Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1926-03-12


Homer I. bone. general counsel for
tie Port q Taeoma. was the princi-
pal speaker Of the evening. IL open
ing his address. be said that he did not
come to Aberdeen as stranger, and
reminded the audience that after he
he'd addressed 8 body Of Aberdeen cit
izenss On 3 previous occasion, oppofi-
ents Of municipal ownership accused
him Of representing TEcoma bond
houses, and that his motive was to sell
bends Tor the development Of the pro-
posed hydro-eleetric plant on the wy
noochs river. He outlined the diff
culties Tacoma experienced IN enter
ing the municipal ownership field, say
ing that it had taken twenty-five
years 60 convince those VINO had
trained their gunsp on the first adj
voeatss Of public ownership.
"You people Of Aberdeen are ex-
periencing the same fight we went
through when we built the NisquaIIy
plant IN Tacoma. They told us we
would wreck the city Of Tacoma fl
ndhciaIly, that we would have no de-
mand for the electrical energy and
that we were nothing more or less
than bunch Of radicals, Today when
a public official condemns public own
erahip he Is treadine on dangerous
ground. The names Of those who SO
stubbornly fought the development Of
the Nisqually plant have either been
forgotten, dead or swept out Of public
life. During the. month Of January
! used 6z8 K. w. H. Of electric cur
rent which cost me s8sA6. Take your
pencil and figure what this amount
e electric enersy would cost you
people here in Aberdeen. There are
about $500 homes in Tacoma, which
are heated with electricity at the rate
Of one-half cent per K. w. H."
Mr.. Bone declared that when we
give our natural resources to private
utility corporations, we donate a ne-
cessity which VIII cost as millions Of
dollars to get even a small portion
OF it's return. "The minute this outfit
thought they had you whipped in the
courts, they lost no time in trying to
grab the resources of the Wynooche
river. They realized that,it was real
L ly the 'juiciest' proposition they could
get their hands on in this section Of
the country"
'They import high pressure propa-
gandists into your city to tell you how
to run it. Before we built the Mis-
qually plant, there were many little
parties held in Tacoma. Public Off
cials who had pledged their word to
support the project would suddenly
grow cold and for a long time we
could not account for their sudden
change in attitude. But these won
derful parties-no doubt you have
heard of them here"
Mr.. Bone said that Aberdeen had
eonstructed two municipal projects,
the Port Dock and the Wishkah water
system, and had demonstrated it's abil-
/ ity to operate these utilities on a pay
ing basis, and that it should go a
little farther and get more.
The gist of Mr.. Bones address is
published elsewhere in this issue.
Preceding Attorney Bones address
former City Attorney A. Emerson
Cross read an address delivered by
Senator r. B. Howell, of Nebraska, be-
fore the National Republican Club,
New York City, Saturday, January "a,
1926. In his address Senator Howell
pointed out some notable instances in
reply to opponents Of public owner
ship. He said that the form of COM
missions for regulating public utih-
ties had failed and that it is welcomed
and embraced by public utility corpor-
ations who, to their great relief, have
found these commissions in reality .
sanctuary for their protection.