Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-05-19
UTILITIES NOW
REALPROBLEM
FOR THE STATE
Past Neglect, Both Financial
and Legislative, Proves
Boomerang.
BOARD DEFEATS OBJECT

The people of Indiana are rapidly
reaching that point in their collective af-
fairs where they must begin to pay,
through the nose, for their financial and
legislative neglect Of the public utili-
ties of the state.
The interurbans, the electric light COM
panies, the water companies and gas
companies of this state. are, with a few
favored exceptions, facing financial col
lapse
Utility rates are extraordinarily high
and bound to go higher.
Utility securities are in disfavor sink
ing in value every day and bound to
sink lower
Utility service has passed the point
of invoking profanity and has become the
despair of the householder.
There is a constantly increasing de-
mand for power units independent of
central stations which demand grows in
spite of the admitted waste and indus
trial loss that It involves.
Utility operators who have grown gray
in the business lost their voices long ago
in unheeded protests against the ca
lamities they saw in the future and are
now about TO realize.
REPETITION OF
OLD-TIME WALLS.
Their weak whispers Of today are
merely vain repetitions of their shouts
of a few years ago when they saw their
companies pinched.
AS the steady squeeze continued they
lost power TO protest and in this period
Of the real crush they lack both the
prestige and the ability to set up a
noticeable wall.
Indiana Is now facing the necessity OF
paying. In a brief period of time, the
differences between the unreasonably
low rates for utility service OF the past
and the exceptionally high rates that are
necessary TO utility preservation today.
I Averaged over a. long period these
rates would not be so irksome, but coll
lected Off the present generation to make
up for the failure of past generations TO
pay for what they got, these rates will
hurt
The conditions in which Indiana now
finds its public utilities on the whole may
be summed up as follows
/. The high rates they are now
obtaining are not sufficient so
tain them under their present finan-
cial organizations.
2. They devoid of credit. un-
able to make temporary loans and
without power to float bonds.
3. Their physical properties are
maintenance and the speed with which
deteriorating property deteriorates
increases each day.
4. They are wholly unable by rea-
son OF impaired credit and INSULT
cient revenue 10 meet the demands on
them for extensions or improved serv-
icc.
i Illustrative OF their condition is the
recent statement OF Charles L. Henry,
/ interurban operator, before the public
service mission.
Mr.. Henry was asked II his company
( could borrow money of the banks.
No" he replied.
"can you float bonds"
No, our present bonds are quoted at
around 46 cents.
what would you do II you were
ordered an extension OF your lines i'm
mediately ?"
I'D 20 home and go to bed until 1
recovered from the blow said Mr..
Henry.
INDIANA HOLDING
FINANCIAL BAG.
His position is typical Of that Of near
IS every utility In the state, and 1t is
gradually being borne home TO Indiana
fnanclers that It is Indiana, not Phila-
delphia and the east. that IS holding the
financial bag.
The time was In Indiana when by dill
gent propaganda It was made to appear
that utility securities were all held by
eastern capitalists who were milking the
Indiana public for large dividends.
More recently il has been realized that
utility securities are held in large num-
bers in Indiana, that the "bloated bond
holders" are IN reality the comparative
In nf Whn
bought utility shares and bonds when
the investments looked rosy and there
was no campaign to load a special train
with the eastern gang and send 1t back
to Philadelphia"
NO SANE SYSTEM
OF REGULATION.
Today any bank or banker VIII give
you information as to the whereabouts
Of Indiana utility bonds or stock.
/ He Will tell you that this man or that
woman has a block that is not paying
her a cent and which might be purchased
very cheaply.
But he will not advise you to purchase.
/ He does not yet see a sane program Of
intelligent regulation of Indiana utilities
that will make their securities sound in
vestments
There is a reason for all this and the
public utility managers are beginning
to awaken to the reason.
When the public utility law was en-
acted In 1913, after Samuel l.. Ralston
had changed his mind regarding the
democratic platform declaration for It
over night, the persons who insisted on
its enactment were intent on using 1t as
a club to further their own ends of
abuse of capital.
In order to prevent capital from de-