general public. The part of the community who
are taxpayers, if given the exclusive right to control these industries,
would be tempted to make them an important source of municipal revenue.
They would be likely to favor high rather than low or reasonable charges
for these necessary public services, since their taxes would be
diminished by the amount thus taken from the non-taxpayers through
excessive charges. Where the majority of the citizens are property
owners and taxpayers there is but little danger that public ownership
will be subject to this abuse. But where there is great inequality in
the distribution of wealth and a large propertyless class, democracy is
the only guarantee that the benefits of municipal ownership will not be
monopolized by the property-owning class.

An investigation of the practical working of municipal ownership in
American cities will show that this danger is not purely imaginary. In
the year 1899 53.73 per cent. of the waterworks in this country were
owned and operated by municipalities, public ownership being the rule in
the larger cities. Taking the thirteen largest plants in the United
States, all of which were municipally owned, the income from private
users was $20,545,409, while the total cost of production, including
estimated depreciation, aggregated only $11,469,732. If to this amount
be added the estimated taxes, interest on total investment and rental
value of the municipally owned quarters occupied for this purpose, the
total cost of production would be $22,827,825. Private consumers,
however, used only 80.2 per cent. of the water supplied. If the 19.8 per
cent. supplied free for public purposes had been paid for at the same
rate charged to private users, the total income from these 13
municipally owned plants would have been $25,817,720. This would have
been $2,989,895 in excess of a fair return upon the total investment. No
one would claim that the price of water has been increased under
municipal ownership. As a matter of fact, it has been substantially
reduced and the quality of the water at the same time improved. The
reduction in price, however, has been less than it would have been, had
the interests of the consumers alone been considered. If the object of
municipal ownership is to supply pure water at the lowest possible price
to the general public, there is no good reason why the city should
demand a profit on the capital it has invested in the business. This
would c