Henry D. Lloyd says that "wealth will remain a secret unguessed by business until it has reincorporated itself under the new law which counts as the property of each one the total of all the possessions of all of the neighbors." This is a truth that those of us who seek to solve the problem of municipal government must admit; and, further, we must set ourselves to bringing about the realization of this truth and the task of formulating it into law, so that it may have free expression in the life of our municipalities, if we are to take our place among the first of the nations of the earth. Our producers and our toilers are laden with heavy burdens; they are becoming exhausted through this press of ceaseless tribute to the profit-gatherers, and this is what has produced the anomalous distribution of wealth to which our attention has been called. It is transferred by the trickery of business from the hands of those who produced it into the possession of those who "toiled not, neither do they spin." The poison root of this whole system is found in the idea of giving, granting, or selling public franchises, and closely akin to this infamy is the other iniquity of the contract system, that is a continual poison in the life of our municipalities. It is the principle that is wrong. The trouble does not arise from corrupt officials. In my short experience in public life I have learned some valuable lessons; one is that public officials are not as corrupt as they are popularly supposed to be; the second is that business is the poison that comes into the life of the public officials and seeks to corrupt it. It is to somebody's business interest to get a contract; it is to somebody's business interest to get a franchise or extension of one, and the methods of business are too well known to call for any comment at my hands. While there are honorable exceptions to the rule, we know that the purpose of business is to get the advantage. The whole idea that inspires our business life is that the good business men shall get something that no other man can get and thereby possess a monopoly.

I mention this fact that we may have clearly before our minds that we will mend our system only as we mend our morals and we will not permanently mend our system until we adopt as a principle, instead of the idea of a system that purposes to enrich a few people at the expense of the many-the system of collective ownership for every form of public utility, municipal, State or national, wherein all these heritages of the people shall be operated by and for the benefit of all of the people.

During the anti-slavery days there were many kind-hearted and worthy men who were slave owners; they sought by various systems of checks and balances to eliminate the evil from slavery; some of them by special kindness to their slaves, making provision for sickness and old age; and others by coercive legislation compelling slave owners to deal thus and so; but all this did not relieve us of the evils of slavery. The trouble was with the institution itself, and not until the foud blot of human slavery was wiped from statute books by the Emancipa

tion Proclamation did we begin to get rid of the evils of an infamy whose effects still curse our civilization. We must deal with the question of municipal franchises just as we dealt with the slavery ques tion. The giving or granting of municipal franchise or special privilege upon any terms seeks to perpetuate our bondage. It is slavery of a different kind, but slavery none the less, and slavery that, if not discontinued, will disintegrate the very structure of government itself. Already the people have manifested an unwearied patience. Calmly have the toilers submitted to exploitation at the hands of the profit gatherers, and with longing eyes and eager hearts they are turning their attention to us, who essay to be their leaders, for relief from their burdens.

I know of no better way for this League to study the municipal problem than for it to adjourn, and go in a body to the City Hall, where we will come face to face with the municipal problem as Mayor Taggart sees it, and as every other city official in this and every large city of our country sees it day after day. It is the problem of the unemployed. I was there yesterday morning, and I saw the same sights that I see in my own city, that are duplicated in the corridors and public offices of every city in our country. Scores of hungry-looking men upon whose faces are plainly written the lines of hopeless despair. And what special privilege or grant or franchise do they ask? Only the privilege that is, as I have already said, the inherent right of every man—the right to work. When this right is once secured and the place where a man may work is as easily found as the place where a man may vote, our problems will be solved, for this is our municipal problem. It is our State problem. It is our national problem. Of infinitely more importance to the people than the question of national finance or revenue, or even of our foreign policy and what to do with the Philippines. When the right to work is as well established as the right to vote, the dream of democracy will be realized. Democracy has not failed. Like Christianity, it has not yet been tried. We must first know what it is before we can begin to practice it. Let us take Walt Whitman's conception as the ideal towards which we will strive.

"I speak the pass-word primeval, I give the sign of democracy. By God, I will have nothing that all cannot have their counterpart of, on equal terms."

I hail with delight the signs that I discern that the long night of bondage is passing away. The morning, when liberty shall be proclaimed throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof, is dawning. I see it in a score of unmistakable signs. The discontent and unrest of the great masses with the conditions that I have but faintly described is a promising sign of the better day. To be contented with social conditions that threaten the overthrow of the Republic itself would be blasphemy against Almighty God, as well as treason to the Republic.

The municipality is the nucleus of government. The State and the ration look to the municipality for their ideal. Let those of us who have a conception of a loftier and better patriotism sound the keynote of a new municipal program that shall proclaim emancipation to the enslaved people who are to-day the mere tools of the profit gatherers Let us announce the purpose of municipal government to be that of ministering in every possible way to the social needs of the people of the municipality, and let us proclaim as an unalterable principle toward that end, public ownership of all public utilities. No grant or extension of municipal franchise. No special privilege to any man or set of men under the sun to exploit the people for the sake of enriching the few.

THE CHAIRMAN: The discussion will be continued by Lucius B. Swift, Esq., of Indianapolis.

Mr. Swift delivered the following remarks:

ADDRESS OF LUCIUS B. SWIFT.

When I rashly accepted an invitation to discuss this question I did not think the typewriter was to be such a factor in this discussion until it was too late for me to prepare my paper.

