Kies, W: Twenty-Ninth Annual Joint Debate

Excerpt from Twenty-Ninth Annual Joint Debate: Of the University of Wisconsin Held at Library Hall, December 16, 1898

There is, Of course, a great obstacle in the way of the introduce tion of such a system of ownership and control in American cities, and that is the acquisition of the properties. European street railways are insignificant when their values are compared with the immense systems in the United States. The condem nation, under the right of eminent domain, of a continental street railway worth perhaps three or four hundred thousand dollars, and the assumption of the road by the city at a fair valu ation is but a bagatelle compared with the taking over of the street railways of a city like Chicago, worth at the least calcula tion from seventy - five to a hundred million dollars.

But the city of Chicago has the power to obtain practically all the advantages of actual ownership if it. Will but choose capable men to act for it in the common council, men who will thor oughly and conscientiously apply themselves to the solution of the problem. The street railway companies Of Chicago have on the whole given the city excellent service. They have aided greatly in the distribution of population over wider areas, and have no doubt created large real estate values. Ivhile profiting themselves with the growth of the city they have nevertheless contributed much to its growth. They have adopted a very lib eral extension policy, so liberal that Chicago has today more miles of street railway than any other city in the world. Mil lions of dollars of capital have been brought to the city and in vested. In some cases, as for example the elevated roads, years must elapse before adequate returns on the actual cost are de rived. Millions have been spent in experimentation, reconstrue tion and in the development of the system. These things must be taken into consideration, in a careful study of the situation, and it is these very things which are sometime-s entirely ignored by the reformer.

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