OCR Text |
Show THE CITIZEN 6 Jacksonville, Fla., also has been pointed to as the owner and operator of a successful electric lighting plant. The experiences of Detroit and Seattle with their municipand operated street railway systems are too well ally-owned known to call for repetition of facts, except that in both instances promises of low fares before purchase of the systems not only have not been fulfilled, but fares actually have been raised' and taxes increased. Again it is interesting to note that of the thirteen large cities where living expenditures run below the average for the United States there is no municipal ownership or electric gas, street railway or telephone utilities. These cities, with their ratings; are: Houston, Texas, 98.8; Indianapolis, 97.4; Mobile, Ala., 97.0; Savannah, Ga., 96.6; Minneapolis, 95.3; Portland, Me., 93.4; Atlanta, Ga., 92.5;. Boston, 91.9; New Orleans, 88.1; Cincinnatin, Ohio, 87.7 ; Scranton, Pa., 86.5 ; Richmond, Va., 86.3 ; Baltimore, Md., 84.8. It is just possible that public ownership of industry has something to do with high taxes. All that a well managed publicly owned plant could possibly save over a private plant would be taxes, and these would not be saved but simply passed on to the general taxpayer who, in many instances, could in no way benefit by the municipal undertaking although taxed to sup- port it. INVESTIGATION. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isnt an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is tne English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty, and this is loyalty to the American people Theodore Roosevelt. SOUNDS LOGICAL Henry Ford can see where a five day week would benefit the businessman. He says that the industrial value of leisure is a promoter of the consumption of goods, and thus as a styQ ulant to business, has been proved. People who have more leisure must have more clothes. They must have a greater variety of food, more transportation, more service of various other kinds. If we should come to a five-da- y week the result would be beneficial to industry and work, it would be speeded up because they would consume more in their leisure than in their working time. FIRST MESSAGE. According to Senator Francis E. Warren, of Wyoming, the United States Senate during the past sixteen years has spent no less than $1,383,500 in Senate investigations. The yearly appropriations for the holding of these investigations have been gradually increasing. Senator Warren took his figures for the period of time from 1910 down to the present. . We still have four or more investigations in process, which up to the present have reached proportions from $1,600 These are for investo $124,000 plus, said Senator Warren. tigations authorized and begun before the opening of the present session of Congress. What the total of these may reach is unknown' at present, although it is presumed that they are -- The first telephone message was sent in 1876, fifty years ago. So great has been the growth of the system that now in 1926, over 67,700,000 telephone conversations take place each day. The two telephones of 1876 have increased to 16,000,000 instruments today. The first telephone line of thirty feet has grown to a network of more than 40 million miles of wire ; and switchboards, buildings, pole lines, cables, conduits and other forms of plant have been constructed costing over $2,500,-000,00- 0. As President W. S. Gifford, of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, recently said, The advances which have been made during the first fifty years of the work of the Bell System are unparalleled in the history of communication. They are contributions which will make forever memorable this great epoch in our progress. We are now at the beginning of a new era filled with boundless opportunities for advancement in the business and science of telephony. Upon the foundations that have been so securely laid, we can look forward to the telephone system of the future, which in effectiveness and useful servic, will surpass all that has gone before. near their close. But, even during the last month, in one case one man drew a salary of $1,300 for that one months service, the same as for the preceding month. Another man drew $1,000 for the months service on the voucher of another committee which had theretofore allowed much higher rates of compensation to certain employes. The particular point I want to make is that these large sums ought to go into a resolution, joint or concurrent, so that both houses might concur concerning the expenditures, rather than While the west has supplied the entire nation with all its to be handled as we have been handling them of late allowing useful metals, including gold and silver for coinage, yet no presithese resolutions almost to run wild. In other words, it might be well to investigate the inves- dent of the United States was born, or lived at the time of election or is buried west of the Mississippi River. President Hardtigations. ing was the only president to die west of the great river which it AMERICANS There are plenty of persons who have already made the assertion that they believe the American people have a short memory and that they intend to revive all the foreign associations which most directly interfere with the complete Americanization halves the country. gv . CRIME WAVE. The crime ridden city of Chicago has besought the Federal Government for aid to suppress the lawless. Allegations are made that the officials and the criminal element are in colof our people. Qur principle in this matter should be absolutely simple. lusion to get the money and the peaceful citizen has no proIn the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who came tection and is being daily exploited. If all such wickedness was confined to Chicago the crooks here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, could easily be rounded up, but in this day and age of perfect for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man be- organization the criminal element is not overlooking anything, and according to press reports many police officials all ojjpr cause of creed or birthplace or origin; But this predicated upon the mans becoming in every fact the country are getting in bad in their zealous quest for a little an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep extra gold. Poor Chicago, however, has lately had more than her share segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the of crime. rest of America, then he isnt doing his part as an American. |