Arizona republican., 1912-08-28
A Matter of Advertising

A Matter of Advertising
 The report of Mir c. w. Koiner. consulting engineer for the Arizona corporation commission on the valu- ation of the property of the Pacific Gas and Electric company is an in teresting document, especially in it's illustration of the long distance we have come in the matter of controlling public utilities. Ten years ago no man could have been brought to be- lieve that such control would ever be exercised or attempted. Now, it is taken as a matter of course and the corporations themselves seldom offer objection to what would formerly have been regarded as an unwarranted in- reference and an invasion of <consti- tutional rights. It has been made plain that the public has some rights in the business of d public utility corporation which is essentially a monopoly and should therefore be re- stricted and regulated for the protec- tion of the public
 Of course, the purpose of the in vestigation in this case is to deter mine basis for making equitable rates if it should be shown that the present rates are not equitable, for the service of the company. There naturally enter into this basis the actual valuation of the cOmpany's s property and the expenses of opera tion
 The particularly interesting feature of the report, illustrative, as We have said, of the extent to which We have assumed control of the public utility corporations, is the consulting en- gineers determination of proper eX- penses of operation. In his opinion, advertising is not one of them. He found that for several months the company, Chat is, the predecessor of the present company, had expended S2OO a month which in his opinion was unnecessary and which did not ''in any way benefit the community opinion may divide. There are expert advertising men as well as expert consulting engineers. The owner of a private business may advertise with benefit to himself and with only in direct benefit, if any, to the com munity, but the advertisement of a public utility corporation, if of any benefit to itself, is theoretically of benefit to the community, either in the lowering of the cost of service or in giving a better service.
 MT Koiner in his travels about the country must have seen much news paper space and billboard area filled with admonitions to the public to Cook with Cas-" and with descrip- tions of new electrical appliances. the purpose of the advertisements being to increase the consumption of gas and electricity. And, the greater the number of patrons of a corporation, the lower the cost of service, so that it is plain that advertising may be highly beneficial to the community
 There has been less of this sort of advertising, we believe, in Phoenix than in any other town of the same size. There is much more of it in Tucson and Fl PasO. Probably the reason that there has not been more in Phoenix of late is because of the constant demand for the last two or three years for the extension of cleo tric light wires and gas mains into the rapidly spreading additions. We do not pretend to assert that the com- munity always gets it's full share ot the benefit of such advertising. The corporations may keep all the in creased profits from their greater patronage to themselves, but we car easily see how the patrons might be benefited and we believe they gener- ally are to some extent
 As a rule public utility corporations as well as other corporations do moi advertise for the pure fun of it. The advertising is, or is intended to bt judicious and productive of results But there is much unnecessary ant wasteful advertising and it is pait for directly by the taxpayers who re. ceive no benefit whatever This ad county under printing laws Thi; state and county are not alone tt blame. Every state and we suppos' every county in the land is guilty O