ertainly be true where the earnings under municipal ownership
have been sufficient to pay for the plant. In this case it would be an
injustice to consumers to make them contribute, over and above the cost
of operating the plant, an additional amount sufficient to pay interest
on the investment, inasmuch as they have supplied the capital with which
the business is carried on. Any attempt to make municipal ownership a
source of revenue would mean the taxation of water consumers for the
benefit of property owners. Nor is there any reason why the private
consumers of water should be made to pay for the water used for public
purposes. The water needed for public buildings, for cleaning streets
and for extinguishing fires ought to be paid for by those chiefly
benefited--the property-owning class.

If instead of considering these thirteen waterworks together, we take a
single example--the third largest plant--the tendency to make public
ownership a source of revenue is more clearly seen. The income from
private users in the case of this plant was $4,459,404. The city used
for public purposes 29.5 per cent. of the total amount supplied, which
if paid for at the rate charged private consumers would have made the
total income from operation $6,325,395. This would have been $2,929,232
more than was required to pay all expenses, including interest on the
total investment.[169]

In the case of electric-light plants private ownership is the rule, only
460 of the 3,032 plants being under municipal ownership. The Report of
the United States Commissioner of Labor[170] gives the data for 952 of
these plants, 320 of which are municipally owned and operated. Municipal
ownership, however, is mainly confined to the smaller cities and towns.
This is shown by the fact that although more than one-third of the 952
plants above mentioned are under municipal control, only 30 out of 277,
or less than one-ninth of the largest plants, are municipally owned.
This is to be accounted for by the more determined opposition to the
policy of municipal ownership by the capitalist class in the larger
cities, where private management is most remunerative. Municipal plants,
too, are often restricted to public lighting, not being allowed to
furnish light or power for commercial purposes. This restricted form of
municipal ownership is merely a slight concession on the part of the
private monopolist to the taxpaying class. The general public, as
consumers of ligh