Evening star., 1923-07-24
Ser,ator-EIect HO,ueU Held
AdvOcdte of Sane Remedies
'Constructiue and Courageous" Nebras-
kan Said to Knou What's Wrong With
Vest, But Chases No RainbOaos.

third party lines. 1t will be farmer
labor movement when it gets go
ing. though, it may at first seek TO
secure Ford's nomination on the dem
ocratic ticket. Attempts to organize
a Ford democratic delegation for the
national convention are about to be
launched. They would counter the
proJect, said to be fathered by Gov.
Bryan and his brother. William Jen-
nings. to instruct the Nebraska del
egation for McAdoo- McAdoo. apart
from Ford, is the only democrat COM
monty mentioned in Nebraska anent
1924. Among republicans. In addition
to President Harding, one hears Ia
vorable references to William S. Ken
yon, II the G.. o. p. nomination were
to be given to progressive as dis
tinguished from conservative. A
Kenyon-Ford contest In Nebraska;
be close fight. with party. lines
smashed into unrecognizability.
Harding would probably defeat Nc
Adoo I'm the state, though not by such
Ford. running as an independent. IT
is asserted. would overcome both
Harding and McAdoo.
senator Howell as Exponent.
Nobody in Nebraska Is qualified to
discuss western political issues with
greater Intelligence than Senator
Howell. Hereabouts and elsewhere
Howell Is mainly associated In the
popular mind with municipal owner
ship of public utilities. and an i'm
preston has taken root that he sees
in state socialism," the cure-all for
the peoples troubles.
II am not for public ownership as
an end" he said. but merely as a
means to an end. That is why 1
advocate, as a basic means of help
ing the farmer and the consuming
classes, the purchase and operation
by the federal government of a single
trunk-line railroad system. / would
have the government buy one rail-
road; operate it; show what it could
do in the way of public service. in
respect particularly of rates; prove
by practical demonstration whether
the government can or cannot run
railroad with better results to the
people than private companies do;
and then maintain or abandon gov
ernment ownership. as the lessons of
the experience dictated. Such plan
would have two inevitable effects.
In the first place, if the system were
sufficiently nationwide in it's rami-
f1cations. 1t would. by the injection
of competition. bring down private
rates. In the second place, the coun-
try would know, within a reasonable
time, whether government ownership
was or was not practicable. Expert
ence. in other words. would end the
agitation. We would have the proof
of the pudding through having eaten
1t. There would always be time to
revert to private operation"
Reason for His Belief.
Senator Howells idea for expert
mental government ownership of rail-
roads springs from his experience as
an Omaha municipal official. For the
better part of twenty years he has
been an outstanding figure in the
cityS government. He vacates the
post of general manager of the water
board to enter the Senate. A num-
Der Of remarkable constructive &C.
complishments stands to his personal
| credit. Omahans enjoy cheap ice,
cheap water, cheap gas and cheap
electric power in consequence of them.
Howell points to his installation of
municipal ice plant as an indication
of what might be done by a federal
railroad Omahans once paid from 60
to so cents a hundredweight for ice
Howell put s75O,000 into a city ice
plant, which today is furnishing ice at
} 80 cents, at forty-two stations scat
tered throughout the city, as against
50-cent ice (delivered) sold by the
private. companies.
In 1922 the gross income of the
city plant was $260,000, derived from
the sale of $1,000 tons of ice. retailed
in as small as scent blocks. Hun
dreds of families thus were enabled
to enjoy the necessary summer COM
modify who otherwise would not have
been able to afford ice. Howell in
stigated the establishment of city
water and gas plants. which also
have led to drastic reductions in rates.
Pnves Way for Cheap Electricity.
Omaha has no municipal electric
power plant, but Howell brought
down the rate to almost the lowest
kiIowatt- hour figure in the United
States merely by what he terms "po-
tential competition" Having con-
vinced himself that the private COM
panies were holding up consumers
of current, Howell went to the state
legislature and paved the way for
laws enabling Omaha to manufacture
power. The Interests" scowled and
demurred, then made a sweeping cut
in rates. That satisfied Howell. and
he abandoned the city electric-power
project. But the private companies
have always understood he was will
ing to renew 1t whenever extortion-
ate rates were resumed.
Some day. he says, 1t may not be