I have never belonged to those who believe that the world is going to the bow-wows; I think the world is a better place to live in to-day than it ever was before; and I think it is going to be better in the future than it is now. I do not quite subscribe to the doctrine that the rich are going to gobble up all of the good things in this world; I have seen too many men in this town who have worked by the day, starting without a dollar, build and pay for their own homes. I know literally hundreds of workmen in and about this town who have done that; and I want to say that they do not go to the City Hall for a job, although they are often out of work. I am afraid that the gentleman who spoke last has been somewhat misled. I have seen the gathering in the basement of the Court House, and I think I can safely say that they are composed of "the boys," hoping to get an easy job at the expense of the city; and I can also safely say, judging the future by the past, that they are likely, sooner or later, to succeed.

I am one of those who are squarely on the side of the public operation of franchises. I range myself on this side because I recognize the trend of the times; the world is going that way. I also put myself on this side for a second and more immediately beneficial reason-because of the great public benefit which will result from it.

In this city we had a street railroad known as the "mule line" that was sold out for eleven hundred thousand dollars. The property was really worth nothing. The electric line was put in and then the railway was sold for thirty-two hundred thousand dollars and a fraction. Now the property was worth at that time probably two million dollars; the present company issued stock to the amount of five million dollars,

and then proceeeded to issue mortgages on this plant for four million dollars. Those bonds were nearly all sold, and our Philadelphia friends got well salted with them, too, I understand. Upon these nine million dollars the Company set out to make some sort of an interest, and whenever we asked that this or that be done, this great sum was pointed out as requiring an income, rendering this or that impossible. That is the situation in this city to-day, with this additional fact: In 1894, inasmuch as sooner or later this franchise would come to an end, our city government put up the privilege for sale. There was one bidder, known as "The City Company," and in 1894 the privilege to take effect after the present company went out, was sold to the City Company. What happened? In 1896 the Indiana Legislature proposed to pass rather repressive legislation concerning the present company. I don't say who it was that instigated that legislation; but the new and the old companies got together, and it was found that if the old company bought out the new company it was thought that everything would be smooth sailing. I do not say that if the new company sold out the pressure in the Legislature would be withdrawn; but I have my opinion about that. The fact is that the new company, which had not paid a dollar to anyone, except lawyer's fees, and had never been in possession, made a bargain, by which it was to receive five hundred thousand dollars for its franchise. There is no doubt about that at all. There was a report, which I think was true, that the new company raised the price one hundred thousand dollars; that was the straw which broke the company's back, and the sale did not take place. When I see what benefit would be obtained for the city, I range myself on the side of the public ownership of municipal franchises.

We have here a beautiful city. When the resolution was passed thanking us for entertaining you, I accepted it at par. Our city has fine broad streets, modern pavements, a monument up there on the Circle which has cost a half million of dollars; we are proud of all these things, and I do not intend to disparage the city. We are going to make the city more beautiful in the future than it is to-day. We live under a modern charter. It is not quite so strict in some of its provisions as the Model Charter. I want to show you what can be done under a modern charter.

There are two things to be considered. One is the character of the men we put into our city offices; the other is the lack of safeguards to hamper the men when we happen to get a bad man in. These two things stand in the way of the extension of the franchises. When we were here in this room considering the propriety of asking the Legislature to make provision for a Park Board and to make provision for a Waterworks Board, I heard the Mayor of this city say, "I don't suppose any of you will believe me, but I think both these boards should be out of politics." If the Park Board should be out of politics, why should not the Street Commissioners' office be out of politics? Why should not the Board of Public Works be out of politics? I should like to ask the

Mayor where he draws the line between having these two new hoards out of politics and the boards which have for years been in politics? Of course his remark is an admission that the other boards are in politics, and I should also like to ask why it is necessary to be a Bryan Silver Democrat to get a place in the engineer's office?

I will illustrate the position which I take, that we must make provisien to get honorable men, and make provisions that will hamper those that are not honorable. The merit system here can be established in every department of the city, and can be kicked out by a simple resolution. That was done under this modern charter. That is no rash statement. When I say that Mr. Foulke superintended the drawing of the whole system, when I say that it was enforced and had tremendous possibilities for the benefit of this city, and yet the present Mayor kicked it out by a single resolution, you can see what can be done under a modern charter. That was done under our modern charter. What is the result? From the day that was done to this the appointments of this city have heen made simply at the will of the Mayor.

I am going to give you a few of the hundreds of instances that 1 could give. We have a surgeon that examines the men for the Police and Fire Departments. Sometimes they are pronounced not fit to pass, yet when the Mayor wills it they do pass, and are quartered upon this city in its Police and Fire Departments.

The Mayor of this city is a hotelkeeper. He keeps a good hotel and will take good care of you if you go down there. You will not be robbed; your jewelry and money will not be taken from your rooms; you will be perfectly safe, and he will not neglect one of the duties of an honest gentleman. Yet I should like to know how a man's character is made up when he can take such a position as a private gentleman, and then quarter upon this city men whom the surgeon has said are not fit to be firemen or policemen?

I want to say here that I am not making an attack upon anybody, I am showing what can be done to build up a party machine, and therefore I maintain that until that is settled, until we can put a stop to such work as that, it is useless to talk of buying waterworks and lighting plants, or that sort of thing. All the citizens of Indianapolis know that the Fire Department became totally disorganized, the discipline was gone, and the only man who had any weight there was the Mayor. We all know that the fire insurance rates were raised on this account. Every one in this city knows that a long line of drunken policemen have marched before the Board of Safety to be dismissed or reprimanded or their faults glossed over.

Let me tell you some more things. We had at the head of our City Hospital a man entirely fitted for the place; we had as clerk of the Board of Public Works and as clerk of the Board of Public Safety two gentlemen who could not be surpassed for these positions. Yet what has happened to these three gentlemen? do you suppose? Did they get drunk?

They were dismissed. Why, Oh, no. Did they steal? Oh,