater tax on
the public than the profits taken by
private industry, and when attention
is drawn to the fact that the prt-
vately owned telephone system and
the railways Of America often give
better service at lower rates than
some of the publicly owned systems
of Europe, the replies We get are not
always clear or convincing.
Proponents of public ownership and
operation hold that We need new
set of industrial standards and meth
ods. and that the business men of
the country should be working pri-
marily for public service. and not for
private gain. They hold that 1t is
debasing to national character for
fragment of the surplus wealth to be
handed out as charity and philan-
thropy, rather than for the whole to
be distributed as lessened cost and