El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-15
CITY CONTROL Of
UTILITIES URGED
Committee Of National MI
nicipal League Condemns
State Appointive
Commissions.

Toronto, Canada Nov. 15.-Regula-
ton Of street railways. telephones,
electric and gas plants exclusively by
the state was condemned in a report
submitted TO the nineteenth annual
meeting OF the National Municipal
league today by the committee on
franchises. The report submitted by
the chairman, DR.. DelOs Z. Wilcox of
New York city, dealt with the relation
OF municipal home rule TO the control
OF public utilities
The committee pointed out that pub
lie utilities are primarily urban in
character and that on general princi-
pies, the control of public functions
should be localized as much as posi-
bic, IN order to secure the interest and
effective cooperation of citizens More
over, as a practical matter, the more
powerful the corporations become and
the more widespread their services
the more important it is that they
should be directly ansWerable to the
local committee which they serve.
Danger in State Commission.
1T may easily be possible, said the
report, that an appOintiVe state com
mission will fall more or less COM
pletely under the domination OF the
powerful interests which control the
public utilities of the state, and thus
the very machinery provided for the
regulation Of utilities be captured by
the interests presumed to be regu-
lated by it It may be necessary to
array against the powerful financial
interests OF the companies the direct
mass interest Of the local consumers
IN order TO preserve the vitality of the
regulatory function. Public utility
corporations exist to serve the people,
not to control them.
Cities Should Have Control.
However, in most cases, regulation
cannot be either logical or effective
without the active cooperation Of both
state and local authorities. The jur-
isdictiOn of state public service COM
mHerea -T~ = ,.
public utilities, so that there will be
no twilight zone within which the
utilities can escape regulation alto
gethers but every city Of enough i'm
portance to enjoy home rule in franz
ing its charter, should have the right
to establish a separate bureau, de-
partmenL or commission for the su-
pervisiOn Of all utilities operating
within the city limits. The city's
jurisdiction should extend to matters
affecting the occupation of the streets,
the quality Of service rendered and
the character of the franchise con-
facilitating ultimate municipal owner
ship The states Jurisdiction should
extend to matters relating TO COM
petition, stock and bond issues. ac-
counts and publicity. Rates and ex-
tensions should be under municipal
control, subject to review by the state
commission The city should also
have the right to appear by its experts
before the state commission in re-
gard to all matters affecting local
interests"
Coming to certain important cues
tons in connection with franchise con
tracts between cities and public utili-
" companies, the committee took the
ground that public utility within
a given urban community is a ma
tural monopoly and that one Of the
first essential obligations of such
monopoly is to extend its services to
meet all the legitimate needs of the
community Accordingly, the munich
pal authorities ought to have the
right to initiate extensions, and the
reasonableness Of any particular ex-
solely by the prospective profit from
It's operation as separate unit. but
by It's effect upon the profits Of the
entire system
The committee recommended the (
1ndeterninate franchise with a max
imum time limit, and favored the idea
Of making utilities commence to pay
operation, by means Of an amOrtiZa-
ton fund maintained out of earnings.
This fund should be large enough al I
least to wipe out all franchise and /
other intangible elements OF capital /
city can buy viii be kept well within /
the actual value Of the physical prop !
erty.
The committee urged the importance |
OF systematic campaign for the re- /
CoFery or control over the perpetual I
and long-term franchises now out /
standing So long as the utilities in 4
the heart Of the city continue to be (
owned and operated under unsatis- /
factory, Out-Of-datc franchises the
control of the development Of its 4
street railways or other utilities.
The Zeieer dining room is now omen