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Show j THE MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP IDEA. The growth of sentiment in favor of municipal ownership of public pub-lic utilities in the United States has been most marked ip the past I four years. "Whatevers may be one's views of the practicability of j - municipal ownership, he cannot but recognfze the drift of public opinion opin-ion on the subject. The election in New York on last Tuesday is a notable example. William R. Hearst came hear to election as Mayor, on a municipal ownership platform, and without party organization, receiving nearly is quarter of a million votes. It is claimed by him that his defeat was brought about only by the most flagrant frauds at the polls and in the contest which he has instituted for the office he is supported by M)me of the ablest lawyers at the bar, including William M. Ivins, the j! defeated Republican candidate for the same office, j It was not due to any personal popularity that Hearst secured I so large a vote. It was his municipal ownership ideas that took J ttrong root among the people,of the metropolis. ! Last spring Chicago pronounced itself most emphatically for municipal ownership of the street car lines, that city already owning its water and gas works. ' The drift of sentiment toward municipal ownership in the t'o " largest cities of tbe country is not more marked than it is in other ilies. The Telegram has contended that in granting franchises, Salt Lake should make provisions for ultimate municipal ownership. Its advice has not been regarded. The showing now made is proof that I a municipal ownership reservation should have been made in the I several franchises that have been granted in the past few months. 4 |