Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1935-04-04
WOULD EXTEND
PUBLIC POWER
Senate Liberals Won in
Vote to Adopt Minority
Committee Report.
Tax Limitation, Prison Ma
chinery Bills Draw Atten-
ton of Legislators.
BY HJALMAR PETERSEN,
Governor of Minnesota.

week of March rs to 3O)
Liberal forces in the Senate won a
clear cut victory Thursday in a
drawn-out battle over the issue of
publicly owned power. The usual po-
litical lines were broken as the Sen
ate by vote of 3S to % adopted a
report of a minority of the Municipal
affairs committee recommending pas
sage of a bill providing for the ex-
tension of power lines by municipality
owned plants.
AS originally introduced in both
Houses the bill had provided for ex-
tensions anywhere beyond the 25-mile
limit now laid down by law, but the
House had amended the measure to
permit municipal plants to extend
their lines only 80 miles from the
borders of such municipalities. The
majority of the committee had
amended the Senate bill to conform
to this and then recommended that
the bill be killed. The authors of the
minority report were Senators Will
liam B. Richardson. Rochester; Nels
A. Peterson, Milan: and e. L. Tung-
seth, Thief River Falls
Offer PWA Loan Program.
Especially significant was the vic
tory on this bill in view of the fact
that earlier the same day the Leg
stature had received a special mes
sage from Governor Olson calling
xn fn uic1o
ton to enable this state to benefit
from large grants and loans offered
by the federal government under the
! big federal work relief bill. Publicly
owned power plants and rural cleo
trificatiOn projects are emphasized in
the Public Works Administration pro-
gram.
| Such loans as the federal govern
ment may make under this plan, Gov
ernor Olson pointed out. will not be
any additional burden on the tax
payers, because they will be paid out
of future revenues of the public serv-
ices thus created.
This program will involve the pur-
chase of a great deal of material from
Minnesota business enterprises and
the employment of thousands Of Min
sage said
Power Bills Introduced.
Following the reading of the gov
nOr's message two important bills to
enable the state to comply with the
PWA terms were introduced. One
was the bill introduced in the Senate
by Senator George H. Lommen of Eve
leth, authorizing municipalities to is
sue revenue bonds for publicly-owned
utilities of various kinds. These bonds
would be sold TO the federal Public
Works Administration and redeemed
out of future income of the utilities.
The other bill provides for promotion
of rural electrification through pub
licly-owned plants. It was introduced
in the Senate by Senator Arvid Ruot-
sinoja of KimbaIl
Both these measures and several
others were suggested by Harold L.
Ickes, national PWA administrator,
as part of the governments plan to
bring the states into the vast pro-
gram. The PWA has made estim ate
for nearly 1000 public power projects
in this program. Minnesota will be
able to get many millions Of the total
Of nearly 500 million dollars IL It
meets the federal terms.
Battle Over Bill.
long battle was waged over the
adoption OF the minority report for
Senator Lommen's power extension
bill.
Two OF the authors Of the report
Senators Richardson and Peterson
took the floor to urge the acceptance
OF their view. Senator Richardson
defended the proposal to allow further
extensions from municipal plants. cit
ing the case Of the publicly owned
plant in his home city Of Rochester.
He said the officials Of this utility
would like to have the authority to
extend their lines to serve additional
rural jewellers who desire the service
Senator Peterson said that the
power trust was behind efforts to de-
feat the bill and asserted that the
big utilities interests have always
campaigned TO defeat candidates
working for such proposals as this"
Senator NJ r. eastman OF Ovation
ma, was one Of those who opposed the
bill. Admitting that the municipal
plant in his home city had been en-
inently successful. he insisted. never
theless, that municipal plants should
not extend their lines beyond the
limits allowed under the present law.
Confines ss Page 81