The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-07-11
BY WILLIS THORNTON

Ia
Washington, July 1O.-The merging,
consolidating and interlacing of pow
CIR companies speeded up after the
war, and as it grew, the cry against
the Power Trust grew louder.
Nothing like this gigantic monopoly
has ever appeared in the history of
the world cried Clifford Pinchot.
After years of congressional speech
making. the federal trade commission
was ordered to investigate. It did so,
covering the situation up to 1924. Re-
suits were inconclusive, and Martin
J. insult (then president of Middle
West Utilities) exulted or viewing the
report, 1.-THE Power Trust must. there
fore, remain myth -
But the late Senator Tom Walsh
and Senator Norris were not salts
fled. They sought new investigation,
which power interests tried desperate
~ to block. The federal trade COM
mission began this in 1929, and has
not yet completed it. Some "a COM
Danies have been looked into, but %
others have not yet been touched, in
Guiding Commonwealth and Southern.
and Stone and Webster, among the
largest. The investigation has cost
more than million dollars, and its
completion is threatened by budget
cuts.
The evidence, therefore, of a single
trust" is not conclusive to date
But though it shows no nation wide
monopoly under single ownership,
it clearly shows strong drift in that
direction, and proves that many
states, communities. and whole re-
states through its Public Utilities Con-
troll of power.
The unraveling Of these crazy skeins
OF holding company within holding
company, was found a painful and al
most impossible task. But a plain
example of how it works is shown by
Senator Norris recounting of the
eight OF q citizen of Lewiston, Me-,
Who wanted to find out during the
insult era who owned his local light
company.
He knew his electricity came from
the Lewiston-Auburn Electric Light
Co., because there was where he paid
his bill. But" continues the sena-
tor, the Lewiston-Auburn Electric
Light Co. was owned by the Andres
coggin Electric Co.. and the Andros-
coggin Electric Co. was owned by the
Androscoggin Corporation; the An
droscoggin Corporation was owned by
the Contra! Maine Power Co.: the
Central Maine Power Co. was owned
by the New England Public Service
Co.; the New England Public Service
Co. was owned by the National Elec-
lric Power Co.; the National Electric
Power Co. was owned by the Middle
West Utilities Co.-and that was
Samuel INSULT"
MAKES, Good and Bad
That sort Of maze was found to be.
and still IS, common throughout the
utility industry. Some of the holding
companies and management compan-
les which control many operating
units have been Of unquestionable
benefit in bringing expert manage
ment. modern procedure, poo e d
equipment buying. to their subsidiar-
les. A national benefit has resulted
from plant improvements, broad-scale
power hookups, and extension of sery-
ice.
But the other side of this picture
SHOWS many combines which seem
clearly aimed at inordinate control
with little investment Of real money.
and corporations created for no ap-
parent reason beyond making mate
rial ior further regroupings or SIM
ply beclouding and mystifying both
investing and consuming public.
The very year in which most of the
biggest utility holding companies were
being formed saw the collapse in
bankruptcy of the w. B. Foshay in
terests of Minneapolis, which in addi-
ZION to many other interests had con-
trolled 70 utility companies in II
states through its Public Utilities Con
solidated Corporation.
The tragedy of Samuel insult. for
mer co-worker of the great Edison
himself. Is all too we'll known. His
pyramid was built on Middle West
Utilities, and it became so intricate
that perhaps insult himself did not
quite understand it. Economies and
srcwth on which insult counted did
not materialize; service in the 1921