840 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
services is so distinctly to the advantage of the community life that it would be much better to render them at cost, if possible. Taxation might better be laid somewhere else, provided the advantage of lower cost of production could be secured to the consumer.
The only condition, however, under which the latter can be secured is the management of quasi-public works absolutely as trusts. Whether such management can be secured by public ownership seems doubtful. It was not in Philadelphia. The gas plant was mismanaged for years, and then given away for the private benefit of certain councilmen and a powerful corporation. 1 Eradicate the spoils system, elect better coun- cilmen, and throw legal restrictions in the way of a repetition of such a transaction all of which may or may not be accomplished in this generation and there might still remain objections to public owner- ship. In a democratic country there is danger that a settled business policy, such as is necessary in the management of these great enter- prises, may not be possible, especially within small areas where dis- satisfaction can be easily stirred up. Even the educational system, within which there are greater possibilities for the development of expert service than in almost any other public employment, is still largely dominated by political methods, and influenced by popular prejudices. 2 A few such difficulties in an industry where much depends upon economical management and the employment of the proper help would be ruinous, and would lead to the abandonment of the system, as was done in the case of our early state railways.
Furthermore, it may be questioned whether it is desirable to bring these quasi-public works under conscious public control. That they should be socially controlled can scarcely be questioned ; but that it is either desirable or possible to make that control con- tinuously conscious may be seriously questioned. Society is too complex for complete socialized ownership of the agencies which are now employed, and these agencies are likely to be multiplied in the future. The citizen is not willing to pay the price of conscious control of the few enterprises now conducted by the municipality. It is to be hoped that a deeper and more intelligent interest in civic affairs may be developed ; but it is doubtful whether
1 See AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, March, 1898; Annals of American Academy (" Municipal Notes "), January, 1898.
2 For example, the Kansas State Agricultural College. See AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, November, 1897.
