es of 30,000 population or more have public markets
or scales, and fully one third have public markets of importance. New
York City has six large retail and wholesale markets, for selling meat
and farm produce, in which rents or fees are charged, and several open
markets. There has recently been a large movement in this direction.

The providing of apparatus for extinguishing fires is always a public
duty; the conveyance of waste water is increasingly a public function.
The supply of pure water for domestic and business uses, for fire
protection and for street cleaning, while often a private enterprise
in villages, and sometimes in large cities, is increasingly undertaken
by public agencies. Most of the largest cities now own their own water
supply systems. Public ownership of gas and electric lighting is less
common, as the utility supplied is not so essential and the industry
is somewhat less subject to monopoly; but the difference is one of
degree only. Street railroads are often under public ownership in
Europe; but there have thus far been few cases of the kind in the
United States and Canada.[4]

Sec. 5. #Localized production favoring monopoly#. A number of these
enterprises have characteristics in common which appear to make
inevitable their drift into monopolistic control. Waterworks, gas,
electric lighting, street railways, telephone systems, are among
these. However fierce may be the competition for a time, sooner or
later either one company drives out the other or buys it up, or both
come to an agreement by which the public is made to pay higher prices.

A feature favoring the growth of monopoly when such industries are
left to private enterprise is the need to produce and supply the
commodity or service at a given locality. While two street railways
can compete on neighboring streets, it is physically impossible for
two or more to compete on the same street. Two systems of water-mains
or gas-mains can be put down, as sometimes is done, but this is not
only a great economic waste, but the tearing up of the streets is an
intolerable public nuisance. This difficulty is less marked in the
case of telephones and electric lighting, and some persons still cling
to faith in competition to regulate the rates in those industries; but
faith in competition between water companies and between gas companies
has been given up by nearly all persons now, as it was long since by
students of the subject.

Sec. 6. #Economie