Miscellaneous Papers. 173 



Tlius we see that the reasons for and against municipal owner- 

 ship are quite evenly balanced, and any community will do well to 

 investigate their present plans quite carefully before deciding on 

 a change, and they should not assume that just because municipal 

 ownership has been a success in some other town that it will be so 

 in their own, or even that it would do as well as private ownership. 

 The general observation is that the operation of privately owned 

 plants is more economical, and the success of municipal owner- 

 ship in any town will depend upon the character of the men who 

 can be secured to operate the plants, and also upon whether poli- 

 tics will likely enter too strongly into the selection of the man- 

 agers and directors. 



