CHAPTER VII.
SEMI-MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISE—LOCAL OPTION—TEMPERANCE REFORM.
In the last chapter we saw that no line could be sharply drawn between municipal and individual enterprise, so that one could definitely say of one or the other, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further"; and this ever-changing character of the problem can be usefully illustrated in our examination of the industrial life of Garden City by reference to a form of enterprise there carried on which is neither distinctly municipal nor distinctly individualistic, but partaking, as it does, of the character of both, may be termed "semi-municipal."
Among the most reliable sources of revenue possessed by many of our existing municipalities are their so-called "public markets." But it is important to notice that these markets are by no means public in the same full sense as are our public parks, libraries, water undertakings, or those numerous other branches of municipal work which are carried on upon public property, by public officials, at the public expense, and solely with a view to the public advantage. On the contrary, our so-called "public markets" are, for the most part, carried on by private individuals, who pay tolls for the parts of the buildings which they occupy, but who are not, except on
