Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1924-08-29
TWO VIEWS OF CONTROL
OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
(COntnued prom Page FOurl

vision of light and power than there
is of streets or parks and such state
control Of city institutions would only
be a burden of cost and lead to con-
fiict.
There is no better chance of get
ting brains by state appointment
than there is by city appointment;
hence no advantage in ability by
state control. The company plan is
to have a state control then choke
It off by small appropriations, to
point where it cannot properly func-
ton. Their money brings influence
enough to bear to accomplish it.
Perhaps the greatest reason against
state control of public light and
power concerns is that the control
! is removed too far from the manage
ment of the utility. There is then no
public looks to the manager of a
concern for results. He must bear
the entire responsibility. He alone
should be responsible for his reputa-
ton is at stake. Politics cannot save
him in any mistake. He must know
1.-THE business. State commissioners
very seldom do. There may be at
torneys or storekeepers.
Company Evidence Dominates
Another reason that state control
must fail is that the commission can
lgo only by the evidence submitted.
This evidence is not much over 30
per cent correct, but the companies
bring in an army of experts to tes-
tify and there is practically no one
to refute their evidence. If public
utilities were under state control
this would mean that company evil
dence would dominate and rates go
up, defeating the very object of the
public utility. State control would
then cause dissatisfaction, resulting
in the destruction of the public util-
Il ty or the state control. They cannot
mix more than oil and water.
All public utility books are now
audited by the state and the very
system of bookkeeping specified by
the state. All other records are al
ready public and at the disposal of
the state. 1t could not wish more or
use any data that it does not now
lhave-why add more red tape?
Why tax a public utility until the
private concerns pay taxes? They do
not pay one red cent of taxes and
haven't since state control began.
This statement will come as a sur
prise but it is literally true.
A company submits to the state
more or less itemized statement of
its cost for the year. This includes
operation, maintenance and deprecia-
ton, and contrary to the impression
of the average citizen, it includes all
the taxes imposed. These are all
added together and the company is
allowed to make a rate that will pay
these bills and per cent profit on
top of these costs.
How can anyone claim that the
company is more than a tax collect
or? It does not pay the taxes. The
rate is raised to make the consumer
pay the taxes. Any other competi-
tive business must pay its taxes or
be sold out, even If his property is
sarcihced to bring only the needed
amount.
TaxatiOn Not an Issue
If competition governed and both
public and private plants stood on
the same footing, then and only then
taxation might be an issue. Much
has been said about the taxes of a
utility being the same money paid
by almost the same citizen to him
self in utility bills; i. e., rates are
raised to pay the taxes and the
money is moved from one pocket to
the other. Suffice it to say in this
short article that a public utility is
operated for service, not for profit,
and protects the many instead of the
few. The rates must be the lowest
possible. If a city covered the whole
field of its competitors, if rates
were not raised in one place where
there is monopoly, to be lowered to
meet a competitor at another place,
then taxation may be an issue but
not a stumbling block or object of
attack, for the citizen has the power
any day to tax himself to any limit
he wishes on his own utility and the
beautiful part of it all is. that he can
find the honest value on which to tax.
If he can find the honest taxable
value of q large private utility he
has discovered something so far I'M
known to man, for under a system of
protection every dollar of costs sup
pressed in one place allows another
dollar Of imitation of other costs; i. e.,
a dollar Of real company profit. The
traffic may stand very high rates
but there is a limit somewhere.
AS it Is now q company earns on
fve to ten times its tax value and
never bats an eye. Some properties
have had their taxes cut 33 per cent
since the war, while the citizens
taxes went up 80 per cent.