Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1913-08-22
Advocates Policy Of
| State Control.
PREDICTS BEST RESULTS
Plan Now in Successful Opera.
ton in Number Of States.
PRESENT SYSTEM OBSOLETE

present SYSTEM OBSOLETE
state Executive In Speech at st. Paul
Covers Subject Thoroughly and Gives
! Numerous Reasons for His Belief
| That Such Legislation Would Be Of
Great Benefit to Minnesotans.
St. Special:)-Governor Eb.
erhart opened his campaign for state
wide control OF public utilities in q
speech before a crowded meeting OF
the st. Paul Office Mems association
at the st. Paul hotel. The governor
said, in part:
| Never before in the history OF ou1
nation have greater problems confront.
ed us for solution. Enormous agricul
tural and mineral resources and ula.
surpassed facilities for transportation,
coupled with a most wonderful genius
for invention, organization, and de-
velopment, have enabled the ,Amer:-
can people to produce untold millions
of wealth and to form the most gigan'
tic commercial and industrial organ
iznIion ever known to. the civilized
world.
The effective control of these bust.
ness organizations by nation, state,
ic:p no %
object of Legislative and executive
authority, but not until the last two
decades has such control become gen.
orally effective. This applies special
ly to public utilities organizations.
Prior to the last two decades the con-
troll OF public utilities was attempted
only by tle various municipalities.
That such regulation, with very few
exceptions, has been failure is now
quite generally conceded. It has been
found utterly impossible o=heep@ehe
public utilities out of politics and the
constantly changing municipal authori-
ties, dominated largely by ward poll
ticians, have mace their campaigns on
some issues involving such public util-
tiles organizations with the result
generally that the public utilities have
either dominated the administration
or have been made political football
for the benefit of interruptions pOlitt-
ciaDs. Only the favored few have
benefited by such administration iana
the vast majority of consumers have
been compelled to pay hixn and dis
crianinatory rates for inadequate and
inferior .@mvice.
Perhaps the strongest evidence rof
unsuccessful municipal regulation of
puElic utilities is the rapid growth of
municipal ownership. ThEt municipal
ownership of public utilities as tcen-
pared with municipal regulation has
dbeen generally successful will not be
questioned. Municipal ownership of
public utilities when properly direct
ed, mas been a blessing 80 many sKu.
inequalities of this state, and in ;most
Instances has proven itsen infinitely
superior to the former Goaal rregma-
tdcn.
AS q general rule it can be safely
stated that the state or the municipal
fly should not engage in any business
enterprise which can be conducted as
efficiently and economically for the
benefit of all concerned by the !p.f-
wate individual or association. But
human nature is always more or less
selfish, and in the case of public utili-
ties, which by their very nature often
constitute monopolies of public neces-
stiles, these must not under any cir
ciamstances be left a prey DO selfish
and INSCRIPTIONS private enterprise.
It is therefore essential in order to
properly protect the interests of the
pubslc that these utilities should be
either operated or regulated by pub
lie authority.
Within the state the regulating au-
thority must be exercised by the state
or municipality or both. During re.
cent years the tendency has beeE to-
ward state regulation and there Is
scarcely a state in the nation which
has not either adopted state regu4a.
ton in some form or made prepare.
lions therefor. While the superiority
Of state regulation is quite generally
conceded, there are still many who do
not understand it's principles, and !
shall briefly discuss the question OF
state control from the stand10ints Of:
! ]. EFFICIENCY,
II. ECONOMY, and
III. UNIFORMITY. :..f<
!. EFFICIENCY.
I. Jurisdiction.-ln order that the
regulation Of public utility shall be
effective, 1t 10 absolutely essential
that such utility In all its constituent
elements shall be located within and
under the jurisdiction Of the regulat-
ing power. The question In nearly
every case 10 what shall constitute
good service ct Q fair and reasonable
.sats. In The 6etermination thsroo&