Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1947-07-25
Washington
LaborReport
by PAUL SIFTON
LPA COlumnist

out IN a new place mere last
week.
Washington was hit by a
sample of citizen action to
meet an emergency this week.
The action was called the
Valley Authority Conference.
Experts in all phases of valley
development, including power,
navigation, irrigation, soil
conservation and recreation,
got together and let out one
long, well-documented howl
for Valley Authorities NOW,
not ultimately, as suggested
in the Presidents flood con.
troll message.
The conference was called
by Morris L. Cooke, world
famous management engineer
and the first head of the
Rural Electrification Admins
tration. 1t was backed by
labor, farm, church and pro.
fessional groups and individ-
uals, including members of
the AFL, the CIO and the
Brotherhood of Railroad
Trainmen.
Cooke has spent 35 years
fighting private power monop-
olists. He is old enough and
well off enough to retire and
let the world go to hell in a
ball-bearing bucket. But in
spirit and activity at the two
day conference, he was as
young and active and full of
high determination as the
youngest man there.
Cooke named the private
power interests as the prin.
cipal villains in the con-
spiracy to block extension of
the successful IVA idea to
all the river valleys of the
Nation.
Benton j, Strong, of Den.
yer, Chairman of the Re.
gional G o m mittee for an
MVA, used cold fury in show
ing that it is as logical for
President Truman to assign
flood control to the Army as
to ask Typhoid Mary to stop
typhoid epidemic.
Here are parts of the Cooke
Indictment which he told re-
porters he doubted their
papers would publish.
print:
OPPOSITION
THE commercial electrical
operating industry Is and will
continue to be the spearhead
of opposition to multiple pur-
pose an d socially minded
river valley development.
Progress to the goal advo.
Gated by this conference will
involve the recognition of the
character of this opposition
and constantly increasing eff.
forts to thwart it. The his
tory of the industry during
the past so years should leave
no doubt as to what we are
up against
1T must be regretfully ad.
mitted that the operating cleo
trio industry opposes public
control and its service respon-
sibilities whenever it can get
away with It.
1T (the conspiracy reaches
practically every country in
the United States and, until
the disruption caused by the
war, it had baneful interna.
tional understandings. It's or.
ganization includes the Edi-
son Electric Institute, certain
state public service commits
sions, and some individual
commissioners, certain city of
ficials, legislatures, Washing.
ton lobbies and, most impor.
tant, certa n inside quasi
social organizations where
overall policies are deter.
mined as far as they can be
outside top banking circles.
Practically every step in
clarifying the issues involved
in the orderly regulation of
the industry and providing
for more comprehensive cleo
trio service has been opposed
by the industry"
Cooke listed the victories
against this opposition, men.
tioning particularly rate regu-
lation, baSing of the valuation
on actual cost or prudent in
vestment, both deprecated,
instead of the reproduction
cost, the right of communi.
ties who want their own pub
licly owned plants to have
them, the Fe deral Water
Power Act and IVA itself. He
then pointed out that these
gains have been won by rela.
lively small group of men
imbued with the importance
of energy and electrical serv-
ice In our entire economy and
courageous enough TO give
uncompromising battle to
nyhnt af tinanc ganunnd m IN