Walter Vrooman (1869-1909) was a socialist reformer best known as a leader of the Ruskin Hall Movement, which was committed to the ideal of providing low-cost higher education for the working class. After helping found the Ruskin Hall (known today as Ruskin College) in Oxford, England—a calculated “in your face” to the University–in 1900 Vrooman moved back to the United States to establish Ruskin College in Trenton, Missouri. At its peak the College had more than 10,000 students, but after years of financial difficulties and several moves it closed in 1919.
In 1895 Vrooman published his “Government Ownership in Production and Distribution.” The map is an attempt to persuade readers to change their definition and view of socialism by printing in red all the ways in which the government provides services to their citizens including streets, parks, utilities, and in this case, even the waterways as the Harlem River is also printed in red.
The map is “a powerful example of color used to make a point” Almost half of Manhattan and the Bronx is colored red to indicate that it is under some form of government control.
“That the principle of fraternalism is not a mere theory can be seen in one moment by a look at our map of New York City, which, although the centre of plutocratic lawlessness in America, shows that nearly one-half its surface is administered by the public, by means of City, State, and National Governments, for the common benefit of all the people.”
Although much of the very surface of the earth is claimed by individuals of that city as their private property, we have about 575 miles of public streets on which all the children of men have an equal right to walk or ride…”
Vrooman’s “Government Ownership” also included a small “Map of the World Showing in Red the Countries Which Own Their Railroads Wholly or in Part.” The map shows perhaps half the world’s surface, with the notable exceptions of the United States, Africa and Southeast Asia, as given over to socialism. ~ Boston Rare Maps
Title: Map of New York City Showing Concrete Socialism in Red and Private Enterprises in White.
Alternate Title: NYC Showing Concrete Socialism in Red
Collection: Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
Creator: Vrooman, Walter, 1869-1909
Date: 1895
Source: Vrooman, Walter. 1895. Government Ownership in Production and Distribution. Being an account of 337 now existing National and Municipal Undertakings in the 100 Principal Countries of the World. Baltimore: Patriotic Literature Publishing Co.
Archive: P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Keep the government out of my river!
Red for Reds? "New York City... the centre of plutocratic lawlessness in America..." Some things never change. NYC still depends on its wealthiest residents to support public education and other public services; time to tax the rich and end "plutocratic lawlessness."