Imperial Valley press., 1937-06-10
WHAT A MODESTO LEADER
THINKS OF CANAL POWER

III G'i idt dtttN has H0df0 a lot OF
what the Modesto Irrigation District has
done with its publicity owned power
system, but it remained for !. G.. Garri-
son, now state senator and formerly
president of the Modesto district. to
give a terse, factual outline of what
has been accomplished in the Modesto
district through public ownership and
control of electric energy.
Following are some of the things"
says Garrison, 1--WE have been able to
accomplish by reason of the revenue
from our publicity owned electric sys-
TEN:
We Immediately reduced the electric
rates from 20 to 80 per cent.
We made the power available to every
farm home in the district no matter how
remote, and did away with the advance
for line constructions which the power
company required of the farmers.
by having an abundance of our own
power, we were able to solve our drain
age problem by deep-well pumping.
From the power revenue, we made
vast line extensions and doubled the
capacity of the Don Pedro power house.
THE power revenue has enabled us to
reduce our irrigation taxes to less than
half and TO buy back all of our own
bbnhe w NOdiu SSNuit UtlOlt lIlSN N6IG
due at large saving in interest to the
district.
I'VE have met every bond interest and
redemption payment promptly, when
every irrigation district in the state who
sold their power at wholesale have gone
into default.
Earlier in his letter, Garrison says,
Our people reasoned, and rightly so,
that an organization mentally capable
of distributing water to the land could
distribute power as well. That decision
has been God-send to our people"
The wisdom of the decision is shown
in later paragraph, in which Garrison
says, "All these benefits are in addition
to having the retail power under con-
troll of our own district organization,
and being able to operate the system for
the greatest benefit of the people, rather
than to exact the last dollar of revenue
the traffic will bear for private profit.
For instance, We have made very
favorable rate for electric cooking, and
as result greater percentage of house
wives in the rural area of our district
are enjoying the advantage of cooking
with electricity than in the city of Los
Angeles or San Francisco.
in your district, this advantage might
also include air conditioning in the
homes"
Then, addressing himself point-blank
TO the Imperial Valley situation, CARR
son says:
what has been accomplished in the
Modesto district can be accomplished in
the Imperial district. | believe your peo-
pie are as intelligent as ours, and will
not be fooled by the misleading propa-
ganda being circulated by those who
wish to secure this valuable asset for
their own private profit and enrich
ment.
"One simple outstanding fact that
your people should keep in mind: were
there not handsome profit in this pow
er, the power company would not buy
it from you at any price. Furthermore,
regardless of the price they offer your
district, your people would be required
TO buy the same power back at tremen-
dous profit In our district, the spread
was from four mills to an average of
about nine cents per kilowatt hour"
The people Of the Imperial Irrigation
District would do well to follow Modes
to's example in the matter of power.
-O
That next war" influence is every
where, if we take the myriad Beer on