The Online Library of Liberty

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• Preface
• Translator's Note
• Where and Why Public Ownership Has Failed
• Book I: Public and Private Trading Operations
• Chapter I: Two Precepts
• Chapter II: The Three Mainsprings of Human Action
• Chapter III: Determining Motives of Private As Against Public Enterprises
• Chapter IV: Government and Municipal Trading Operations
• Book II: Financial Results of Government and Municipal Ownership
• Chapter I: Bookkeeping In State and Municipal Trading Enterprises
• Chapter II: The Belgian State Railroads
• Chapter III: Prussian Railroads
• Chapter IV: State Railways of Austria and Hungary
• Chapter V: Italian Railways
• Chapter VII: Railways of New Zealand
• Chapter VIII: Government Railroads In France
• Chapter IX: Public Vs. Private Operation
• Chapter X: The Holy Cities of Municipal Operation
• Chapter XI: Operation of Gas and Electricity In the United Kingdom
• Chapter XII: Tramways In Great Britain
• Chapter XIII: Housing of the Working Classes and Public Ownership In Great Britain
• Chapter XIV: Housing of the Working Classes On the Continent
• Chapter XV: Government Control of Food Supplies
• Chapter XVI: Victims of Government Ownership
• Chapter XVII: Charges, Debts and Credit
• Chapter XVIII: Fictitious Profits
• Chapter XIX: Fiscal Monopolies
• Chapter XX: The Alcohol Monopoly In Switzerland and Russia
• Chapter XXI: Financial Disorder
• Chapter XXII: The Purchase Price
• Chapter XXIII: Delusions of Profit and the Life Insurance Monopoly In Italy
• Chapter XXIV: The Fiscal Mines of the Saar District
• Chapter XXV: Public Versus Private Enterprise
• Book III: Administrative Results
• Chapter I: Administrative Results
• Chapter II: The Safety of Travelers Upon State and Private Railway Lines
• Chapter III: Disorders, Delays and Errors
• Chapter IV: Official Conservatism
• Chapter V: Labor
• Chapter VI: The Consumer
• Chapter VII: Programs of Organization and Regulation
• Book IV: Political and Social Consequences of Public Operation
• Chapter I: Socialist Programs and the Facts
• Chapter II: Bluff
• Chapter III: Results of Experience
• Chapter IV: The State a Dishonest Man
• Chapter V: Corruption
• Chapter VI: Nationalization of Public Utilities and the Foundation of Great Fortunes
• Chapter VII: Disintegrating Character of Public Operation
• Appendix %u201ca%u201d: Alcoholism In Russia
• Appendix %u201cb%u201d: the Financial Year In Australia
• Appendix %u201cc%u201d: the Shortcomings of the Telephone In England

CHAPTER X

THE HOLY CITIES OF MUNICIPAL OPERATION

The delusions of the advocates of state and municipal ownership are generally set forth with that same naïveté that we have already seen displayed in the reports upon the Western (state) Railway. Whenever they are at a loss for examples of satisfactory results from state monopolies they point to the municipal operations of British cities.

They say with emphasis: In the country of Adam Smith, and of Cobden, in spite of the Manchester school, the cities have shown themselves the boldest in the world, in entering upon the path of municipal Socialism. London, Birmingham, Glasgow, and even Manchester are holy cities. Could a more decisive argument exist for the purpose of proving the inadequacy of private initiative, or that every industry which is a monopoly in fact ought to become a legal monopoly? Have they not achieved a success which proves that municipal authorities can administer as well as, if not better than, private enterprises?

The importance given to British municipal experiments forces me to treat it in special chapters.1

[1]See Raymond Boverat: Le Socialisme Municipal en Angleterre et ses Rèsultats Financiers (1907), 2nd ed., 1911. Major Darwin: Municipal Trade. Lord Avebury: On Municipal and National Trading. Des Cilleuls: Le Socialisme à travers les Siècles. D. Bellet: Socialisme et Municipalisme. Hugo Meyer: Municipal Ownership in Great Britain. Graham and Warmington: Taxation, Local and Imperial, and Local Government, 1899. Fairlie: Municipal Administration. Davies: Cost of Municipal Trading. Municipal and Private Operation of Public Utilities. Report to the National Civic Federation. Three volumes in octavo. 1907, New York. Municipal Year Book, edited by Duncan, published annually by the Municipal Journal.