That is the fruit of the tree. It always has been; it always will be. That kind of tree will _never_ bear any other sort of fruit. Then why not cut it down? Public ownership removes the _motive_ for misuse of public utilities, and when the motive goes the evil will go. As long as selfishness and greed get _the chance_ to gratify themselves at the public expense, just so long will they do it. In every conflict between Capital and Labor the public loses—no matter whether Capital wins or Labor wins. Public ownership would do for the railroads what it does for the Post-Office, the Police Department or the Fire Department. Who ever heard of a strike among the Post-Office employees? Or in the police force? Or among the firemen? In Germany the railroads are owned and operated by the Government, and nobody ever heard of traffic being blocked by a strike. In Austria the story is the same. In Australia it is the same. In New Zealand it is the same. Nowhere on earth, so far as I know, has there ever been a strike when the principle of government ownership was in operation. Take those cities of England where the street cars are owned and operated by the city government. Who has ever heard of a strike on those lines? From Liverpool to Birmingham and from Birmingham to Glasgow you will find the principle of public ownership applied with perfect success, and nowhere has the operation of public utilities by the public been stopped by a strike. It seems almost impossible for the people of our great cities to learn the lesson taught by our own troubles, and taught further by the object-lessons furnished us by nationalities which are not such cowardly slaves of the corporations as we seem to be. The most amazing feature in American life today is the audacity with which predatory corporations ride forth, like the feudal barons of olden times, to strike down the average citizen and rob him of what he makes as fast as he makes it. Individually, we have plenty of courage, but, collectively, we are the most cowardly creatures on earth. The communal spirit seems to be dead within us. Public opinion is in its infancy. The strength which lies dormant within us because of our numbers seems to be a fact of which the masses are totally ignorant. Acting swiftly, acting with unity of purpose, acting with the keenest intelligence, acting with a magnificent courage, the outlaws of modern commercialism dash at their object with superb confidence in their prowess, and they have seized and ridden away with the spoils before the drowsy, ignorant and timid public have awakened to the fact that they have been raided, stricken down and plundered.