Evening star., 1932-07-18
POWER BODY ASKS
PUBLIC CONTROL
Federal Commission Declares
Action Over Holding CON-
panies Essential.

Making a preliminary report after an
investigation covering year, the Fed
eral Power Commission recommends full
public control of holding companies:
In its findings, given out today for
publication. the commission says that
This supervision is absolutely essential
in the public interest" and ADDS tnat
"such control to be adequate would IN
clude in its scope the service (manage.
ment and engineering) organizations OF
these holding companies, with super
vision of all contracts between holding
companies and their operating COM
panies," and supervision OF the issue
of securities to the investing public"
This would include regulation OF ac-
counts with requirements proVlolng
specifically for the filing of financial
and other reports on prescribed forms
with full publicity.
Duplication Avoided.
To avoid duplication of the Federal
Trade Commissions lnVestgatlon OF tne
financial setup of power companies. the
power commission did not go into the
Subject of write ups of assets, over
capitalization and the like. 1t said
however. that the data collected dis
closed 1.-The dominance of the holding
.,in the mower field covered by projects
licensed by the Federal Government.
THE experience of the commission
in its accounting activities hao al
ready developed the fact that much OF
the information necessary IS altogether
within the control of holding COM
panies." the report said. Inerelore,
while = = the accounts of the lcensee
are subject to scrutiny by the Fedora!
Power Commission the books OF
the licensee as a general rule 90 noI
reflect detailed information.
The commission said the companies
IN general co-operated fully in giving
information for the inquiry, but the
Associated Gas & Electric co. 1aAeo 70
make the requested return. ..
This exception alike brings lnIo
contrast the cooperative spirit OF tne
other top companies" the commission
said land proves the necessity Tor
unouestioned authority being vested IN
sCme public agency
The commission said an analysis OF
returns made by the holding companies
and their affiliates-91 companies IN
all-shOwed that 48 major projects un-
der license to public utilities are SUB
iect to control by 10 top companies
and that these 10 serve 12,48! COM
munities with population OF more
than 42,UUU,UUU. LIE CO4llP'hltSo
tribute more than ,000,00O,OOO kllo-
watt hours of current, Of which 80oO,--
100000 is received from the licensed
plants already operating.
Community Interest Indicated.
The degree Of community interest be-
tween the 10 groups is indicated, the
report said. by the fact that 19 dlrec-
tors we're directors or officers in the
TOP company of a subsidiary company
of at least two groups. one director be-
ing thus connected with four groups.
The report showed than an increas-
ing amount of power is being trans
mitted by licensees across state boun-
diaries, electricity from specified COM
panies entering interstate commerce to
the extent of 9, 13, %, "a, IA and even
SO per cent.
Many of the licensees projects de-
veloping power which goes into inter
state transmission are part OF a
large system controlled outside OF the
licenSee itself. the report said.
1t added that the problem of regula-
ton of rates, services and securities of
these licensees under the law which
vests such jurisdiction to the extent
that such developed electrical energy
enters into interstate commerce. be-
comes at once a complicated problem
in the absence of definite legal author
ity over the dominant company.
Alien Americans and foreigners re-
siding in the United States sent ap-
proximately S173000000 in immigrant
remittances back to their native lands
in 1891