The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-08-18
IVA AND MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP


of the operations of IVA, the Authority,
its plans and purposes and aims and enos'
are the subject of much newspaper COM
ment and private conversation hereabeuts'
This condition appears to be extending,
also, to more distant parts of the State, as
the problem of Ito dam or not to dam" IN
North Carolina holds place in the pubic
spotlight. Therefore, the readers of this
newspaper, large majority of whom re-
side in the Tennessee Valley area, will no
doubt be interested in the discussion OF
IVA and its doings contributed by cor
respondent to the columns of The Char
lotte Observer.
The Observer correspondent undertakes
to prove by figures, for example, that Tu-
pelo, Miss, first town to contract for dis
tribution of IVA power, cannot possibly
show a profit from the sale of said power
for the reason that it is compelled to sell
at prices fixed by IVA and the difference
between these prices and the prices Tu-
pelo is compelled to pay IVA for electric
current will not enable the municipality TO
meet the costs of distribution and have
profit over and above the prices IVA IS
exacting from TupelO.
: The Observer correspondent presents
the figures, which he states are taken from
the records, to prove his case.
This correspondent also directs attention
to the fact that Tupelo sustains heavy
loss in taxes which, in the past, it collected
from a private power company. Also, he
points out that Gone is any local govern
ment control of it's affairs. Before much
time has elapsed IVA will have to take
over these municipal systems and enter the
retail business on large scale; because
these cities will have gone bopelessly into
debt. All of this is entirely apart from the
injustice of this government competition.
A competition as ruthless as it is possible
to make it." ......r
The Observer correspondent concludes
his article with the following interesting
observations on the situation in the city Of
Knoxville: .,
The merchants of Knoxville, like Esau of Bibli-
cal days. have sold their birthright for mess OF
pottage. They wanted IVA headquarters located
IN Knoxville and got it, even though the act pre-
scribes it must be located at Muscle Shoals. What
they viii get in addition, and which they did not
contemplate, is the proportion of taxes now paid
by Tennessee Public Service company, which in
the future must be absorbed by them and other
property holders and this addition plus IVA rates
viii make the charge for the electrical experiment
more expensive than now.
=. 1T now looks though the merchants will not
even hold the IVA headquarters at Knoxville
IVA is flirting with Chattanooga and if necessary
10 gain the vote for municipal ownership it win
use the tactics and before long win discover
just cause for moving to Chattanooga
No doubt it is a matter of only a short
time until the people of this section of
North Carolina will be facing the problems
which are now troubling the people of
Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. In
advance of the time of actual decision as
30 their course in relation to IVA they
should give serious consideration to this
matter Probably the same tactics will be
tried on Asheville-or. perhaps, Hender-
sonville-that The Observer correspondent
says worked so successfully in Knoxville
and are due to be pulled on Chattanooga