The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-31
D0NOVA AN HALTS ELECTRIC LIGHT
 CRAB IN HOUSE
DEMANDS BILL BE INVESTIGATE ED AND PEOPLE INSURED
 REASONABLE PRICES.
NORwAIK's MUNICIPAL PLANT
 INsTANCED AS EXAMPLE, OF PUBLIC OWNFERSHTP

Vashington, July 31-Representative, Donovan of Connecticut startled the House wednesday when he made an address telling his colleagues that they had forgot the people who will pay for electricity. and consume the pro- duct of the great companies which if is intended shall take government franchises under the biu and operate great power and nghtings plants on the navigabIe rivers of the coun ry.
 .'You have not thought of the folks who will pay the freight was the gist of MT. 1Donovan's argument and the charge is true, for in no place in the bill Is there any aIlusion to anything excen how the contracts shall be let The stock of the companieaNewit the franchises win be good to sell because Of Uncle saEn,s fr-anchtse. and the people who want to use the power will not be sold the electricity at a fair profit but at a rate equal to what the trafffc will bear, Under the guise of a big movement to harness the bdE rivers of the country for the heneflt of the country, 1t looks as though the price the country IS to pay for its own power is forgotten.
 Mir Donovan said in part: srHfr Chairman, T think the committee ought to know the value of a plant of this character. If people in Alabama pay
  duet of a plant of this character. it IS a very valuable franchise. A few days ago. during the debate here. I asked a member of the committee about the price paid for electricity by consumers There has been no an swer. He said he would publish it in his speech and put 1t in the Rec- ord
 CAIr stephens Of Minnesota ''I shah do so as soon as get the tirne.'')
 -- L-- to vote intelIigentIy without this 1n- rormationa Most of us are jnrymen In this matter we know little or noth- ing about it. From what little AnHor- mation can get believe that 12 or 16 cents per ktlo watt hour is an ex- who appeared before the conlrnittee mentioned 50 years as the proposed life of the franchise and, from the evidence, 1t would seem that this com znittee ts more generous than the pro- motors themselves suggegted Tht' committee giving inforxna ation are spec ulators in that line. So far as can find out, they get two and three times as much out of the public for their product as otf1er similar concerns
 Now, if this bill and this report is bTsed on that evidence, it Is surely for the purpose of assisting a.corps of promoters and hnanciers who are not going to have any actual money In this enterprise We have in South lNorwaIl. Conn, a plant Of this char acter which has no water to create power. The coal and oil which creates the power has to be brought several hundred miles The plant was started by a municipal government and today is paid for. It sells its power to it's customers for three cents per kilowatt hour, and they sell it to the little storekeeper and the little house. holder, the men who live in the small houses, for five and six cents per kilo- watt hour
 Now this great comnittee seems to have forgotten or has not thought that the customers in this country are the ones to be considered They should have said: are we giving something to- our people so they are going to get power for HghL power for the Factory at a lower rate than they are setting anywlere else.
 That does not seem to have been in their minds If you take pains to look at the report you will see that 30 or 70 companies refuse to do you will not find a single line as to the cost of electricity or as to it's being delivered as power at any par ticular rate
 eThe truth is that while we are government of the people For. the people, you nave 10 ago across En6 inc to Canadian territory, under a mon archy, to find a place where the peo- pie are safeguarded and all these things sold to its people at a lower rate than we sen in this country It would seem as if our great statesmen have nothing in mind except caring for the great and protecting ths strong.
 'tFTfty years Is the testimony before the committee, but admit that later on they asked for more at the prompt ing and suggestion of the chairman When the gentleman from Tennessee asked the gentlemen about creating a trust or combination they had so much money in the business that some oneN started to develop it.
 Now to show you an instance where the people and their interests are look them at the place in Connecticut I mentioned before. This is a Connec- ticut proposition You can't always ten what electricity will cost by com parfsor1 with other places.
 ssWe furnish tungsten lamps at a price much below cost. We give them incandescent lamps free. We give them arc lamps without charge and we replace meters at the will of the patrons without charge. Nor do we premises unless 1t is difficult, and, be- sides all that we furnish power cleo tricity at three cents per kilowatt hour.
 Now, in this committee. the price to consumers has been forgotten The whole aim has been to strengthen and l intrench for promoters of these pro- jects because they won't be caught with the stock themselves, but will unload it on the unsuspecting pub lic.''
 I The 11oan afraid r,f his sH,a dow t,as