Evening star., 1954-11-16
Dixon-Y YotesA Fighting Phrase


Now that the smoke of partisan battle
Is drifting away-for the time being at least
lit is possible to take clearer look at the
controversial Dixon-Yates electric power
contract.
This controversy falls into two parts,
the first OF which concerns the terms of the
contract. These have been emphatically
denounced by the Democrats, but it is diff
cult to believe that this IS reflection Of
anything more than partisan politics. There
does not seem to be anything seriously
wrong with this contract in It's final revised
form. For one thing, it has the unanimous
approval Of the members of the Atomic
Energy Commission, which negotiated the
agreement. For another, it Is akin to the
contract negotiated by the Acc with pri-
vate power combine for construction Of q
power plant near Paducah, KY. One of the
reasons cited in support of the Paducah
contract was to limit Government business
activity and to give private industry a
chance to share in the Industrial develop
ment OF the area. The only substantial
difference is that the Paducah contract was
negotiated under the Democratic admins
tration of President Truman. Why all the
Eisenhower administration does pretty
much the same thing?
The answer to this is related to the
second aspect of the Dixon Yates controv-
ersy. President Eisenhower has made itclear
that he believes continued expansion of IVA
power development over an indefinite period
Of time would be wholly indefensible un-
less it should become part of a vast national
plan." The Presidents thinking is that tax
payers generally should not be asked to foot
the bill, or part of the BILL for further ex-
panSion of cheap electric power in the
Tennessee Valley region alone. In palmer
words, he evidently thinks that the time
has come to call halt--and, in this in
stance at least, to permit private industry
to do job that IVA had wanted to do.
The result, OF course, has been to in
flame the public versus private power contro-
versy, and to give the Democrats ammuni-
tion in a, partisan debate-ammunition
which they will be using for long time
to come
It does not necessarily follow, however,
that the President Is wrong.
At the outset, only some 20 years ago,
IVA was basically conceived as a food
to be permitted to sell surplus" power pro-
duced incidentally in It's other operations.
Today's TVA,is a far cry from that COM
ception.3 Private power industry has been
driven out of the area The power-pro-
ducing potentiality of the Tennessee River
and tributaries has been virtually ex-
hauSted. Even SO, only about 81 per cent
of the power used in the valley comes from
hydroelectric facilities. Most of the bal
ance comes from steam plants fueled by
COAL Unless expansion is checked, it is
estimated that within few years iva will
be getting two-thirds of its power from
existing and new steam plants.
Is this expansion which, with Govern
ment aid, excludes private power industry
from the area to be checked? II so, when?
The President, In his Dixon Yates stand,
seems to be saying that the time is now.
And 1t is hard to see how any one who be-
llieves in the private enterprise system, bar
ring exceptional circumstances, can validly
disagree with him.