Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/159

MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 127 MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. panics, lMj,'iuiiing with the Xew Kiver Company, whose works were eonipleted in 1U13 with the aid of James 1. The other seven companies date from 1721 to 1822. After years of agitation for municipal ownersliip, a Parliamentary act was passed in 1002 providing for the ]mrcliase of the I.ondon companies and the control of the water supply by a joint board representing the several borouglis and the other public bodies comprised within what is known as Greater London. The transfer is to be made in June, 1004. Most of the large cities of the European Conti- nent have extensive water- works. In Germany liractically all places of 50.000 population and up- ward have municipal works. Berlin secured control of her water-works in 1873. buying them from a company which began to build them in 18.53. Ham- burg and Frankfort-on-the-JIain, Vienna, JIos- eow. Paris. Piome. and other large cities own their water-works. The municipal water-works of Rome may be said to date from 312 B.C. (See AguEoiCT. ) At Paris an old Roman aqueduct was restored in the seventeentli century, and a small municipal supply seems to have been con- tinued from that date until more adequate works were installed by the city about the middle of the nineteenth century. As a rule, private owner- sliip prevails in Latin-speaking countries. In Australia there are a number of important munic- ipal works. Gas-Works. In North and South America these are rarely under municipal ownership, but in Europe they are frequently owned by the municipality. Of 981 towns in the United States, each having a jiopulation of 3000 and more by the census of 1900. returns for the close of 1001 showed 21 municipal works : but of these the Philadelphia plant was leased to a private com]iany in 1807. after over fifty years of municipal ownership and operation. Two of the 21 municipal plants sup- ply natural gas. The municipal Avorks at Rich- mond, Va., were established in 1852. Of 693 gas-works in (heat Britain and Ireland reported late in 1901. 240 were owned by the municipalities served, and they supplied barely half the population involved. In 1883 there were only 143 municipal works. With the exception of London, Liverpool, and Dublin, nearly all the large towns have municipal works. At least 41 of 54 cities of Germani/ having a population of 50.000 and upward have munic- ipal works, and as far back as 1885 figures for the whole country showed 338 municipal to 329 private gas-works. Among the larger cities with private works are Munich, Frankfort-on-the- Main. and Altona. Municipal works are found in most of the cities of Holland. Norway. Sweden, and Switzerland, and in a few cities of France, Italy, and Aus- tralia. SEWER.r.E. JIunicipal ownership is almost universal, but many countries are practically without sewerage systems for household wastes. It is doubtful if any country is better provided with sewerage facilities than the United States, where 1000 of the 1524 places with a population of 3000 in 1900 reported sewerage systems late in 1001. Of (he I00(! places with sewers, private ownership was reported in 47 instances. Most of these sewer companies were in small places ; hut Atlantic City, N. J., Wilmington. N. C. and Austin, Texas, each with more than 20,000 in- habitants in 1000, were served by sewers owned by private companies. Stbeet Railways. This class of service has been developed since 1850, and up to 1870 was confined chielly to the United States. Municijial ownership outside of Great Britain is rare, and even there it lias sprung up recently. In fact, until 1803 Huddersfield, England, and the rail- way on the Brooklyn Bridge were the onl.y ex- amples of municipal ownership and operation, the first dating from 1882 and the second from 1883. A few British cities constructed lail- way tracks and leased them to companies be- tween 1870 and 1803. At the close of 1901 there were 40 municipalities in Great Britain that owned and operated horse or electric street rail- ways, and 27 (including a few in the other list) that owned railways, but leased them to operat- ing companies. Among the 40, such large cities as London, Manchester, and Sheflield are in- cluded, but there are also private lines in some of these 40 places. The operation of the railway on the Brooklyn Bridge. New York City, was assumed by a private company in 1898. in con- nection with the Brooklyn railway service. In 1001 the small city of Grand Junction, Colo., as- sumed the ownership and operation of a short hiu-se railway line. In 1002 an electric railway at Saint Thomas, Ont.. was taken over in like manner. The street railway system of Toronto, Ont.. was bought by the city at the expiration of the franchise of a company in 1891. After be- ing operated for a few months by the city it was sold to a company, under a contract providing for conversion, by the purchaser, from horse to electric traction, together with a payment to the city of a percentage of gross receipts increasing with the latter. In other countries than those already named there are a few street railways owned by the city and lea.sed to operating com- panies. A subway to accommodate street rail- way traffic in congested districts of Boston has been built by the city and leased to a company, and the same general plan is being carried out on a much more comprehensive scale in New York. Electric Lights. This service was started on a practical scale in or about 1880. Probably the first municipal plant in the United States was put in operation in 1882, at Fairfield, Iowa. At the close of 1898 there were in places of 1000 or over by the United States census of 1800. 460 municipal and 2572 private electric- lighting plants. At the close of 1001. in places of 3000 population and over, by the census of 1000, there were 193 cities and towns with munic- ipal and 1100 with private plants, besides 85 cities having both. The largest municipal plants are at Chicago and Detroit; but these, like many other American municipal electric-lighting plants, are for lighting streets and public build- ings only. The first electric-lighting plant in the United Kingdom was established by a private com- pany in 1882. The oldest municipal plant was started by Bradford, in 1880. At the close of 1001 there were only 248 works in operation in the United Kingdom, of which 168 were municipal. In addition, 84 munic- ipalities and 31 companies were then in- stalling works. Among (he larger municipalities Glasgow bought out a companv in 1802, Liver- pool in 1897, Leeds in 1898, Sheffield in 1899,