Scotland, that is worthy of notice in this connection. Among other things we are informed that the net profits accruing from the operation of the city-owned street railways amount to fifty per cent annually of the net receipts. The revenue thus realized results in a substantial reduction of taxes of property owners in that city. The same document shows that the work day for municipal railway employes has been reduced from twelve to ten hours, and that wages of conductors range from $7.00 to $9.00 per week[1].
It is difficult for one versed in the ways of capitalism to see any vital distinction here between the relationship sustained by the workers and their city employers of Glasgow, and that of the workers and their private employer of the municipal railway company of Chicago. The only possible distinction is, that while the Chicago street railway workers are organized and in position to strike against their employers, those of the city-owned railways of Glasgow have no union in the same sense.
But even that distinction as a general proposition fades away when we turn to France and view the recent movements of government employes in that country. Fifteen thousand postal, telegraph and telephone workers in Paris last March went on strike against their
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- ↑ "Municipal Ownership in Great Britain, by Frederic C. Howe Ph. D., Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 62, January 1906." The following quotation will help to emphasize the contentions made above:
"During eleven years of the municipal operation of the tramways there has been no friction between the department and its employes, who now number 4,352. On the taking over of the system by the city in 1894 the hours of daily labor of traffic employes were reduced from twelve to ten, while a still further reduction to 54 hours per week of six days was made later. In this, as in the other departments, the policy is to pay a fair rate of wages and to grant considerate treatment to the employes. By such means the employes are attached to the service and efficient men are secured for the department. All attempts to unionize the car employes have been unsuccessful."
