The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1953-11-06

$&M 5 5 The only conces-
-~ sion that it makes
to the public interest is to screen It's
real content behind catch-words
that have been invested and we'll
worn in the service of private utIiI-
tv propaganda. 1t strains to place
the narrowest possible construc-
ton upon those federal laws now
on the books, and which officers of
the Administration are sworn to
uphold and execute.
This statement confirms the worst
fears of farmers and others who take
great pride in the magnltlcant
achievements under our half-century-
old national power policy. Those
fears were deepened recently when
President Eisenhower borrowed the
utility propagandists' phrase creep
ing socialism" to describe the Ten
nessee Valley Authority. The Presi-
dents acceptance of this shabby slo-
gan, which forms the heart of the ma
TONS biggest-spending lobbying OPP
Grafton and its most notorious propa-
ganda effort, was a low point in the
dignity of his high office. Consid-
cred along with his vigorous pro-
testations of support for IVA dur
ing the campaign last year when he
was seeking votes in the IVA area,
one can only logically conclude that
the Administration aim in power
policy is:
THE ADMINISTRATIONS AIM?
To snare votes with promises
and praise during election cam
paigns, then to betray the public
interest to private utility companies
behind a slick screen of high-sound-
ing but empty platitudes.
Someone needs to warn the Presi-
dent that he is being taken for
ride" by cynical special interests in
this field of public power policy,
about which he obviously is uniform
ed and fails to comprehend.
The central thesis of the Admins
tration's power policy announcement
is that the Federal Government will
relinquish it's position of response
bility" in this field to allow greater
autonomy to "the people locally
The sheer fraud in this thesis is
nowhere better illustrated than in the
Hells Canyon case, the major issue so
far decided by the Administration in
accordance with it. In this situation,
the Administration has run out on
the fight to save and develop an
enormously valuable natural resource
for the best and fullest use of the
people of the locality and the nation,
knowing full we'll and openly wishing
that its action would pave the way
for that publicly-owned resource to
fall into the hands of the Idaho Power
Co. 1t is common knowledge that the
Idaho Power Co., which is favored
by the Administration for securing
the Hells Canyon site, is a Maine
corporation, and that virtually none
of it's owners reside west of the Mis-
sissippi River, much less among "the
people locally"
1t is not "the people locally" who
have been objecting to the federal
power policies developed during the
past half century. The fact is that
the only significant objections have
originated exclusively with the pri-
vate power companies. All the rest
of "the people locally support
the old power policy overwhelm-
ingly.
The REA co-operatives, owned and
run by the farmers whom they serve,
do not object to the old federal pow
er policy. On the contrary; they
support it overwhelmingly.
The municipalities and public pow
er districts which furnish electric
service to their citizens do not OBJ
ject to the old federal power policy |