Evening star., 1934-12-10

Public interest in the utilities situ-
alton has been aroused to high pitch
by the proposed court test of the pow
ers Of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1t Is expected that the United States
Supreme Court ultimately will have
TO rule on this as one Of its most
important cases. Appearance Of New
ton D. Baker and James M. Beck as
counsel for the Edison Electric InSti-
tute and their assertion that T. V. A.
Is ''palpably unconstitutional have
stirred up widespread discussion in
the press.
1T is reasonable to believe" says
the Rockford Register Republic,
that President Roosevelt is merely
serving notice on private power COM
psnies that they had better cooper
ate for cheaper rates" The Kansas
City Star charges that regulation
Of the utilities, such as it has been,
has broken down. and that attempts
at rate reduction mean years Of liti-
CATION and, too often, no relief what
ever for the public In the end"
On the other hand, the New York
Sun believes that public ownership
In the electric utility business Is in
the saddle and means to ride rough
shOd over private industry" and that
IAN irritating looseness in the use Of
statistics is characteristic of the pub
lie ownership school,"
The Boston Transcript agrees that
millions of stockholders in public
utility corporations find 1t hard to
forget that the great drop in their
wealth Is almost wholly due to the
attitude which the administration
has steadily maintained toward the
property in which they have a finan-
cial interest" That paper asks: "How
many persons know what the T. V. A.
project will cost?"
Referring to report OF the Fed
eral Trade Commission. showing q
campaign Of education by the power
interests. the Topeka Daily Capital
concludes that 1.-The campaign ran
into q bareback of counter educa-
tion." From the other side of the
controversy, the Savannah Morning
News quotes q financial writer for
the New York Times and says of his
conclusions: Savings banks hold
nearly $500,000, 900 Of public utility
securities, while 81 legal reserve life
insurance companies hold nearly
$4,000, 100000 of them. The latter
figure represents almost 10 per cent
OF the total investments Of the life
companies. The fire and casualty
companies also are large holders of
utility securities, while endowments
and trust funds Of various kinds have
q large stake in this type of invest
ment. 1t Is not believed, says the
financial writer. that the administra-
ton Is setting out to tear down the
whole private utility structure In
favor Of Governnent-sponso
system, but there Is a great deal of
apprehension over the safety of in
vestments held not, only by institu-
tions and banks. but also by hundreds
OF thousands Of small investors over
the country"
Electric current at the generating
plant" observes the Rochester Times
Union, docs not cost much, q cent q
kilowatt hour being rather q high
figure. So the way out is to sell lot
Of 1t, instead Of battling in the courts
Tor q rate structure which denies to
the public benefits they are absolutely
resolved to have" Questioning the
policy Of the Government. however.
the Manchester IN. H. Union COM
ments: IF We are to have q yard
stick to measure the operations Of pri-
vate utilities II ought to be 36 inches
long and made Of rubber. Otherwise
the whole comparison breaks down.
Then again, why experiment with half
dozen yardsticks, when we are not
certain that any Of them will work?