The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-03-28

4 .j,t9y .s4 W. 80
time and the raises adjusted down
ward so that ] get more for the same
money. IL my business. relations
with all the other Institutions were,
as pleasant and Satisfactory as~they
are with the power compAnySI deal
with, business careefA would be
vastly more attractive than it is.
Kicking up a Row
have acquaintance who complain
bitterly about the power trust, but
they neither buy nor sell power or
lights themselves nor do they use It,
They do not live where the power
lines or the power company disturb
them, and the power plants are sit
uated on rocky places where these
friends of mine do not go now and
never did go. They do not claim
that they ever wanted anything in
the locality where the power plants
rest, or that the power companies
have taken anything from them.
They admit that the power COM
panies have given much employment
in construction and operation of their
plants and that some of this money
| has found its way to them in COM
mercial transactions. They admit
that the power people pay some
taxes, perhaps not as much as my
friends think they ought to, but they
Fay, and possibly lie about how much
the property is WORTH don't know
as to that.
How My Neighbor Did 1t
1 have a neighbor ,whomi'I hold
in very high . esteem-seyeral of
ttsem-but this one neighbor for
many years used to tell me much and
often about the outrageous things
done by the power company, the ex-
orbitant prices they charged for SER
vice, and the crying need for a util-
tiles commission to govern them.
used to think it must be true be-
cause he said so, yet l did not have
the personal knowledge of it suf-
ficient to warrant me in publishing
anything about it. They always
treated me all right, and discreetly
kept still. In recent years this neigh
Dor Of mine has himself engaged in
building and equiping some power
plants, and l frequently talk with
him about it. He never says that
rates ought to be lowered. He talks
about the high cost of labor and ma
terials entering into construction of
the plant. He merely states the
facts, says it is very difficult to get
the power plant developed to the
point where it will pay expenses, and
he waits patiently for the time when
they can borrow enough more money
to install more units to furnish more
service to make more income to pay
the interest on what they have bor-
rowed. He and his company have
had great deal of trouble with
competitive corporation using the
utilities commission to hamper them.
and it looked sometimes as if it
might ruin them. sat in a conven-
ton once where one vote would pass
a resolution to create utilities COM
mission or stave it off two years and
voted to stave it off. But they
finally created the utilities commits
sion and when l have observed the
trying situations it brought to my
power plant neighbor, l have con-
cluded that l did not 60 to enough
conventions or didn't have votes
enough.
Not Hired Nor Bribed
This article is not written for the
power trust. 1t is written for the
information of the readers of my
paper. They are paying me $500
a year to furnish them the news, and
the truth SO far as can sift out the
truth from the conflicting claims of
the times. To make it palmer, I
might add that the power trust is
not paying me cent nor giving me
any free light or power for exercis-
ing my gray matter to create and
publish this article. They do not