The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-04-30
SOUGHT BIC SUM
FROM COMBINES,
INQUIRY SHOWS
P aper Poses AS An
Impartial" Organ

w AoI1lNGlON, Apru ~. tFFD.-
Proposal by David Lawrence, presi-
dent and principal owner of the
United States Daily, to Philip Gads-
den, chairman of the executive COM
mittee of the Joint Committee of the
National Utility Associations--com-
monty known as the power trust
lobby-that the Joint Committee
cause 81 key companies in the utility
field to pay the paper $202,800 for
a one-year advertising campaign
against federal regulation and
municipal ownership-this is the lat
est Of the disclosures made in the
power trust inquiry before the Fed
eral Trade Commission.
Hidden Tracks
The United States Daily claims to
be devoted solely to presenting news
CT the activities of the legislative,
executive and judicial branches of the
federal government, without any
editorial comment of any interpreta-
ton of the news. 1t publishes list
of it's founders and owners" in
Guiding Samuel insult, Owen D,
Young, H. P. Wilson, Philip Gadsden,
and others in the utility combine.
But it also claims w. B. Wilson,
Mrs. j. Borden Hartman, Col. E. M
House and others who are NOT
identified with the power lobby,
Hence the Importance OF the dis
covery that Lawrence wrote to the
head of the lobby, outlining scheme
by which the lobby would ECO
ordinate" in it's publicity office all
the material gathered from 81 key
cities, pleading against federal con
troll on the ground that the utility
problem is purely local. Lawrence
explains how the tracks of the ma
5ional lobby can be hidden, while ii
wages a nationwide campaign.
How To Do 1t
"The argument" he says in his
prospectus to Gadsden, would be Sc
: constructed as to show that no other
system of regulation or ownership
would achieve so good result. Since
federal regulation is in the offing,
the purpose of this campaign would
be to prove how interviewer is the
development of the utility with the
life of the community, and how the
present efficiency is due to localiza-
ton of the industry. -. The
argument backing it up would be
doctrine vital to the problem of pos
sible federal regulation. i. State
regulation versus federal would be
continuously emphasized, and there
would be ample opportunity to show
how private initiative and incentive
was the governing influence in the
development of the communities, thus
erasing in the background any
thoughts that might be lurking there
en- municipal operation"
Wants Full Page Ads
Lawrence proceeds to outline his
scheme for running full page state
nent by each of 81 companies three
times in the year, giving ga con-
nected story" to prove the success
of private local ownership as against
any other system. Since the name
of no company would appear more
than three times in the So weeks, he
argues, all criticism based on charges
that one organization was conduct
ing the campaign would be avoided!
All payments would be made by the
individual companies direct to Law
rence's paper, and "This would OBJ
viate the necessity of any pooling
of funds or the existence of any large
advertising fund, which is often OBJ
jectionable from many standpoints.'
Read In Congress.
He touts his journal as the "only
link between the legislative and the
executive branches of the fedora,
government" All members of the
House and Senate, he says, read il
carefully. So do the federal judges
and all officials in the departments
and commissions. So, too, do 70 pei
cent of the members of all state
legislatures, and the state regulatory
commissions, as well as editoria
writers, bankers and educators. II
fact the Daily is "held in high es
teen" because of it's absolutely non
partisan" character, and hence it ha,
ian extraordinary amount of pres
tige and influence"
What price this reputation, as s
medium for propaganda?
To Instruct Editors.
"The cumulative effect" hi
smoothly suggests, SHOULD be moi