I. The Public Ownership League And Its Work PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS At the Annual Meeting of the Public Ownership League by Hon. Albert M. Todd It is with unusual pleasure that I greet the members and friends of the Public Ownership League of America, because of the magnitude of the events which have transpired since our last meeting and the important part which we have been able to take in spreading the gospel of Democracy and Social Justice. While we have not been able to entirely overthrow the powerful system of financial autocracy which for many years has enjoyed large control of many of our important governmental functions, notably our great public utilities, there has nevertheless recently developed a sentiment in favor of public ownership tenfold more strong than has ever before existed in our country. When we consider that this increased sentiment has been developed in spite of the overshadowing interest in the war, and the problems of international reconstruction before us, we can now confidently look forward with hope to a still more rapid advance in applied democracy, as we are now able to give larger attention to its development. Recalling what we have already achieved, and looking forward to the promise of the future, I am glad to congratulate you all upon what has already been won, and the still larger achievments which are soon to be accomplished through the loyalty and sacrifices for democratic ideals which you will gladly continue to make. While special privileges founded upon the absolutism of the dark ages, has been seeking to continue its unjust control in things which belong by nature and right to the citizenship, you have acted the nobler part in advancing social justice, both political and economic in America. Our country today faces illimitable opportunities. The greatest war ever waged since the foundations of our earth were laid, has ended victoriously for the forces of democracy in which our nation took a most conspicious part, and because of which the triumph was achieved. Due to the menace of a foreign military autocrat, our country was forced to enter this great war for the 9 preservation of human liberty throughout the world and we believe now as we believed then, that our government spoke to us truly when we were asked to make every sacrifice, that the war was to be waged to "make the world safe for democracy." How nobly and unselfishly our citizens responded to the call is attested by the countless graves of our heroic dead who lie in the soil of a sister republic over the seas, and nearby "Where the poppies bloom in Flanders' Fields." America's sacrifices are equally attested by the countless mothers and fathers whose sons will never again cross the threshold to cheer and support their old age; the wives made lonely in widowhood; the countless orphaned children never again to be clasped in the embrace of their father; by countless thousands who worked abroad and in the Red Cross; and those other countless thousands whose services were needed to support the army and navy with food, clothing and munitions on the farms and in the factories; and those who had passed the age of military service and industrial toil, but who gladly contributed money with which to support the needed services. America's Larger Duties in the Future We have won the war so far as overthrowing the menace to world Tiberty for which a foreign autocrat inaugurated the conflict. "We have made the world safe for democracy" so far as any danger to our institutions can come from foreign ambition; yet we today face a task and a duty no less serious than that which called us to fight a foreign foe. Our duty today is to make such further sacrifices, and to take such further measures and so carefully study the relation of public utilities to government as shall bring us into the actual possession of that democracy for which our country's heroes made their "last sacrifices" and which we supported by every power we possessed. This great duty is to remove from their place of power the forces of "special privilege” which have gained control of those functions of government upon which our economic liberty and prosperity depends, so that we may become a nation free in fact as well as in name. The problems which we now face and the duty we must meet were stated just sixty-five years ago so clearly and wisely by our martyred President Lincoln upon the field of a great battle near the close of a war which had forever settled the question of human slavery in this country, which, although it is fresh in the memory of you all, is so closely related to our present condition and duty that I cannot do otherwise than recall these immortal words: "It is for us, the living, to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before-that from those honored dead we take in creased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that those dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Not only when speaking on a great battlefield, but also in addressing a personal friend this great president, whose memory we all reverence and cherish, made another utterance equally related to the conditions we face today, saying: "As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is concentrated in a few hands, and the republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless." Is there a single American who has carefully studied the growth of the power of those corporations which control our great public utilities, who does not realize that the prophecy of our martyred president has already become largely true? In view also of the fact that American citizens who desire peacefully to secure genuine democracy as the reward promised them for the sacrifices they have made as well as those whose zeal is not in accord with knowledge and who advocate force, are alike denounced by "special priviledge" upon every possible occasion, as "Unamerican and anarchistic," I wish to call the attention of the forces of special priviledge to the fact that it is they themselves who have been and still are sowing the seeds of anarchy and should our country be drawn into a revolution of force, which God grant may not be the