Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-25

100000. If 1t was entitled, under the
Supreme Court decisions, to charge In
1925 rates that would earn interest on
$100,000,000 it is entitled to charge TO-
day only such rates as will earn interest
on s89,000,000.
Illustration Is Given.
The great difficulty about all this Is
to make it clear to the average man.
A simple illustration, recently in the
newspapers, may help. Six weeks ago
copper was selling at IS cents q pound
Today copper is selling at roughly, Is
cents a pound. Copper is large part
panies, electric power companies, tele-
phone companies and telegraph COM
panies. The reader can readily under
stand that this drop In the price of
copper from 10 cents to Is cents must
have worked quite considerable re-
duction in the present reproduction
value" Of these. public utilities. To re-
would cost today something like quar-
ter less than it would have cost six
weeks ago.
If we go back over q period Of 10
years, the decrease in the present re-
production value of public utilities is
very marked. In 1920, DR.. Fishers aver
age dollar was worth only go cents. To-
day it is worth 1121a cents. Turning
1920 can be bought today, on the aver
age, for SO cents. That is to say, things
on the average, cost At per cent less
today that they cost in 1920.
Clearly, the present reproduction
value of public utilities Is going down
pretty rapidly. Whatever advantage
there Is to public utilities In adopting
the present reproduction value theory
NJ rx,I1o Sca Ix,oY q RI fHA r11Yta-
lie, Is curing itself fast. BY 1882, II
things 60 on this way, Gov. Roose-
welt may find this issue has largely dis
appeared. He may find that in OPP
posing the present reproduction value"
theory he is cheerfully joined by the
public utilities. themselves. BY 1882 or
little later, the public utilities may
prefer. what Gov. Roosevelt is pre-
sumed to stand for, the actual number
of dollars they have invested over
period of years. Just now and for 10
years past the public utilities are very
much pleased about the Supreme Court
decisions in favor of present repro
duction value" BY 1892 or q few years
later the utilities may be singing DIFF
ferent and sadder tune.
From Gov. RooSevelts standpoint.
his issue Of present reproduction value"
may wane as rapidly in two or four
years as William Jennings Bryan's free
silver" issue, which was very similar,
waned in 1895. At that time, in four
years, by 1900. there was no free silver"
issue, nor any other currency issue.
Dry Issue to Last Longer.
Frank Kent Is right. The prohibition
issue will last much longer, than the
present reproduction value" one.
In sum, the undesirability Of the
present reproduction value" theory is
being overcome by the rise In the value
of the dollar. It Is being overcome also
, by another group Of economic forces.
The capacity Of public utilities to get
the public to pay the rates they charge
Is being overcome by the aggregate Of
the achievements Of busy scientists. in
ventors and workers discovering new de-
vices. BY 1882 or later some Of the pub
lie utilities, instead Of being assailed as
constituting giant monopoly, may be
"hollering for help"
We may illustrate by what has hap
pened in the past-and by some other
possible developments, apparently i'm
minent.
From about 1890 to 1906 the railroads
were the wicked monster; they were
then, to politics, what public utilities
are today. The Federal Government In
1906 laid hands on them, Sternly regu-
lated their rates, sternly took account,
a little later, of their valuations.
In the meantime Henry Ford and q
host Of other persons were developing
another means Of transportation-tne
competitive with the railroads. Pres
entity the railroads were ION the run"
NOT from politics, but from competi-
ton. The automobile took from the
railroads the bulk of their local trafhc
and a measurable proportion OF their
long distance traffic. For several years
the railroads have been "hollering for
help" Today we are regulating the
railroads, not in the direction OF re-
straining them, but In order to let them
live. Today, instead Of forbidding rail-
road mergers, we are commanding
them, insisting upon them, by law.
Another example: Five years ago and
on many occasions before, anthracite
coal was the wicked monster. 1t was q
monopoly, 1t was charging excessive
prices, it must be curbed, 1t must be
taken over by the Government. About
anthracite coal few years ago the
things were being said that today are
being said about public utilities.
What happened? Politics gave no re-
lief. Government gave no relief. But
relief came from another quarter. Sci
entists, inventors, workers and organ
lzers perfected new forms OF fuel, new
sources of heat. OIL, conveyed through
pipe lines and burned in a new kind
of furnace, supplanted coal IN many
homes on several railroads, in many
industries. Today anthracite coal is
selling cheaper than at any time for
many years and the government Of
Pennsylvania is taking action about the
industry, not to check 1t, but to enable
1t to live.
Water Power on Decline.
What may happen to some public
utilities Is in the future, but scientists
foresee glimpses of it. Water power,
about which Gov. Roosevelt Is ex-
cited, Is becoming negligible as q source
of electricity. The making Of electric
ity from coal has been so cheapened
and perfected that public utilities don't
care about water power any more. A
well informed man in the industry
doubts If any more water power sites
will ever be utilized; he thinks, indeed.
that many water power sites now used
for electricity may be abandoned, may
revert to their natural state.
AS another development, immense
networks of pipe lines to carry natural
gas are being laid down all over the
country, even as far east as close TO
the Atlantic seaboard cities. Electricity,
for many purposes, win shortly come
The making of artificial gas from
coal, in furnaces located at the mines,
Is being perfected. A competent prophet
In the field says that 10 years from
now the sight of q coal train on the
railroads may be as rare as the sight
of an oxcart. He thinks that all coal
will be burned at the mines and the
resultant power conveyed to distant
cities through wires or through pipe
lines
A competent person thinks we are
just on the verge of finding way to