Evening star., 1936-09-09
Power Conference Is Told
Public Ownership Best
Regulation Method.
BRITISH DELEGATE GIVES
OPPOSITE VIEW OF ISSUE
Declares Politics Should Be Kept
Out of Industry-Cites Ma.
tion's Recommendation.
BY JOHN c. HENRY.

Commission regulation Of private
utility companies brought bitter de-
bate before the Third World Power
Conference today as three speakers
accused it of subservience to private
interests and ineficiency in the pub
lie interest.
The attack on this form Of regula-
ton as opposed to public ownership
of utilities was opened by Maurice P.
Davidson, representing Mayor Forello
H. La Guardia of New York City, in
a blunt statement of the charges men
toned above.
Davidson recommended that pub
licly owned utilities be established in
all areas of consumption in direct
competition with private companies.
He summed up his position in five
direct conclusions. They follow:
% Regulation of electrac rates by
public service commissions has not
been effective in bringing rate levels
low enough to permit abundant use.
CD Utilities companies have been
able to ensnarl commission attempts
at rate reduction in long, drawn-out
legal battles.
Competition Threat Effective.
90 Rate reduction in the past has
been accomplished only to the extent
acceptable to companies.
"a Threat of public competition
has produced an immediate salutary
effect on rates.
go Rate control by public competi-
ton would not only be more effective,
but would be far less expensive than
the cost evaluation procedure used oy
commissions.
Following Davidson, came E. F.
Scattergood Of Los Angeles, who de-
clared municipal plants have been an
influence for lower rates wherever
established and that the plants them
selves have been able to apply rates
as much as Is per cent lower than
the private concerns.
K. Sewall Wing1eld, assistant di-
rector of the Public Works Admins
tration Power Division, made the
third attack on commissions, charg-
ing they have assumed too much the
role OF guarantor of dividends to
investors rather than protectors of the
consuming public. He expressed the
opinion public ownership is the even
tual answer for all communities.
Politics in Industry Hit.
With Failure of representatives Of
private concerns to answer the gen.
eral attack, the defense was rested
in British delegate. John c. Dalton,
and the chairman of the meeting,
c. J. Goodnough of the Pennsylvania
Public Service Commission.
Dalton recommended that politics
be kept out of the utility industry, and
cited the British commission report
against public ownership.
Goodnough put the real RESPONSE
bility for commission inadequacy back
on State Legislatures which confer the
powers. In cases where adequate au-
thority is granted, he declared, regu-
lation has been honest and efficient
on the whole. The alternatives, he
pointed out, are public ownership and
competition, both of which he claimed
to be costly.
Meanwhile, at another session, the
delegates, for the second time in three
days, were warned by a cabinet officer
that most of the responsibility for
world peace rests in their highly skilled
abilities. Today's warning came from
Secretary of Commerce Roper and fol-
lowed that of Secretary of State Hull
on Monday night.
Fate May Be Frankenstein's.
I'VE are impressed throughout the
world with the strides of the power
industry in lifting the burdens of hu-
manity," Secretary Roper said. Prop
erly controlled and adjusted, this force
which you gentlemen WELD may be
called mankind's greatest boon.
But we now are at a. crossroads,
and upon you rests the responsibility
OF controlling this power against the
fear that it will become a Franken-
STEMS monster. Too much of this
force which benefits humanity also
may be diverted to driving wartime
machines of horror and destruction. ''
The Secretary presided as chair
man at a session discussing collec-
tion Of statistics for international use.
Meanwhile, as a basis for the de-
bate over utilities regulation, the dele
gates had before them two contrasting
papers or the American system by
commission and by the yard-stick
methods.
Opposing the latter principle in its
application through such projects as
the Tennessee Valley Authority. John
E. Zimmerman Of the United Gas I'M
provement Co. declared the yardstick
scheme is without true value as q
measure for rates and is bound to re-
suit in costly duplication of utility
plants. He warned that there is grave
danger in extending public regulation
over property which should be left
to private management.
Generalization Condemned.
The contrasting viewpoint was pre-
sented by Prof. william e. Mosher
OF Syracuse University and James c.
Bonbright of the New York State
Power Authority. Mosher and Bon
bright contended the practice of over
valuation as basis for rates may
prove the weakest point in commits
sion regulation and may eventually
spell the doom Of private ownership
Viscount Falmouth, head Of the
British delegation. described q sys-
TEN in his country somewhat similar
to that Of the District Of Columbia
In England, he explained, utilities
are under rigid control, with divi-
dends on their securities limited te
2 per cent and rates fixed by yearly
audit Of company incomes.
The session studying regulation o.
fGnA RnvHfED na0a A.3