MUNICIPAL ACTIVITY IN BRITAIN 825
on the cars, not saying much, but dropping a hint here and there, and effectually preventing the projected strike. The fact was that the men were in the wrong, and they knew it; they knew also, that whatever complaints they made would be fairly con- sidered when the council met. Under such circumstances it re- quired only a judicious man of known integrity to restore peace; but it would have been very different if instead of the county council there had been a private company acting on purely "busi- ness" principles. It may also be added that the existence of such men as Mr. Burns and many of his colleagues on the council shows that public service is capable of attracting ability no less than private enterprise. In England such service brings credit and approval, and if it also brings abuse, it cannot be said at the present day that riches obtained by dubious means bring less. Putting the thing on the plane of the merest self-interest and self-gratification, I do not think John Burns would exchange places with any millionaire.
The opponents of municipal enterprises often make the criti- cism that the councils grant conditions to their employees which are better than those given by private concerns, and thereby rob the ratepayers in general for the benefit of a limited class. The Times critic presents the following instance :
A firm of brass-founders and iron-workers were invited by a local body to tender for a certain article. It was intimated to them, however, that it would be of no use for them to do so unless they were paying to the men employed in making the article the trade-union wage of 35*. a week. In point of fact, they were not employing men on the work at all, but youths and girls, who were perfectly well able to do it, but got a wage considerably lower than that specified. The firm could thus have afforded to send in a low tender, but, in the circumstances, they thought it useless to send in any at all; and the presumption is that the local authority in question accepted a tender based on the higher wage, and thus had to pay a good deal more for the article than the real market price.
The answer to this sort of criticism is, of course, perfectly obvious. If the ratepayers, through their agents, see fit to treat their employees decently, merely as a matter of local honor and pride, they are surely not to be blamed for doing so, even though a minority may object. But, after all. why should it be assumed
