Imperial Valley press., 1936-11-22
News Behind the News
Forgive and Forgetters' Er-fOes
Now Make GOO-goo Eyes At New
Dealers POuer Firms Seek FaUOrs

WASHINGTON.-Anong big interests which
bitterly opposed President Roosevet's re-elec-
ton. but now making goo-goo eyes-they're
known among cynical New Dealers as the for
give-and- forgotten" big electric power
companies can expect the least sympathy.
The administration still regards these cor
porationS as the bad boys of big business and
believes it has broken the industrys grip on
the people Nearly everyone who has talked
about power with the president lately is convinc-
ed that there will be no letdown in the steady
pressure on various fronts for cheaper electricity
There will be more power legislation in the
nast Congess. Some of it will be designed to
lntegrate and strengthen existing set-ups.
There will be more power legislation in the
next Congress. Some of 1t wll'be designed TO
integrate and strengthen existing Set-ups.
It's an excellent bet that Roosevelt will
again push the St. Lawrence waterways project
with its huge possibilities of cheap power in
New York state.
Chairman Arthur E. Morgan of IVA, whose
ideas as to how to deal with private power
companies are far less militant than those OF
most other New Dealers. is likely to retire within
the next few months
Added bitterness has been injected by wide
spread belief that the power trust" made eX-
traordinary effort to drive from public life
members of Congress who last year were con-
spicuous in fighting Tor the Dill 10 regulate noio-
ing companies.
Despite pro--New Deal sweep, it is charged,
most such members had hard time and Driscoll
of Pennsylvania VINO exposed slIe- ASsocldteu
Gas & Electric Companys fake kilograms, and
Sisson OF New York were defeated by power
company efforts, it is alleged
No one except the president seems to know
vet the extent to which his conference a few
weeks before election on proposed power pool
in the Tennessee Valley was campaign gesture,
although it is known that politics was factor.
A three-month extension of the existing
agreement for sale of IVA power was arranged,
but insiders insist Roosevelt will be hard-boled
in demanding widespread distribution of IVA
power at low rates and acceptance of the prln-
ciple that present transmission lines function as
common carriers for both private and govern
nt-produced power.
Power enthusiasts in high posts agree that
IVA power eventually will be serving such large
cities as Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis, and
Nashville. =.
Power companies now buying huge amounts
of electricity from IVA would face a shortage
of power if they were 10 refuse to buy or were
denied the government product They would
have a hard time raising money to build new
generating facilities in the face OF government
competition. Mo
On the other hand their capital structures
are said to be so inflated that they can't afford
to sell at the cheap rate the government seeks.
The present agreement restricts IVA to dis
tribution in small northern Alabama and Mis-
sissippi areas but it is charged that private
companies long since have violated the agree
ment by trying TO compete in these areas
IVA Directors David Lilienthal, Harcourt
Moran and others who claim the backing OF
the president seek to. extend public transmission
and distribution through large sections SO that
there may really be "yardstick