Evening star., 1928-05-17
POWER PUBLICITY
PRODED At HEARING
Utilities Activities in North
and South Carolina Told
Before Trade Body.
ny the Associated Press.


How publicity favorable to power
utilities was obtained in North and
south Carolina was disclosed today be-
Tore the Federal Trade Commission as
attention was directed to the activities
of the public utility informal ion
bureau working in those States,
Samuel E. Boney of Raleigh, NJ c..
oirector for the bureau. testified that
og appealing TO the civic pride of prcrni
nent men and women in the Carollnas
ne wrote articles that appeared under
Mheir names with their consent.
The articles, he said. were circulated
among $500 newspapers, colleges and
trade organizations through the bu-
reau's monthly bulletin called Public
service. and were reprinted in many
newspapers. He testified that the ar
ticles in the bulletin were directed
against municipal ownership of util-
tiles, Government operation of Muscle
Shoals, the Boulder Canyon Dam pro-
ject and on other subjects related to
public utiAJleS.
Soney said the bureau was organized
IN 1924 and that he had been director
for four years. Like nearly all of the
other utility bureau directors, he teSti-
ned he was former newspaper man.
81 Companies in Bureau.
AIlC QuEGdu IlcH1DSISlllp COIlSlStS Q1
81 street railways, electric and gas COM
panies, among them being several SUBJ
sidiaries of national groups of power
companies, he testified. Among the ma
tional groups, he said, were the Virginia
Electric & Power Co., a subsidiary of
stone g. Webster; Tidewater Power Co.
OF Wilmington. N c., recently acquired
BY the insult interests of Chicago, and
the Duke Power Co.
The witness said the bureau was
being operated for interstate operating
companies and that approximately
$4,000 is spent annually In furthering
public relations. He testified that the
bureau co-operated with the National
Electric Light Association. the joint
committee Of National Utilities ASSo-
Citations. and the State Utility Bureaus
In the exchange of literature and
methods Of obtaining publicity.
Boney failed to produce all the min
utes Of the meetings of the bureaus
George II. Conklin of Augusta, Ca,
secretary and treasurer of the bureau,
had them. He was ordered to SUBJ
INIT the minutes later.
Payment to Professor.
The witness was questioned about an
authorized payment of $50 to Prof.
Thorndike Saville, who was described as
q hydraulic engineer in the CarolinaS.
The payment had not been made but
was authorized, Boney said. because
.6aville had drawn q map Of the Caro- |
lima power lines which was produced in |
the WinSton-Salem Journal He said !
the director Of conservation and deyel- |
opment Of North Carolina had requested |
the bureau to pay for the work on the |
map.
BY maintaining personal contact with |
Carolina newspaper editors, about 300 |
columns Of utility publicity distributed |
by him was published during the past /
year, the witness said, most OF it being |
printed without any indication Of the |
source.
Boney testified that he had written |
the editor Of the Charlotte, N c., News |
whom he believed to be Julian Miller, |
and had succeeded In having printed an /
editorial he had written in opposition /
to Boulder Dam based on the argument /
that II the dam was built il would Gre
ate . competitive cotton-growing dis
trict.
The witness said he had advocated in
his speeches and literature the doctrine
that municipal ownership of utilities re- /
tarded the industrial growth Of the
Carolinas.
Telegram Produced.
James T. Bresnaiaan of the local Of /
ice Of the Western Union. produced /
d telegram dated December 20, 1927, 4
m which Newcomb wired r.. II. Bal /
lard Of the Southern California Edison |
Co. Of Los Angeles. and Stephen B. /
Davis Of New York, director of the joint /
committee, that the tHouse committee /
voted begin hearing Boulder Canyon !
bill January s and concluded Janu-
aTy 16."
That day Newcomb wired 80 Power |
company executives and attorneys that |
f1e Senate Interstate Commerce COM
1nittee had postponed consideration OF |
fsle WaISh resolution which called for |
Senate investigation OF public utility l
financing, under which the Federal /
trade commission Is now conducting |
the present inquiry.
Recalled to the stand, Browne testi- |
fed that A. D. Barber of Omaha, dis |
Erfct manager Of the Graybar Co. |
headed subcommittee that compiled |
the data for the text book Electricity, |
Is History and Development" which
vas printed and circulated by the Me-
krsska committee.
Distributed in Schools.
He said four or i've thousand copies
mad been distributed to high school
WN0euL&, 1E1u tktGt Tue WUfk was ul0ef~
taken because the text books in use in
Eebraska had neager information on
esectr1ctty.
Declaring that the primary purpose
AfI the publication was 70 give infOrma-
t80n TO the students, the witness said
Che benefit TO the utilities was "secon-
9ary"
Browne said that he had circulated
rublicity opposed TO Muscle Shoals and
Boulder Dam: that no speakers bureau
was maintained, but that the Utility
Bulletin, published by the Nebraska
Bureau, was distributed 10 all news
papers, civic bodies and libraries
Browne testified that neither Of his
organizations had made any payments
20 colleges or college professors. but
said the Middle West divisions Of the
National Electric Light Association had
paid the expenses OF several executives
Of minor colleges 10 a conference called
sn Kansas City in February by Dean
G. o. Ruggies Of Ohio State University