Show progress of municipal ownership in great britain A leighly interesting report upon the management of municipal affairs in great britain from james boyle united states consul at liverpool england has just been published at washington its most striking features are herewith reproduced as follows for some years past there has been a quiet but gradually increasing development of a certain phase of social urn in great britain reference is made to what is generally known as municipal trading and sometimes and more correctly as municipal socialism the first appellation is rather mis nomer at the existing stage of the movement municipal doea not mean a division of private wealth or property share and share alike but alie ownership and operation of certain undertakings and enterprises in america generally described as public utilities by the municipality for the public good as claimed incidentally it may be mentioned that the dominion of national socialism lias been entered into by the british government by its ownership of alic telegraph system and by its proposed gradual absorption of the telephone system and a movement lias sprung up for the nationalization of the railroads and even of the coal supply as well aa of storage of wheat for use in case of war in 1875 the capital invested in municipal undertakings in great britain was while in 1000 there were invested there are now in great britain municipalities owning water 99 owning street railroads or train ways as they are called here owning alic gas works and supplying electricity most of these are in england municipalities were not allowed to work the tramways tram ways util 1890 it Is estimated that half of the gas users in england municipal gai in a number of place among them the municipalities supply elac for lichtin ligh tin and power while alio gas supply i in alic hands of private corporations the municipalities leavington leamington Lea and Harrow gate own turkish hatha of the best at present existing in great britain and also gives fireworks displays at municipal cost glasgow like liverpool owns its water works and trams nd provides municipal lectures glasgow has quite recently reduced the fes on the train cars so eliat there are now only liala penny 1 cent fares but a distance of two and one half miles can he traveled for 2 cents universal penny 2 cent fares will probably shortly be introduced in liverpool the transfer system as prevailing in america is not used in liverpool nor in any other british municipality so far as I 1 know glasgow was the first city to establish a municipal palace manchester owns shares in its ship canal out of its municipal tramway profits sheffield has appropriated for the erection of shops and business premises it aiu rent quite recently the northern townships outside of london bought the well known alexandra palace where the municipal authorities ties maintain an auditorium and give organ recitals and theatrical military band and variety entertainments of all sorts and industrial exhibitions torquay owns a rabbit warren colchester possesses an oyster flahery st helens a chemical center in this consular district sterilized milk aull owns a crematorium doncaster and chester own race courses the former actually managing the races bournemouth Bourne mouth owns buo ouo of the finest golf courses in great britain west ham a borough of london owns a stone hag factory and Br adfard owns a lintel as also does liverpool on its water works property in wales bristol lias municipalized its docks and harbor at a cost of between and 13 the docks of liverpool are municipalized in a modified way the system is peculiar to liverpool this vast estate valued at several hundreds of millions of dollars is administered by a public trust nearly all the members of which are elected by those who pay dock duese and the profits after deducting expenses and payment of interest on capital account go to improvement and not to the benefit of a private corporation the probability is that the london docks will before many years be managed under either the bristol liverpool plan nottingham in addition to owning parks markets artisan dwellings dwell inga baalis and a hospital has bought a castle and a fores tsi and has a natural history museum anda school of art and was the first municipality in great britain to have a university college the last item gives occasion for the statement that several english cities have within the last yearby so taken up alie question of local universities birmingham lias and liverpool will shortly follow suit liverpool is one odthe foremost cities in municipal socialism it owns the water works one otellie best systems in the world it operates the street cars it supplies the electric light and power it has one of the largest and best public bath systems anywhere and proposes to erect the finest turkish bath in europe it provides public laundries for tha poor distressed widows inthe slums it sells sterilized humanized milk for the children of the poor at cost price it has a salaried organist to play its famous municipal organ it gives municipal lectures and all these in addition to the usual undertaking iti of municipalities such as parks with concerts technical ct but the greatest socialistic undertaking by the liverpool municipality is that of providing dwellings for the very poor the tenants of demolished dwellings of the slums london has spent nearly in clearing away property in some districts of london it has coat from to 2600 for every family turned out these large sums refer only to the clearance at the slums and to the compensation of the landlords and do not include the amounts spent on the construction of new municipal houses an agitation is being raised the past generous compensation of owners of property and it is claimed that under the present act of parliament these owners an bo prosecuted for allowing their property to become great difficulty has been the question of providing an adequate number of suitable municipal dwellings ready for occupancy at the same time that the unfortunate dwellers of tho slum houe houes s arc dispossessed of their tenancy inattention to this necessity has called forth indignant protests in the large cities of great britain where the municipal scheme haa been adopted as a solution of aho slum problem glasgow for instance is said to have biad at one time people turned out of their homes by the corporation of course not all together while it only provided housing accommodation for in alio initial stages of the municipal housing scheme in liverpool the same difficulty prevented preen ted itself but the housing committee of the corporation have recently pledged themselves that they will not undertake any schema of demolition until they have provided adequate accommodation elsewhere for the dispossessed tenants under the present act municipalities are compelled to provide substitute accommodations for at least CO per cent of the dispossessed occupiers of slum property the act under which municipalities demolish areas and erect dwelling houses seems to bo of a most comprehensive hen sive character it not only authorizes th orizes a municipality to construct a house but it may include a garden ot not more than half an acre provided that the estimated annual value of such garden shall not exceed 3 pounds nay 15 and the municipality if it builds a cottage can fit up furnish and supply the same with all requisite furniture fittings and conveniences it is claimed