The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-03-13

only be sold at low wholesale prices to such companies as they owned and controlled. By this method the Ala bama Power company was selling power at wholesale prices to them selves. and through the corporations they owned or controlled were retail ing power at the highest prices ob- tainable to the public.
 'The result was that this power was produced at a cost so infinitely lowor than steam or any other form of power ss to be almost unbeiiev- ab1e: but that fact was carefully oon- eealsd from tho public, and they were not allowed to reap any benefit from its cheapness. On the ctntrary, the Alabama Power company seemed to be able whenever they pleased to in duoe our public service commission to increase their rates.
 Stock of Company
 The authorized capital stock of this company. as given by Poe's Man ual. Is t40,000,oo0 common and S1o,- ooO,0O0 per cent preferred. and there was outstanding on December al, 1921, $1s.75I .000 common and S374.2O0 preferred stock.
 "All the common stock of the Ala 
 tho Alabama Traction, Light and Power Co.,, Ltd, of Canada, and 1t Is this common stock that controls the corporation because 1t alone Is vested with voting power. It has been con- tended by the Alabama Power com pany that 2,38o stockholders live in Alabama, constituting 10.814 shares. Hut s4 stockholders, living In London, England, and Montreal and Quebec, Canada. own all the balance of the outstanding stock, which. according to the authority quoted, amounts to s1s,i2s,s00, and of this vast amount tho Alabama corporation owns only ii .osi, zoo, and mostly preferred stock. No honest man can then deny, in the face of those established facts, that the Canadian corporation does own and control the Alabama Power company and all the subsidiary corpcrAtions which have been men toned.
 Property vmlaele~s
 son December Si, 1920, the prop erty of the Alabama Power company ing Engineers. by whom they were employed, at sS7.6<B.7$1.3e. By their report on file in the office of the ntate tax commission this company owns 25,3So, 100000 of property, and the outstanding capital stock was S1e,o56,20 co, making a total of s4t,- 2s4. 10000, the value of all their property.
 "Yet ths total assessment for tax alton by this property was only s2,- 12g,675.0o. tangible and intangible. According to tho report of the Ala bana Power company, which 1t is made, and which Is on file in the office of tho state ta< commission, SAP, 165, 525.o0 of the property of the Alabama Power company was ex- empt from taxation.
 "Evoryone knows that If the bid of the Alabama Power company was withdrawn, the Ford offer would be promptly accepted, and the will of the American people carried. into effect. Tho governor of Alabama can do more than any living man in the state to carry out this purpose. Governor Kilby Is an executive in tensely patriotic and of great ability. He is now in a position to render the public a greater service than was ever before offered any governor in an American state. He has declared that the acceptance of tho offer of the Alabama Power company would threaten the industrial life of the state.
 Call Extra Session
 Let him. therefore. notify the Ala bams Power company that unless they promptly withdraw their bid he will at once call the legislature in special session and recommend that they repeal the law exempting them from taxation and every statute granting them any special privilege or franchises. A special session of the legislature would not then be necessary as the Alabama Power company would promptly comply with his request. Some may say that such action on his part would smack of coercion. The answer 10 that we are confrnoted with an extraordinary situation, and the sacred right of self-defense of a great people to save their industrial life from a threaten ed calamity would, before God and man. justify such a course.
 One thing Is sure, If Governor Kilby fails to act, the people of Ala bama will see to 1t that the next legislature will strip the Alabama Power company of every exemption and special privilege they now enjoy as a result of mistaken and unwise action on the part of our former legislatures.
 T now soiemnly warn the Alabama Power company that unless they promptly withdraw thoir bid and their threats of protracted litigation to defeat the Ford offer, they will so intensity the storm of public in- dignation and hostility they have al ready provoked, that their days of usefulness as public service cor poration in Alabama will be ended forever, and that the suicide they will have committed will be done alone by their own hand"