case, those who are seeking thru corrupt and illegal means to gain economic control of the nation, will be found to be the chief contributing cause. If, instead of increasing their unjust political and financial control, they will join the real friends of progress who seek to promote universal justice, the terrible calamity may be averted. In connection with this, and in order that they may cease from their attacks upon democracy, I quote once more from the martyred Lincoln whom they profess to reverence, who said: "This country and all that is within it belongs to the people who inhabit it and whenever they shall tire of the existing form of government, they have the constitutional right to amend it, or the revolutionary right to overthrow it." I have quoted more fully from President Lincoln than would otherwise seem necessary, were it not that these warnings were evoked by conditions which already he clearly foresaw and feared and which since he made these appeals, have verified his fears. His prophecy already has been in part fulfilled, because special privilege has been permitted to secure the control of our great public functions. To restore democracy, by nationalizing our great public utilities in the interest of the public good, is the great work before us. Public Ownership And Democracy A highly important element, and probably the first element of democracy is the ownership by the people, and the administration by their government, of all of those great public services necessary for the general welfare, and especially those which either by nature or by law are monopolies. There can be no more natural and just function of government that the public ownership and operation of those utilities and services which are of universal need for promoting general prosperity and happiness. Among these services are the transportation of our persons, our food, fuel and the various necessities of life, both from the farms and factories; the transmission of intelligence by telephone, telegraph, post, or by any other method which human genius may in the future desire the ownership and operation by municipalities, of street railways, gas and electricity and such other services as the citizens of any city may deem best to publicly operate. All the nations of the world outside of ours have for many years approved the principle of Public Ownership as a natural and just government function and have widely practiced it with great success. It has been my privilege to study the public operation of both national and municipal utilities during many visits to the foreign countries extending over a period of over forty years, including twelve months study in fifteen of the countries of Europe immediately preceeding the war, during which latter visit I collected and brought home with me a vast storehouse of official data respecting the operation of these utilities, besides personally taking over five hundred photographs illustrating their efficiency and the high class of service. These I have the pleasure of placing before you. (Mr. Todd here exhibited service tickets and other forms of railroad tickets and a collection of photographs.) Suggestions Respecting Our Future Policies And The railroads and wire lines have claimed the principal attention of our League during the past two years, since legislation for determining their ownership and status has been constantly before Congress demanding immediate attention; and since the wire lines upon which important legislation was also pending, have been returned to private ownership, and the policy respecting the railways for the immediate future will probably soon be determined, I recommend that a larger relative share of our energies should in the near future be given to municipal utilities, as well as to some national utilities which our League has not actively considered, to which I will later call attention. Respecting municipal utilities: Being local, they can be more closely studied by the citizens of each city and each can be solved according to the special circumstances surrounding each case. While the street railway, gas and electric companies are united in one working combination to fight municipal ownership wherever it is sought, it seems the unanimous opinion of those experts and students whom I have consulted as well as the officials of the League, that we enlarge our activities respecting municipal ownership. Relationship of Democracy to Money and Banking The dangerous and rapidly increasing control of money and credit, and consequently of the business of the country by two banking institutions only with the allied institutions which they own and control in whole or in part, has been shown by very careful congressional investigations, as well as by facts almost daily coming to the knowledge of some or all of us. Years ago the question as to who should issue and administer the money of the nation had already become of such vital interest that the government issue and circulation of all money was a paramount principle of a political party which attained considerable power. If conditions then warranted a movement for the nationalization of money and banking the need for such movement is intensified today. In many countries of Europe the nationalization of money has been highly successful in reducing the burdens of the people and promoting more prosperity. For these and other reasons which time does not permit me to discuss, I recommend that the question of money and banking be carefully studied by our League and that a report be made at our next meeting by a select committee which will carefully investigate the problem. Democracy And Public Ownership And Operation of Natural Resources Among those priceless treasures of wealth and of universal need and which should be administered under national ownership for the public welfare, are those great natural resources which the great Creator placed above and below the surface of the earth as the common heritage of mankind, for their use and happiness. The alienation of these divine gifts from the ownership of the people, to the control of the few for private profit, is a crime against civilization, especially when the extremely unjust profits |