The Ely miner., 1913-08-22

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 Mlnnesotans.
st. PauL-(SpeciaI) I)-Governor Eb-
erhart opened his campaign for state
wide control of public utilities in a
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 our
nation have greater problems confront
ed us for solution. Enormous agricul-
tural and mineral resources and un-
surpassed facilities for transportation,
coupled with a most wonderful genius
for invention, organization, and de-
velopment, have enabled the Ameri-
can people to produce untold millions
of wealth and to form the most gigan-
tic commercial and industrial organ
ization ever known to the civilized
world.
The effective control of these busi-
ness organizations by nation, state,
and municipality has long been the
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 the various municipalities.
That such regulation, with very few
exceptions, has been failure is now
quite generally conceded. 1t has been
found utterly impossible to keep the
public utilities out of politics and the
constantly changing municipal authori-
ties, dominated largely by ward poll
ticians, have made their campaigns on
some issues involving such public utii-
tiles organizations with the result
generally that the pubic utilities have
either dominated the administration
or have been made political football
for the benefit of INSCRIPTIONS politi-
clans. Only the favored few have
benefited by such administration and
the vast majority of consumers have
been compelled to pay high and dis
criminatory rates for inadequate and
inferior service.
Perhaps the strongest evidence of
unsuccessful municipal regulation of
public utilities is the rapid growth of
municipal ownership. That municipal
ownership of public utilities as CON-
pared with municipal regulation has
been generally successful will not be
questioned. Municipal ownership of
public utilities when properly direct
ed, has been a blessing to many mu-
inequalities Of this state, and in most
instances has proven itself infinitely
superior to the former local regula-
ton.
AS a general rule it can be safely
stated that the state or the municipal
ity should not engage in any business
enterprise which can be conducted as
efficiently and economically for the
benefit of all concerned by the pri-
NdlG VI dSSOCldIloh Dut
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-
sites, these must not under any cir
cumstances be left a prey to selfish
and unscrupulous private enterprise.
1t is therefore essential in order to
properly protect the interests of the
public that these utilities should be
either operated or regulated by pub
lie authority.
Within the state the regulating au
or municipality or both. During re-
cent years the tendency has been to-
ward state regulation and there is
scarcely state in the nation which
has not either adopted state regula-
tion in some form or made prepara-
tions therefor. While the superiority
of state regulation is quite generally
conceded, there are still many who do
not understand it's principles, and l
shall briefly discuss the question of
state control from the standpoints Of:
I. EFFICIENCY,
II. ECONOMY, and
III. UNIFORMITY.
|. EFFICIENCY.
I. Jurisdction.-In order that the
regulation of public utility shall be
effective, is absolutely essential
that such utility in all it's constituent
elements shall be located within and
under the jurisdiction of the regulat
ing power. The question in nearly
every case is what shall constitute
good service at a fair and reasonable
rate. In the determination thereof,
the regulating authority must be able
to make full and complete physical
valuation of all properties belonging to
such utility and prevent the issuing of
watered stocks and bonds on which to
base fictitious returns and dividends.
The municipality cannot control the
issue of stocks and bonds. This is
right granted by the state and must
be regulated by it. But in order to
determine the merits of stock or
bond issue and properly regulate 1t,
AIA Ia L.