The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-01-31
CORPORATION
BODY DOOMED
That is Raleigh Be-
lief Despite Fight
For 1t
BY J. c. BASKERVILL
The Times News Bureau
Sir Walter Hotpl

]
general assembly will pass the bill
to abolish the State Corporation
! Commission and set up in its stead
Public Utilities Commissioner to
take over its duties, in spite Of the
Herculean efforts being made by
the members and friends of the
Corporation Commission to defeat
the proposed bill. For while al
most all Of those who have inVes-
tigated the matter are convinced
that the move to abolish the Cor
poration Commission is more of a
political move than one actuated
by a desire for economy and that
little if any economy will result if
the bill passes, indications are that
the bill will pass the house with
ease and also probably pass the
senate. The bill will run into far
more opposition in the senate than
in the house, however, and may
have Il more difficult time there
than now seems apparent.
There is no doubt that the argu-
ments made against the bill at the
public hearing before the Reorg-
anization Committee Friday morn
ing by Judge J. Crawford Biggs
and Attorney General Dennis G..
Brummitt were valid arguments
and made q good deal of an i'm
preston upon some. Judge Biggs
maintained that the abolition of
the corporation commission as it
is now constituted and the substi-
, tuition of a one-man commission
would not save any money, be-
cause of the provision that two
Superior Court Judges should sit
with this commissioner in all
hearings. He maintained that the
new bill in effect would make
necessary the appointment Of two
more superior court judges, since
none of the other judges would
ever have time to sit with the
Public Utilities Commissioner. He
also maintained that the bill was
probably unconstitutional because
it mixed up the judicial and ex-
ecutive departments, contrary to
the constitution.
1t is also agreed that there was
much valid argument in what was
said by Attorney General Brum-
mitt and in his contention that the
bill is nothing more than a step
in the direction Of the "short bal
lot" and in effect little more than
an effort to impeach three elect
ed state officials. He maintained
that the move for the abolition of
the Corporation Commission is
more political than anything else,
that it would not affect the econo-
my claimed and that it would tend
to give still greater power to the
governor. Mr.. Brummitt also
maintained that it should be a
most dangerous thing to center
the control of all the public utili-
ties in the state in the hands of
q single man.
Yet the prevailing sentiment
among most of the members of
the house seems to be that the bill
should be enacted and that the
opposition to it is coming entirely
from the members of the Corpora
ton Commission and the other.
elected state Officials, such as.
Brummitt and others who have al
ways been opposed to anything
that looked like. the "short ballot"
or appointive system for second
airy state officials.
"The more hearings they have
for the corporation commission
and the more time they give them,
the larger will be the vote by
which the bill to abolish it will be
passed." is the opinion expressed
by several members of the house.
The feeling with most of these is
that the Corporation Commission
has failed to protect the people of
the state from the public utility
corporations as it should have and
that hence it should be abolished
and a new agency established. If
it does not produce the results de-
sired, it will probably be abolished
two years hence and something
else set up. =.
The sentiment against the Cor
poration Commission is not so
strong in the senate, however, and
indications are that the bill to
abolish it is going to have hard
Shedding there. Some of the SEN
ators are in favor of it. But 9TH
ers are convinced that no economy
will result from it. They also
realize that the reason the Cor
poration Commission has been
able to do so little to regulate
rates or help the users of utility
services has not been because the
commissioners did not desire to
do so but because they have been
rendered powerless by the failure
of previous general assemblies to
pass the necessary laws and give
them the necessary appropriations
with which to work. 1t is well
known here that the commission
has been rendered almost inef-
fectual for years by the lack Of
funds with which to make indepen-
dent Investigations. But many do
not realize this.
------------------- %