Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-03-07
Sr ecial to Times Republican.

Ok eclal 10 Times Republican,
Des Moines. March - Regulate
everybody but us; leave us alone"
mat is the song that Senator Crist and
MS committee is hearing nowadays
delegation after delegation of COM
merclal standpatters has appeared to
protest against the public utilities bill
Everybody is for progress if it is in a
different direction. "
Telephone men got first crack at the
bill; but also came the owners of gas
plants. lawyers for waterw orks systems
lobbyists for. the railroads, representa-
tives of cities
Today the committee heard from the
representatives Of the cities. What they
complain about is that too much power
goes TO the central authority and too
little is.left close to the source of the
power
Ihis bill was not framed especially
in the interest of the patrons of public
service corporations nor with view to
protection of the public" declared H.
w. Byers. corporation counsel for Das
Moines Il have no doubt that every
member of that committee was actu-
ated by the best OF motives and tried
~
fects Of serious character. In the first
place the machinery Of operation Of the
commission is too expensive and cum
oersome For instance, it is provided
that the commission shall enter ,Ipon
the work OF making a valuation of all
the properties in the state. That is a
lo-year job for an expensive force. The
only occasion for valuation is when
there is some dispute which calls for
investigation.
Inc Dill violates the principle of
self government, in that it absolutely
takes away from the community the
initiative in regard to the control Of its
utilities.
Directly as it affects Des Moines
there is this feature, that it makes ex-
elusive and perpetual a franchise for
the Des Moines Street Railway Com
'pany which we have been fighting for
years; and not only gives that fran
chlse but validates all the water that
mas peen or may hereafter be put into
the STOCK OF that company, and ties it
up SO that Des Moines can never By
any possibility regain control over the
company. That rs just one way in
which the bill is weak"
yesterday L. Q. Hanson. of Humboldt. !
on behalf of the Independent telephone
lines of the state. discussed the bill
and criticised features, which take
away from the independent phone COM |
panles some Of their rights. He in
sisted that the matter of fixing rates
Tor such service could best be done ~ !
the people who are directly interested.
AS for. the general idea of a public
utilities commission and the state regu-
latlon or public service matters he said
the rural and independent telephone
man had no quarrel They simply de-
sire that the bill be good.
Others who appeared before the
committee We're Elk Senator Saunders
OF Council Bluffs; James c. Davis. ]. /, /
Parrish, and others
Next Monday Hugh Cooper, the en-
slneer and financier of the Keokuk dan
VIII appear before the committee and
oppose any feature Of the bill that will
cause regulation of the affairs of the
power company when it transacts bust
ness in Iowa
Frof. Edwin G. Cooley, formerly of
Clayton county, in. mis- talk 10 the Joint
assembly on vocational schools, laid
great stress on the importance of the
winter agricultural school. He related
that there is a large colony of his for
ner pupils in Iowa in Chicago. for ne
said he had succeeded in educating
thirty from the farms of Iowa SO that
they were satisfied only in going into1
the big cities. But that is one thing
Iowa should avoid. He urged the
winter day school to teach farming di-
rect to farm boys. In Prussia, he said,
there are 1000 such vocational schools
and the Germans have found that the
right way to do is to take the school
right to the boys at time and where
they may get the most good out of 1t.
Professor Cooley also especially urged
home making schools for girls and
teaching Of special subjects to girls. He
would have Iowa enter upon a policy
Of carrying education right to the boys
and girls of the state at their homes TO
teach them useful things. A complete
system Of vocational schools, including
the teaching Of agriculture, domestic
science, the trades and useful occupa- {