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from the fact that while busy pushing the
South Norwalk municipal plant to suc-
cess, he was also busy in the same way as
president of the private water and electric
service company, in the adjoining town of
Westport. Mr. Winchester holds that
public ownership has a legitimate field of
its own, and that no well conducted pri-
vate enterprise in the same line that gives
its community a square deal need fear
civic competition. Public ownership, in
his opinion, is the people's alternative of
the present time against an unjust mo-
nopoly armed with iniquitous power to
force unsatisfactory service and unrea-
sonable rates upon its following, simply
because, being a monopoly, it can. He is
confident that such abuse of dominion
through lack of proper control—not the
rule, and when evident is mostly the pub-
lic's fault—will in a not remote to-morrow
compel society to assume its dormant
power and demand irresistibly that prodigous
change be made in current laws,
establishing equal, just and sufficient
protection against infringements both
ways, between publicly ovvned common
weal and privately owned public
monopolies.
service
To-day applied success is possibly our
most convincing factor, representing its
public ownership phase, on the one side,
in the model South Norwalk plant, and
on the other, private ownership in the
progress of the Westport Company, both
more or less influenced by the same mind.
Mr. Winchester has said much upon the
subject of public utilities, in print and
from the lecture platform. He read a
notable paper before the Conference of
American Mayors, held at Philadelphia in
November, 1914, covering the subject of
municipal ownership of an electric plant
as exemplified in the South Norwalk ven-
ture. The paper was of such merit that
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
254
it was published in the Annals of the
American Society of Political and Social
Science, in January, 1915. His advice has
also been largely sought by both private
undertakings engaged in public service,
and by municipalities that he has beconle
known for his broad judgment through-
out the United States, as a safe authority
on public service problems. His mother's
charge, "My son, be a good citizen," has
been Mr. Winchester's inspiration since
boyhood.
Many who know the subject of this
sketch call him "Colonel." Mr. Winchester
claims no title to military rank. Some
time previous to the Spanish-American
War, he served as confidential adviser to
agents of the Cuban revolutionists in
electrical and engineering matters, with
particular regard to the laying of mines.
Having been in Cuba, and speaking Span-
ish, and heartily in sympathy with the
struggle for "Cuba Libre," he was se-
lected as a member of a proposed military
engineering corps, with the rank of colonel,
to be sent to Cuba. As the United
States had not at that time become involved
in Cuba's struggle, Mr. Winches-
ter declined the appointment, in the interest
of maintaining neutrality, but many
friends still apply the title, much to his
embarrassment.
Mr. Winchester has been married twice.
His first wife, to whom he was married
on October 24, 1888, was Carrie Augusta
Davenport Whitlock, daughter of Augustus
Whitlock, in whose academy Mr.
Winchester had prepared for college.
She died childless on September 24, 1894.
Mr. Winchester married for his second
wife, February i, 1896, Elizabeth Grant
Bray, who was born in Lincroft, New
Jersey, April 8, 1876, daughter of David
H. and Stella C. (Van Schoick) Bray. He
was a farmer for many years in the vicin-