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Authors: Elizabeth J. Hauser
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fight in other cities. And so long as the street railways of our cities are operated by private interests so long will this unholy warfare continue. I had no conception of the character of the struggle I was engaged in then, but I know now that the cure for this evil with all its possibilities of terrible consequences to men individually and to society collectively is the municipal ownership of street railways.
A large proportion of the political evils of our cities is due to private ownership of public utilities. Private ownership lodges the power to grant franchises and special privileges in some council, legislature or other public body or official. Just as soon as a man becomes the owner ofstock in a public-service corporation, he has an interest absolutely opposed to the interests of the city.
The more âliberalâ the terms of the franchise the worse the bargain for the city and the public. The class which by reason of its position should be our best citizens is best served by the worst city government.
The merchant, the manufacturer, real-estate dealer and mechanic are all benefited by whatever will tend to reduce the cost of car fare, gas, water, garbage collection and taxes, while the owner of stock in a street railway, gas or water company is interested to have the cost of these services as high as may be. Lawyers, bankers, merchants, all are excluded from active participation in city politics by this conflict of interests. The community is thereby deprived of the service of many of its ablest men.
Private ownership not only operates to exclude a comparatively small group of able men from public service, but it extends its influence to that larger body â the electorate, the people as a whole. By owning or controlling newspapers it is possible for the franchise corporations to mislead public opinion. They make a daily, hourly business of politics, raising up men in this ward or that, identifying them with their machines, promoting them from delegates to city conventions to city offices. They are always at work protecting and building up a business interest that lives only through its political strength. The watered securities of franchise corporations are politics capitalized.
Regulation by city or commission will not correct these evils. The more stringent the regulation, the more bitter will be the civic strife. Only through municipal ownership can the gulf which divides the community into a smalldominant class on one side and the unorganized people on the other be bridged; only through municipal ownership can the talent of the city be identified with the interests of the city; only by making menâs ambitions and pecuniary interests identical with the welfare of the city can civil warfare be ended.
Municipal ownership will work betterment in service, reduce its cost to the people and purify politics by extinguishing a powerful interest hostile to good government.
IV
THE TRAINING OF A MONOPOLIST
B ECOMING a monopolist at the age of eleven when a railroad conductor gave me a corner on the sale of newspapers is without doubt the thing which made me look out for a business in which there was little or no competition, and the accident of being taken into a street railroad office was what caused me to select that particular line of non-competitive enterprise as my field.
One isnât conscious of the significance of these events at the time but as a man looks back over his life he can put his finger on the few experiences which are responsible for his most profound convictions and which have determined his general line of conduct.
My experiences with William H. English impressed upon me the necessity of looking very sharply to my own interests in all future enterprises, but the relation between his business and the municipal government of Indianapolis passed entirely over my head. I was very young and not in the least conscious of the connection between business and politics. It was reserved
A large proportion of the political evils of our cities is due to private ownership of public utilities. Private ownership lodges the power to grant franchises and special privileges in some council, legislature or other public body or official. Just as soon as a man becomes the owner ofstock in a public-service corporation, he has an interest absolutely opposed to the interests of the city.
The more âliberalâ the terms of the franchise the worse the bargain for the city and the public. The class which by reason of its position should be our best citizens is best served by the worst city government.
The merchant, the manufacturer, real-estate dealer and mechanic are all benefited by whatever will tend to reduce the cost of car fare, gas, water, garbage collection and taxes, while the owner of stock in a street railway, gas or water company is interested to have the cost of these services as high as may be. Lawyers, bankers, merchants, all are excluded from active participation in city politics by this conflict of interests. The community is thereby deprived of the service of many of its ablest men.
Private ownership not only operates to exclude a comparatively small group of able men from public service, but it extends its influence to that larger body â the electorate, the people as a whole. By owning or controlling newspapers it is possible for the franchise corporations to mislead public opinion. They make a daily, hourly business of politics, raising up men in this ward or that, identifying them with their machines, promoting them from delegates to city conventions to city offices. They are always at work protecting and building up a business interest that lives only through its political strength. The watered securities of franchise corporations are politics capitalized.
Regulation by city or commission will not correct these evils. The more stringent the regulation, the more bitter will be the civic strife. Only through municipal ownership can the gulf which divides the community into a smalldominant class on one side and the unorganized people on the other be bridged; only through municipal ownership can the talent of the city be identified with the interests of the city; only by making menâs ambitions and pecuniary interests identical with the welfare of the city can civil warfare be ended.
Municipal ownership will work betterment in service, reduce its cost to the people and purify politics by extinguishing a powerful interest hostile to good government.
IV
THE TRAINING OF A MONOPOLIST
B ECOMING a monopolist at the age of eleven when a railroad conductor gave me a corner on the sale of newspapers is without doubt the thing which made me look out for a business in which there was little or no competition, and the accident of being taken into a street railroad office was what caused me to select that particular line of non-competitive enterprise as my field.
One isnât conscious of the significance of these events at the time but as a man looks back over his life he can put his finger on the few experiences which are responsible for his most profound convictions and which have determined his general line of conduct.
My experiences with William H. English impressed upon me the necessity of looking very sharply to my own interests in all future enterprises, but the relation between his business and the municipal government of Indianapolis passed entirely over my head. I was very young and not in the least conscious of the connection between business and politics. It was reserved
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