The spectator., 1920-12-28
Our Great Modern
 Public COnvenienCes
The Utilities, Ask for Some Consideration from the
 Thoughtful Citizen

A very large proportion of the population of this country is di- rectly or indirectly interestedin a financial way in the proposition that the public utilities receive a square deal. Mir. Carl D. Jack son. chairman of the Wisconsin Railroad Commission. nas made the following statement that is of interest in this connection:
 The actual ownership of most public utilities is by the people | themselves. The first liens on most public utilities are very of. ten owned by trust companies, banks. and largely by insurance companies throughout the United States. Nearly every man car ries an insurance policy The av- craze citizen has a Lank account but not one citizen out of a hun- dred realizes that in one form or another his actual savings an insurance and his wife's and chil- dren's welfare depend upon the solvencv and continued operation of public utilities. There is prob. ably not one man in fifty whom we meet on the street who dues not own a part of a public utility, whether he knows it or not. Su the questions relating to public utilities are not confined to the consumers on one side and the public utilities, as such, on the other. but the whole question IS ione involving financially nine. tenths of tue entire population. :" 1 That the services rendered by public utilities. such as electric light and power. gas, street rail. way, and telephone companies. are an indispensable part of ou, modern economic structure is so obvious as to hardly need discus. sion. It IS practically impossible to conceive of modern industrial business or domestic life without the facilities rendered by them.
 The great convenience of elec- tricity for furnishing light and power needs no comment, ana the introduction of gas for cook. ing purposes and heating has demonstrated its economy and convenience and established the industry.
 Modern business could not be conducted on It's present scale without the telephone, and in ou, domestic life it needs onIy a tenn porary suspension of service to make us realize how dependent lon 1t we have become in our social intercourse.
 l The street railway is an indis. pensable part of the necessary transportation facilities of mod. ern city. This industry has now achieved such enormous propor- tions that the capitalization of the companies now in that bust. ness is estimated at over $l5, 0O0- OOO. 900 (fifteen billion). The his. tory of these companies has not been free from incidents that have created a popular prejudice against them. Too often in the earlier days the managers as. sumed a public be-damned" at- titude. Those days have passed. but the memory of them still re. mains in the public mind. With out knowledge Ot the facts. ana based on a few notorious ex. amples of exploitation. graft, etc :. they have arrived at the empiri- cal conclusion that every public service corporation is not only rich but also bad
 Practically all the states have Pubic Service Commissions with jul isdiction extending extending to one or more forms of pubic utilities. All states should have them and thelr jurisdiction should extend to all public utilities in the state. This would be a long stride toward ihe solution of pub