The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-01-14

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OFFICIAL COUNTY AND c1T1 11ocUIDINoS
TO LIFT THIS COUNTRY UP AND ON
il public utility companies bore the names Of the
men who manage them--as do department stores,
for instance-there would no doubt have always
been better general attitude toward them.
If Thompson's Street Car company or the Jones
Smith Heat, Light and Power company were 50
named, the man who had crow to pick with them
would usually go straight to see neighbor Thompson
or Jones or Smith, the case might be; and that
is a very different matter, indeed, from writing
letter to some company doing business under the
general name of the Browns Ferry Street Car COM
pany or the Amalgamated Gas and Electric corpora
ton.
But this . result not to be achieved-for the
great utility companies are not one-man concerns,
but are more and more able to say that they are
owned by their customers.
Not wholly does the man with money in the bank
or in life insurance understand that he is burning
his own gas and riding his own trolleys; but he
is coming to that knowledge, and will come to it all
the sooner the pubc-service companies put their
cards on the table and invite him to look at them
Meanwhile, there are distinct signs Of increasing
fairness in the attitude Of tho American people TO-
ward these companies. For instance, there is It
growing sentiment through the country that the
traction lines should be allowed to charge carry
ing fare sufficient not only to take care Of their
fixed charges but with something left over to pro-:
vide betterments and extensions. g."
1t is a hopeful sign when review of the past
year shows the public utility question as whole
receiving sane and businessike treatment at The
0f fha hoI;o ;,o H.
states. . ~...., :. !. : $50
No one factor, except the human factor is con-
tributing more to get this great nation back on its
financial and economic legs than is the factor of
electricity. Electric energy is everastingly the
job to reduce costs to cut overhead to shorten dis
tances, to eliminate loss of time to make one ma
chine whatever that machine produces) do the
work of many hands, to increase the comforts and
Tighten the burdens Of the nation.
It was Watt who, more than century ago, COIN
cd the term horsepower" using strong dray horse
unit. Assuming that horse produces one
misrepresentation is truc of course, only for the
few hours that he can stand continuous effort
it would take twenty million horses to furnish the
power supplied by electrical central stations in
the United States
IF those twenty million horses" says an author
ity, "were tied to both sides Of picket line in
accordance with the U. S. Army Field Service Regu-
lations. the double line Of horses would be $500
miles long, twice the distance from New York to
San Francisco" .,.,, ....e,s''
A cartoonist could make that picture graphic, as
he could picture of the 100000 individual men
and women in America who are reported to have
money invested in electrical securities and as he
could make picture Of the three hundred million
dollars in funds which the insurance companies
said to have invested in public utility securities
We pass to something more important and less
easy to picture: the growing need Of the country
for homes. House building lags. Whatever in
crease in homes make is more than kept pace
with by the increase in population The need must
be met, and it will be; but we should remember that
every home that is built is prospect" for electric
energy 1t will need telephone, or electric lights,
or gas, or all three-and it will need transportation
close by it, the closer the better. -
The public utility companies, to meet this great
demand, must develop and must finance the develop
ment. The financing is done either by selling Sc
curities directly to the holders to the same hold
ers indirectly through the insurance companies and
banks. ' !: %&&&
The spirit of fair play, already mentioned. will
make this financing possible on basis that is fair
and just to the companies and the public. The
cheaper we can make shafts and wheels turn, the
more we can cut down transportation costs, the
more we can use the great natural forces dor
raant in rivers and waterfalls, the better will
be able to keep, not only abreast but ahead of the
competition Of the world in the making of those
articles that other countries produce we'll as
We. >, 49, ~, ..-#.-,. .. -. a.
Hand in hand with the development Of transport
tation will go this giant electricity to cut down the
cost Of railroad operation, give better street
service to turn Wheels to carry more messages
over telephone and telegraph lines-in plain words,
to lift this country up and on s,.. - ... -
Rome fell when the people of her empire took
to huddling in cities; foreigners of eminence, like
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