This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 Excerpt: ...conditions alleged to exist in California, where everything fructifies in such lush profusion that it is scarcely any wonder that in the year of grace 1915--Exposition year, by the way, with millions of extra consumers of its product--even a Municipally Owned railway should show fruit large enough almost to be ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 Excerpt: ...conditions alleged to exist in California, where everything fructifies in such lush profusion that it is scarcely any wonder that in the year of grace 1915--Exposition year, by the way, with millions of extra consumers of its product--even a Municipally Owned railway should show fruit large enough almost to be accounted a "Melon." The author of the article in question is a man of great enthusiasm and sincerely devoted to the causes he represents, and it is therefore not so very surprising that, in the exuberance of that joyous moment when he has at last discovered one Municipally Owned Tramway in America which, in one year, under extraordinary conditions, has actually proven a paying proposition, he should dwell almost wholly upon the alluring side of the picture. Roses and Thorns That he should perceive only the Roses of Municipal Ownership and the Thorns of Private Greed is possibly quite to be expected considering the visual peculiarities of the Municipally Owned Eye; and just as some foreign critics of American manners contrast unfavorably to ourselves the deportment of American hucksters and yokels with that of the British Aristocracy, the French Noblesse, or the mediatized families of the Teutonic powers, so does this ardent commentator contrast the worst aspects of Private Ownership with the supreme virtues of the Municipal enterprise. Generalities Refuted He speaks feelingly, for instance, of the greater courtesy of the Municipal Employes. But it has been our good fortune recently to visit San Francisco, and it has pleased us to test his inferences by personal experience, and we are glad to be able to report that in respect to the Chesterfieldian qualities of the public servants of the rival lines there is no perceptible difference. He spe...
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