Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-06-30
UTILITY PROPOSAL
TO PAY DEBT AIRED
Letter Read Before Commits
sion Contains Plan to Pur-
chase Record.

utility information, in the Federal Trade
Commissions public utility investiga-
tlon a proposal by the utilities puol1ca-
ton committee Of Washington, ID. u
10 helm wipe oct a debt Of 81 500 o. the
National Association of Railroad and
Utilities Commissioners III 1928 was
revealed.
Fischer was asked to identify letter
written bv A. s. Hills, secretary OF the
committee. to Herbert Sylvester, Secre-
tarv of the Michigan section Of the
National Electric Light Association al
Ann Arbor. Mich. written May .. 1929,
in which the proposal was stated.
Matter was Confidential.
The letter said that the matter was
confidential and that lit has come TO
oar notice that the National ASsoeia-
ffnn of Railroads and Utilities COM
r,,issionerS is In debt 81, 600 for the
prtntine Of its 1928 convention proceed
ir,gs An effort IS being made to sell
enough copies Of the 1924 proceedings
to pay of the 1928 debt, as well as 10
meet the 1924 cost of publication.
"This committee has been asked 10
assist and We are, therefore, referring
the matter to you directly. We believe
that the utility organizations Will be
justified in helping the National Asso-
citation of State Commissioners in this
emergency and we suggest that you
order as many copies OF the volume at
SIS each as you can use and distribute.
"The volume contains a good deal OF
information concerning the utility IN
cilIstrv and would be OF interest ana
value to newspapers chambers OF com
nleTce, city attorneys ana hnrarleS
as well as to utility companies gen.
orally"
1--WE are asking the secretary Of the
National Association TO send YOU cir
cnlar descriptive Of the volume. VIII
you kindly let US know how many
copies you can arrange 70 use?N
Fischer merely testified that he knew
of the proposal. but that he did not
know whether it was carried out.
The National Association OF Railroad
and Utilities Commissioners is composed
of members Of State commissions who
supervise railroads and utilities in the
various States which have such boards.
Identifies Documents.
Fischer was on the stand for an hour
identifying documents taken from the
office files Many of them told Of pub
lie relations plans and Ia nearly every
instance the witness testified that the
plans we're not carried out. A plan to
show motion pictures presenting clear
" the advantages Of private ownership
and operation" was not carried ouf, he
said, although a letter was introduced
"a show that he had informed the Wis
ugraphie Picture Co. of New York that
the plan had been accepted.
Placing of public utility publicity in
Michigan schools and the payment of
a professors expenses to address the
Michigan Grange, a farmers orgatliza-
ton, were described earlier today
Arthur w. STAGE of Ann Arbor. direc-
tor Of the Michigan committee on public
utility information, testified that his
organization had distributed 10000
pamphlets on gas and electricity, OBJ
tanned through the American Gas ASSo-
citation and the National Electric Light
Association, in the schools He added
that plans to distribute other pamph-
lets had been made.
The orgariza tion, he said. had paid
tie expenses Of Prof. II. J. Gallagher of
Michigan State College, for four
speeches delivered to the Grange and
other farm organizations on rural cleo
IRRIGATION. Checks introduced into the
record showed the expenses aggregated
s5740.
STAGE testified that the Michigan Gas
Association recently increased the an
nual research fellowship fund at
Michigan University from $1,000 to
about $4,000. He asserted that the
research work was purely scientific.
Questioned il $1,000 was not the
amount Of the fund, STAGE said that
he believed il was supposed to be that
amount. but that he thought it would
not exceed $4,000.
The witness who followed Fischer of
New YORK. former director of the COM
mittee. testified that he was a news
paper man before taking over the direc-
torship last September. He said that
he was the first president Of the
Michigan Association Press Editorial
Association and was a former editor Of
the Grand Rapids Press.
Press Service Employed
Payment Of regular salary to the
head CT a Michigan editorial service 70
insure the writing Of "boiler-plate"
editorials favorable to public utilities
for publication IL small newspapers
using the service and to aid the fight
o. the power companies against munich
p2lly-oETed power plants was revealed
yesterday afternoon IN the investigation.
Alfred Fischer Of New York, former
director Of the Michigan committee on
public utility information. told the COM
mission that the Consumers Power Co.
Of Michigan paid $3.50 month to Fred
q KesEter Of Ionia 10 enlist the sup
port u his editorial service. which is
used BY many small Michigan news
papers Keister wrote editorials on sub
jectg suggested 70 him, including an
attack On resolution adopted by the
Michigan state Grange favoring
nunicipaIly-owned utilities, Fischer
testified.
Interesting Work
Fischer testified he had obtained dis
seTninagl0n Of public utility publicity
through press associations, newspapers
and other publications. There was IN
troduced into the record 2 letter written
by Fischer lD which he said ne did some
very interesting work with officers Of
the Michigan Press Association 70 get
wider circulation Of his publicity In 100
leading county Weekiies.
a letter from r. A. Newton Of the
Ho0enpyl, Hardy Co, Inc, Of Jackson,
written January 7. 1925 was introduced,
IL which II was stated that the only
real outstanding municipaliy-o
plants IA Michigan were a. Lansing and
Holland Newton wrote that IT, less
said about the Holland plant the better,
as ii Is q successful municipality
owned plant sno there Is no use Of
denying the fact
Relative 20 the Lansing plant he said
no Information could be obtained about
t. but he predicted IL would eventually
co4i2e 70 q bad end He related how the
extension Of the Kalamazoo street
lighting plant had been defeated BY the
public utilities. 10 ], but said the
fight probably would come up again fof
y or IS years, The letter added that
the smaller municipality owned plants
were cg0pglng Dv the wSysi0e fast.
DECLINES RESIGNATION.
.-.-Lc- H.