The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-06-29
STRONG LOBBY IN
INDIANA kept Up
BY power TRUST
5 Schools, Newspapers
Use Propaganda

WASHINGTON, June 28.-A pow
erful lobby was maintained before
the Indiana State Legislature to OPP
pose legislation unfavorable to the
public utilities corporations of that
state, John Mellett, of Indianapolis.
testified before the Federal Trade
Commissions power trust inquiry to-
day.
Mellett's testimony concerned the
period from 1920 to 1927, when he
was executive secretary Of the In
diana Public Utilities Association and
director of the Utilities information
Bureau. He resigned these posts last
year.
Albert Stump, Democratic nominee
for United States Senator in Indiana,
was paid about $1,000 in 1921 and
1922 for making speeches on public
utilities subjects, according to Mel
let's testimony.
Mellett testified that 10000 to
$4,000 column inches of information
published in his "Hoosier Utility" a
weekly bulletin, has been reprinted in
Indiana newspapers. The 'clip sheet"
was sent to all newspapers of the
state, high schools, women's clubs
and libraries.
In addition to the bulletin the utili-
ties association issued six "school
bulletins" annually to about 800 high
schools. In 1925, 21,79O of these
pamphlets were distributed. School
principals were sent copies and asked
whether they could use them in their
classes, and usually responded in the
affirmative.
WASHINGTON, June 28.-Thir-
teen thousand school children in
Kansas are being taught from a
textbook which power propagandists
compiled and distributed, and which
a leading educator riddled with criti-
cism, the Federal Trade Commission
learned today.
Fl. Lee Jones, director of the In
formation Bureau of the Kansas
Public Service Companies, testified
~ the commissions investigation of
the Power Trust that only "im-
material" changes had been made in
the book after the criticism. The
record showed that the statements
the educator challenged were not
changed. Seventy five percent of the
book-"The story of our public util-
ities"-is San exact reproduction" of
text material prepared by the Hi
nois propaganda committee, Jones
testified.
Jones submitted the book man.
uscript three years ago to DR.. P. F.
Walker, dean of the school of engi-
neering of the university of Kansas.
Walker was paid $40 for examining
and criticizing it. Correspondence
showed he did not know it was to be
used in schools.
Gas
A section of the book teaching the
children about natural gas, the one
not taken from the Illinois commit
tees publications, began with this
statement:
Zone of the duties of the Bureau
of Mines is to publish information
showing how efficiency in the pro-
duction and utilization of fuels may
be increased and waste prevented. In
accordance with that duty this
manual has been prepared for dis
tribution to those who use natural
gas in their homes.
The pamphlet then quoted the late
Joseph A. Holmes, first director of
the bureau.
"The impression is given that the
pamphlet is a Bureau of Mines Pub
ication", Dean Walker noted in his
report. The bureau is a federal
agency, under the Department of
Commerce.
And Profits
A discussion of the relative eff
ficiency of an electric motor and a
steam engine, in the same book, made
an unfair comparison and gave ian
erroneous IMPRESSION Walker re-
ported. Depreciation was confused
with maintenance in one section, es-
saying to teach the children about
utility financing, according to Walk
er.
The book also taught that utilities
make no profits in the sense that
most businesses do"