Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-02

| most important urged upon Congress in
| the last few years.
| Two important amendments were made
] to the bill before the favorable report to
| the Senate was authorized One of them
| would exempt the steamboat lines oper-
| ating the Potomac river and Chesa-
peake bay into Washington from the op-
erations of the proposed law. This ex-
ception has met with no opposition on
| the part of members of the committee,
as these lines are under the general juris-
| diction of the interstate commerce com.
mission.
Stock Provision Eliminated.
| The second and more important amend
| ment eliminates that provision of the
bill prohibiting one public service
corporation from acquiring stocks or
| bonds of another corporation engaged
! in the same line of business. The pro-
| vision cut out declared:
1T shall be unlawful for any street
railroad corporation. gas corporation
ration. telegraph corporation or other
public utility corporation, directly or
indirectly, to acquire the stock or bonds
of any other corporation incorporated
for or engaged in the same or similar
business as it is, unless authorized by
existing law, or as 1t may be authorized
in writing to do so by the commission;
and every contract, transfer. agreement
for transfer or assignment of any such
stocks or bonds without such statutory
or written authority shall be void and
Of no effect
The committee was not opposed to
such prohibition, it was explained
after the meeting today but the MEM
bers concluded such inter-control was
effectively prohibited by the code Of law
for the District. Section $50 of the code
provides:
'It shall not be lawful for any COM
c,~.a A. L..
chase of any stock in any other .cor-
pOration.' This section refers to man.
ufacturing, agricultural mining, Hechan-
ical, insurance, mercantile, tranSpOrta-
ton, market and savings bank corpora
TONS
Permitted to Buy Bonds.
The effect of striking out the provision
| in the public utilities bill. in view of this
section Of the code. it is explained. is to
deny to the public utilities commission
power to authorize one corporation to ac-
qutre stock in another company but to
| allow one company to acquire the bonds
OF another. AS bondholders have no
voice in the management of the affairs
or the corporation, 1t is held there is
little likelihood that one company will
seek to acquire the bonds of another
The prohibition in the public utilities
| Dill was struck out as result of the OBJ
JCCtlOu vi Ouc IuciIlOeT VI the cOmmlCle0
against allowing the commission to grant
authority for the acquiring of stock OF
one company by another. And after a.
consultation with Corporation Counsel
Thomas and Engineer Commissioner Jud-
son. 1t was stated today, the best solution
was thought to be the entire elimination
of the provision, but leaving the section
of the code unchanged.
A third amendment will be suggested in
the report, to correct a typographical er-
rOr in the printed bill.
Senator Gallinger was immensely
pleased today when he announced that
the committee had acted fayorably on the
public utility measure.
when I get this bill through the SEN
ate in addition to passing the universal
transfer BILL, he said, Il shall feel that
l have done some valuable work for the
District
1t is anticipated that the House will
make some changes i'll the bill. That
to conference, and the details of the law
will probably not be definitely fixed until
the conference report is framed.
Against La Toilette Bill.
In order to clean up the committee
calendar, the committee directed that
| an adverse report be made on the La
Toilette public utilities bill, and that it
be Indefinitely postponed. This meas
ure would create separate commits
| sion instead Of giving the power, as
the Gallinger bill does, to the District
Commissioners. 1t is understood to
have been based on the Wisconsin pub
lie utility law, which Senator La
Toilette, when Governor of Wisconsin,
was active In framing.
| The attendance at today's meeting Of
the committee was not large, only Sem
ators Gallinger, Martin and Lea being
present Other members Of the COM
mittee, however, authorized Chairman
Gallinger to count them to make
quorum, and that made it possible for
the committee to do business
The Gallinger bill, which has been re-
ported favorably. has received very care
| full attention. Senator Gallinger spent
| much time, extending over a period OF
| several weeks. in framing his original
bill. When he took up revision of it
he called in conference Engineer Com
missioner Judson. Corporation Counsel
Thomas and representatives Of several
Of the local public service corporations.
| 1t was gone over in detail by them. The
| bill now meets the approval of the Com
missioners and Is not opposed by the
public service officials.