The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-11-20

blR EIectrlc fOWer COHCeEMS
 to Get Little Sympathy"
 From Roosevelt .. Con.
 gress Expected to Approve
 More Legislation for Regu.
 lation ..;F. D. R. Still
 Pressing St. Lawrence Plan
 ... IVA Expansion Fore
 cast ]. Arthur Morgan,
 -Rebuffed, Believed on Way
 Out. !..
 Washington, Nov. lo--Among big interests which bitterly opposed Roosevelts reelection, but are now making goo-goo eyes-theyre known among cynical New Dealers as the flor -give-and -forgetters" - the big electric power companies can ex- pect the least sympathy.
 The administration still regards these corporations as the bad boys of big business and believes 1t has broken the industrys grip on the people. Nearly everyone who has talked about power with the presi- dent lately is convinced that there win be no letdown in the steady pressure on various fronts for cheaper and cheaper electricity.
 There will be more power legis- lation h, the next Congress. Some of it VII be designed to lntegrate and strengthen existing set-ups.
 It's an excellent bet that Roose- vent will again push the St. Law renee waterways project with It's huge possibilities of cheap power In New York state.
 Chairman Arthur F. Morgan of IVA, whose ideas as to how to deal with private power coln- panies are far less militant than those of most other New Dealers, Is likely to retire within the next few months. Utilities Foes Defeated
 Added bitterness has been in- jected by widespread belief that the power trust" made extraordin- ary effort to drive from public life members of Congress who last year were conspicuous in fighting for the bill to regulate holding companies.
 Despite . pro-New Deal sweep. it Is charged, most such members had . hard time and Driscoll Of Pennsylvania, who exposed the Associated Gas & Electric Com pany's fake telegraims, and Sisson of New York were defeated by power company efforts, 1t is al- legged.
 No one except the president seems to know yet the extent to which his conference a few weeks before election on a proposed power pool in the Tennessee val- Icy was @ campaign gesture, al- though 1t Is known that politics was Q factor.
 A three-month extension of the existing agreement for sale Of IVA power was arranged, but in- siders insist Roosevelt will be hard.boiled in demanding wide- spread distribution of IVA power at low rates and acceptance of the principle that present transmits sion lines function as common carriers for both private and gov" ernment-produced power. Companies in Bad Spot
 Power enthusiasts in high posts agree that IVA power eventual ly will be serving such large cities as Knoxville. Chattanooga, Mem phis, and Nashville.
 Power companies now buying huge amounts Of electricity from IVA would face q shortage .of power if they were to refuse to buy or were denied the govern- ment product. They would have q hard time raising money to build new generating facilities In the face of government competition.
 On the other hand, their capi- tal structures are said to be so inflated that they can't afford to sell at the cheap rate tho govern- ment seeks.
 The present agreement restricts IVA t0 distribution In small northern Alabama and Mississippi areas, but It Is charged that pri.
 vate companies long since have
 violated the agreement by trying to compete In these areas.
 IVA Directors David Lilienthnl, Harcourt Morgan, and others who claim the backing of the president seek to extend public transmission and distribution through large sec- tons 50 that there may really be 6 "yardstick."
 Morgan Is Rebuffed
 Chairman Arthur Morgan of IVA could get along far more cozily with the Commonwealth & Southern power corporation than other New Dealers care to lot him and is not in favor of IVA power sales to any more municipalities. A few months ago he told Roosevelt he woulJ resign if Lllenthal were reappointed . IVA director. Roosevelt reap- pointed Lilienthal and Arthur Morgan's lll-wlshers have been grinning expectantly at him ever since.
 Senator George Norris probably will push his Mississippi Valley Authority plan at the next ses- sion. But the St. Lawrence pro- ject has been a Roosevelt pet ever since 1912, when he was in the New York senate and one of his first communications as governor outdid Al Smith, who had also