Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-04-11
Wednesday. April II, 1923.
NY POLICY

Governor Baxter is running true to
form when he kills the Maine Water
Power Commission. the work OF
which he says was originally under
taken through his efforts
He frankly gives his reason: III
was evidently the purpose of those
who favored the amendment and
whose views differed from mine. to
get control Of the commission. I did
not think it right they should. l did
not think it right they should be
given the opportunity to shape pub
lie opinion for the next two years"
He goes on to say: II was willing
those interests favoring the amend
ment should have two members of
the commission. provided l should
have three"
~ and they" Really where does
1--WE" come in, we the people? They
apparently don't exist in my policy"
any more than they did in his eleventh
hour Dead River storage proposal.
They are ignored as the Legislature
was ignored. The Water Power
commission dies the death to which
the development OF the kennebec
valley was doomed.
And all for what:
And what is a water power COM
mission for? ITO shape public opin-
ion" Governor Baxter thinks. Did
he think so when he argued for it's
creation several years ago? We were
told that it was for the purpose of
collecting data, to thoroughly inves-
. tigate the water power resources
within the State of Maine, the flow
of rivers and their drainage area, the
location, nature and size of the lakes
and ponds in the State and their re-
spectivc value and capacity as stor-
age reservoirs and such other hydro
graphic data as they shall deem of
value in determining the best meth
DDS for the immediate improvement
and development of water power re-
sources within the State, including
the daily discharge of rivers as com
puted from data obtained at river
gaging stations.
So was the purpose of the COM
mission explained to the people. 1t
wasn't said the commission was for
shaping public opinion. The Gov
ernor can't trust Speaker Holley Of
the House and President Harrington
OF the Senate to appoint four of the
five members of the commission, he
to select one to watch over them
There is no question, however, that
he expects all the rest of us to trust
him to appoint them all. Indeed he
says he will see that this informa-
tion is collected, these duties per-
formed, and of course public opinion
shaped to his liking all the while.
The commission under the law as
amended in 1921 was to consist of
ten members, three appointed by the
Governor with the advice of the
Council, one commissioner to rep
resent the Senate. two the House,
one to be a member of the State
Board of Trade, one representing the
State Grange, one the Federation of
Labor, one the Savings Bank As
ISOLATION of Maine, the four latter
on recommendation by their rcspcc-
tive bodies.
II is not strange, especially in view
Of the Governors frequently demon
strated attitude, that he should re-
sent any interference with his ap-
pointing power. But what he has to
say respecting it reveals. it seems
to us, a definite purpose to shape
through every instrumentality at
hand public opinion as he would have
it shaped, reveals an utter lack of
confidence in opinion other than his
own. There is no evidence OF which
we know to show that appointments
made by the present speaker of the
House and the president of the Sem
ate would not be more representa-
tive Of public opinion than would
those selected by the Governor This
view appears substantiated out of
the Governors own mouth