ls by "farming out" the taxes, as all countries once did
to some extent, and as France continued to do up to the French
Revolution. It is now the general policy for government to own or
control its essential agencies, but this does not involve in every
case the employment of day-labor direct as in cleaning the streets or
collecting garbage. The more simple political functions shade off into
the economic. To coinage usually are added the issue of legal-tender
notes and certain banking functions: the post carries packages,
transmits money, and in most countries now performs the function of
a savings-bank for small amounts. The social and industrial functions
undertaken by public agencies have steadily increased since the
middle of the nineteenth century, and the sphere of the state has been
enlarging.[3] The question ever open is as to the proper limits to
this development.

Sec. 3. #Economic influences favoring public ownership#. In some cases
private ownership is difficult because of the excessive cost of
collecting for the service. The cost of maintaining toll houses on a
turnpike sometimes exceeds the amount collected. Collection in
other cases, as for the service of lighthouses to passing ships, is
impossible. Public industry may secure, through the economy of large
production, a cheaper and more efficient service, the benefits and
costs being diffused throughout the community. The benefits of the
work of experiment-stations for agriculture are felt immediately by
the farmers, but are diffused to all citizens. A manufacturer able to
keep his method secret, or to retain his advantages for a time, can
afford to undertake experiments in his factory, but the farmer seldom
can. The public ownership of parks for the use of all gives a maximum
of economy in the production of the most essential goods,--fresh air,
sunshine, natural beauty, and playgrounds in the midst of crowded
populations. Municipal ownership of waterworks is an extension of the
same idea. Not only because large amounts of water are used by the
public, but because cheap, pure, abundant water is an essential
condition to good citizenship, speculation should in every possible
way be eliminated from this industry.

The assumption is made in the _laissez-faire_ doctrine that the
interest of the public harmonizes with that of the individual. But
this proves often not to be the case. For example, the forest has an
immediate value to its owners and to the consum