ACCUSATIONS AGAINST LEAGUE BRANDED FALSE
Thompson, Carl D.
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST LEAGUE BRANDED FALSE Public Ownership League Officials Denounce Un-truths Circulated by Big Interests By CARL O. THOMPSON Secretary of the Public Ownership League of...
...3) economic dependence of the community upon the service...
...We have turned over that taxing power to private hands...
...Then we have set up commissions to try to stay the hand of that taxing power and we have found to our sorrow that the commissions are just as helpless as they can be in trying to stay the hand...
...It may help to still further make this position clear, and at the same time to reinforce It, If we go a little further into detail in the matter and quote some very interesting and significant statements that have been made, some of them by members of the League and others by students of this particular problem in recent discussions...
...Among the recognized bases for determining what is essentially a 'pub-blic business,' as distinguished from a 'private business,' are: (1) public grants of privileges...
...Our enemies, and especially those who are profiting enormously from the private ownership and exploitation of our public utilities and natural resources, charge that we stand for the public ownership of everything...
...Under modern conditions the furnishings of either transportation, communication, light, heat, power, or water Is essentially a 'public business.' "5...
...In spite of this clear and definite statement to the effect that the League has stood always for the public ownership of basic, public utilities only, there still prevails misunderstanding and misconception of our position due probably to the persistent misrepresentations made by those who are opposed to the public ownership of anything and are seeking to perpetuate the private monopoly of all public utilities and public functions in this country: and due partly perhaps to the lack of definite understanding on the part of ouu friends...
...WE ARE NOT TRYING TO TAKE AWAY FROM PRIVATE ENTERPRISE ANY BUSINESS THAT REALLY BELONGS TO IT...
...And it is the only remedy...
...Kentucky, 183 U. S. 503, Donovan vs...
...idea, who nevertheless hesitate to join with us in our work, fearing that we may carry the program of public ownership too far...
...Interstate Commerce Commission, 245 U. 8. 33...
...2) monopolistic restraint* on competition...
...Spaulding has said is precisely what I have been trying to say all along, and precisely the position the League has taken...
...Such Is the official position of the League with reference to the limitations of public ownership...
...The Public Ownership League of America does not encroach upon private business, but is attempting to retain and to re-capture the public functions which have been improperly diverted to private control and...
...But there are also many who believe in at least some forms of public ownership and are more or less friendly to the genera...
...That is our position exactly...
...All persons and corporations who undertake to operate those enterprises which are commonly classed as 'public utilities' are, therefore, to be regarded a* public, agents engaged in transacting public business and performing a function of the state...
...exploitation...
...S. 466...
...The furnishing of public utility service is not a private business and those engaged therein are public agents performing a function of the state...
...Smith vs...
...Spaulding's position, and said: "I want to take this occasion to very heartily and enthusiastically support what our President has just said...
...ACCUSATIONS AGAINST LEAGUE BRANDED FALSE Public Ownership League Officials Denounce Un-truths Circulated by Big Interests By CARL O. THOMPSON Secretary of the Public Ownership League of America...
...is to prejudice the minds of the people against public ownership and The Public Ownership League...
...This, of course, is untrue, and the only purpose of making such charge...
...Later in the session of the conference, and to make the position still clearer and quite official, the Resolution Committee presented the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted and may...
...This doctrine has been long established in the construction of public highways and the operation of rail-loads...
...And, therefore, the only protection, the final protection, is for the public to take over and operate public functions which are properly and naturally theirs...
...Smyth vs...
...It is necessary, therefore, that both to the friends and the enemies of public ownership we should make clear and definite our position, to state how far we propose to go and just where t.he line should be drawn between public and private ownership...
...To my mind that is the principal reason for the existence of The Public Ownership League...
...We stand for t.he public ownership of certain basic, public utilities...
...Pennsylvania Co., 199 U. S. 279...
...President Spauling Restates Position In view of these facts, therefore...
...Among other things he said: "1...
...is desired to correct any misunderstanding as to the purposes of The Public Ownership League of America, with reference to the scope of its activities, therefore, "Be it resolved, that The Public Ownership League of America, in conference assembled, hereby sets forth as the policies of the League that it does not advocate the interference by the Government in business which is strictly private in its nature, but does affirm that all such public necessities and natural monopolies which require franchises in the streets and public ways, are in their nature public functions and that, in advocating public ownership and operation of such natural monopolies...
...therefore, be taken as the official statement of the League upon this matter: "Whereas, it...
...The Public Ownership League, at its national and international convention, held at Muscle ShoaLs in November, 1929...
...What Mr...
...But public lighting, public water supply, public schools, the care of public streets and such matters are a public function, which is just as much public as the taxing power...
...gave special attention to this particular matter and undertook to define its position more definitely and clearly...
...Louisville & Nashville R. R. vs...
...Following one of the addresses at the conference, in which this matter had been discussed, the President of the League, William J. Spaulding, took the floor and spoke as follows: "Public business should be owned and operated by the public...
...we have tried to make it clear that we stood for the public ownership of only those institutions and utilities which were in their nature monopolistic and were, therefore, proper functions of the public, In the official booklet of the League, which has been purblished and circulated now for many years, will be found the following statement: "The League does not advocate the public ownership of all utilities nor any radical or extreme application of the principle...
...Made Clear from the First Front the very first, and in all the literature that has been published by The Public Ownership League from its inception nearly 20 years ago...
...It seeks, rather, to cooperate with those municipalities and states, organizations and individuals that are struggling to establish, promote, or extend their public Institutions and to promte public ownership of only those basic public utilities and natural resources that are essential to the greatest degree of personal liberty, private enterprise and the general welfare...
...Ames, 169 If...
...That is the basis of our movement...
...When we get that idea across, when the common citizens recognize that here is a public function which has been usurped and taken away from the public and now we want to restore and recapture it, then our problem is solved.'' Re-affirmed by the League Convention The writer, in his official position as Secretary of The Public Ownership League, immediately took the floor to support Mr...
...Legal Basis fpr Limits of P. O. Donald R. Richberg of Chicago, General Counsel for the National Conference on the Valuation of Railroads, in a statement presented in testimony before the New York State Commission in January, 1930, discussed in a very able and illuminating manner the legal basis for the proper limits of private and public ownership...
Vol. 1 • August 1930 • No. 37
