Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1937-03-05

telephone calls from washington
Wednesday, before the hearing on the
bill which would require electric CO.
operatives to secure certificates of
| convenience and necessity, before
they could build lines in North Caro-
lima, asking him to use every effort
to keep the bill from being reported
favorably and if reported favorably.
to seek its defeat
The bill has been held up now for
almost three weeks at the request of
! the governor, ostensibly to give an
opportunity for representatives of the
Rural Identification Administration
in Washington an opportunity to ap-
pear before the committee and OBJ
pose the bill. But last week when two
of the attorneys for the REA were
here, they were invited to appear be-
A, fore the committee and declined to do
so. 1t is understood that they admit
ted they had not previously read the
bill and had misunderstood it's pur-
pose. They were invited to appear
again at the hearing Wednesday aft
ernoon, hut did not do So But REA
officials in Washington kept the long
distance wires hot trying to kill the
bill through the governor, it is gen.
orally agreed.
The general opinion in political cir
Giles is that the REA in Washington
is trying to put the governor on the
spot and make it appear that he is not
cooperating with the New Deal' and
is supporting this contention by his
failure to support the child labor
amendment. AS a result it is agreed
that Governor Hoey does not want to
"get in bad" in Washington any more
than he is at present, although in
dications are that he sees no harm in
rural identification bill now before
the committee. Some of the commit
tee members do not like the idea of
being dictated to by Washington
through the governor.
May Be Held Up.
The much talked about Fenner-
Ward rural identification bill, which
would amend the present law so that
all electric membership corporations
would have to obtain certificates of
convenience and necessity from the
State Utilities Commission in order
to build new lines in new territory,
still has a favorable report from the
House Committee on Puclic Utilities,
since the committee has not receded
from its original position that it was
a good bill and should pass.
It is regarded as doubtful, however,
whether the bill will be reported back
to the House, due to the fact that Gov
ernor Clyde r. Hoey thinks it good
| policy to- let the bill stay in commit
tee because of the opposition to the
bill by the Rural Electrification Ad-
ministration in Washington, and be-
cause he does not wish to become en-
| broiled in any more arguments with
! New Deal agencies.
Bagley Wants 1t.
Chairman Dudley Bagley, of the
| North Carolina Rural Electrification
Authority, is still of the opinion that
| the bill should be enacted in order to
| promote the organization of coopera-
| and to protect them from encroach-
ment and competition ~ the power
ompanies, he said today. He points out
! that the bill is designed primarily to
protect the cooperatives, since if they
obtain certificates of convenience and
necessity, it is then impossible for
private power companies to go into
their territory and build lines. But un-
| less the county cooperatives obtain
certificates of convenience and neces-
sity, the power company can go into
the same territory and build parallel
lines, he said. .....