that liverpool alone among alie of england and scotland has been successful in supplying n type of buildings within he nean of the of the poor A single can be had for as low aa 45 cents a week the ant of two rooms ranges from CO to 80 cents that of three room from 1 to that of four rooms the largest provided from to lue fixtures are simple but superior to those supplied icke dwellings by private landlords in a few dwellings hot water is supply ed others have ga paid for on the slot principle two cents worth si for four or five hours consumption by one burner since liverpool went into ahls enterprise ter prise it hag baij 1 for dc polished moli shed property and in addition several of land have been purchased for the erection of municipal dwelling dwelli nM the cost up to date for construction alone hah dawl tho foi on the local taxation ai ehg result of corn J batata AA tAtA lined operations amounts to 1 34 3 4 d in the pound sterling roa 1 4 cans on every 4 80 the rents pant re insufficient by abent 2 per cent to nippa the post of the dwelling without counting anything for a sinking fund depreciation etc the present effort of liverpool is to provide housing for the dispossessed tenants of condemned slum lit will probably take twelve year to complete this task then the question of providing better accommodations for artisans and mcc hanica will possibly be faced liverpool it is said owns more revenue producing real estate than any other municipality in the world its income from this source being about half a million dollars a year the london county council liaa within a recent period taken hold of this housing question with a firm and comprehensive grip there will not be as much compensation paid to owners of slum property as formerly one adopted by the london county council provides cottages for people another and this is on nil estate outside of the london boundary line will accommodate people and a site has been bought where arc to be accommodated commo dated in pretty little cottages with gardens london undertakes to provide for the artisan class as well as for the casual and in that particular it is in advance of liverpool strange to say the housing question is getting to be an acute one in the country districts as well as in the british municipalities it is claimed that one of the reasons why the rural population flock to the cities is because many of the great landowners not only fail to erect decent residences for the laboring people but somo of them actually refuse to allow cottages to be erected on their estates cither because of aesthetic reasons or because the laborers cottages would have a tendency to depreciate the value of the estates to prospective wealthy purchasers liverpool boasts of having one of the best street railroad systems not only in great britain but in europe the corporation got control of the system in september 1897 and has substituted electric for horse cars at the date named there were sixty eight miles of tracks within the city and about seven miles in the surrounding district connecting therewith there were then cars omnibuses omni buses and forsea the municipality paid the purchase price covering tram cars omni buses good will vested rights etc in november 1898 an experimental electric line five miles in length was opened the work of reconstructing the new line commenced in january 1893 and by the end of 1900 miles of lines were completed including extensions the overhead trolley system is faed most of the cars in use and all those now being made are of what is known as the standard preston type this car is shorter than most american cars and has a reverse staircase for top outi aide seats each car accommodates twenty two inside and thirty four outside in fine the outside of cars and omnibuses omni buses is preferred in eng land to the inside experience lias shown that the style of car used in liverpool gives the most satisfaction to the british public there are no summer cars of the american type here the weather is too variable the fares charged are by distance two cents is the lowest fare for which three miles can be traveled five miles yards can be traveled for 4 cents seven miles yards for C cents and eight miles yards for 8 cents the total traffic receipts during 1001 were the percentage of working expenditure to gross receipts is j under the old system before the mu nici look charge of the tramways tram ways alie of and drivers was fourteen and erne half hours they are now paid 12 cents per hour after twelve months service with merit 24 cents per week extra is paid for each period of ten years of approved service several municipalities have adopted what is known aa the direct system of labor as contra distinguished from aliat liat of the contract system this it notably the case in london the county of london employed workmen on a principle which is based on the rates of wages and hours of labor recognized by associations of employers and trades unions and in practice obtained in london there is also a stipulation that where in any trade there is no trade union alic council shall fix the rate of wages and alie hours of labor and ahall from time to time revise the same a may be necessary A great deal of opposition has sprung up against this system of direct employment and tho opposition has made much capital of tha alleged fact that tho bricklayers cm aloyed by the london county council under the above conditions only lay down i one half or even one fifth as many bricka i per day as contractors get laid even by union labor on the other hand the claim is made that the municipality gets its work done cheaper iri the end because it does not have to pay profits to contractors and other middlemen speaking generally nearly all of the work done by municipalities even where mu ownership prevails is by contract but as a rule these contracts arc given out subject to what is known as the fair wage condition which is substantially the wage condition adopted by the london county council in connection with question of direct labor it is interesting to note that many british railroad companies adopt it they making all their engines and rolling stock themselves and this by the way is given as one of the reason why the outside british makers of locomotives are not able to meet foreign competition they have not got patronage enough to warrant them in keeping their plants up to date the claim ia made eliat the best gov arned towns in great britain and the towns that have the least arc those where municipal socialism prevails but this claim is strongly ed especially ally as to ultimate results and the opponents of municipal socialism charge against that system a tendency to extravagance trava gance jobbery official indifference and lethargy and the broader charge is made that the system counteracts and paralyzes individual effort and enterprise yet it should be kept in mind in connection with this critic irim that municipal socialism has in same cases been embarked upon almost out of necessity as for instance in the case of the housing of the poor in liverpool where private enterprise ter prise has not only failed absolutely to solve the problem but has not oven alleviated levia ted its most crying evils two observations are appropriate to be made in conclusion speaking generally municipal government in great britain is honest intelligent and energetic and as a rule politics has but little to do with the engagement or retention of civic employed emp loyes |