Evening Star Newspaper, September 22, 1932, Page 10

A—10 ROOSEVELT OFFERS PLANFORUTILITIES McAdoo Joins Nominee a: Train Reaches California After Portland Speech. S (Continued From First Page.) and corporations relating thereto,” Mr. Roosevelt declared: 1. Full publicity as to all capital issues of stocks, bonds and other securi- tles; liabilities and indebtedness, capital investment and frequent information as to gross and net earnings; in other words, let’s tum on the light. 2. Publicity on stock ownership of stocks and bonds and other securities, and—this is a new one—the stock and other interests of all officers and direc- tors. 3. Publicity with respect to all inter- company contracts and services and in- terchange of power. 4. Regulation and control of holding companies by Federal Power Commis- sion and the same publicity with re- gard to such holding companies as pro- vided for the operating companies. Federal Co-operation. 5. Co-operation of Federal Power Commission with public utilities com- missions of the several States, obtain- ing information and data pertaining to the regulation and control of such pub- lic_utilities. 6. Regulation and control of the is- sue of stocks and bonds and other secu- rities on the principle of prudent in- vestment only. 7. Abolishing by law the reproduction cost theory for rate-making and estab- lishing in place of it the actual money prudent-investment principle as ,the basis for rate-making. 8. Legislation making it a crime to publish or circulate false or deceptive matter relating to public utilities every- where and at any time. “I do not hold with those who advo- cate complete and indiscriminate Gov- ernment ownership or Government op- eration of all utilities,” the Democratic nominee declared. “I state to you cate- gorically that as & broad, general rule the development of most of our utilities should remain, with certain exceptions, & function for private initiative and pri- vate capital. Gives Utility Principle. I lay down the following principle: “That where a community—a city or county or a district—is not satisfied with the service rendered or with the yates charged the private utility unit, has the undeniable right as one of its Tunctions of government, one of its Tunctions of home rule, to set up. after 2 fair referendum has been taken, its nmentally owned and oper- ated service. “State-owned or Pederal-owned power gites can and should )Zm;;?ny be de- I y government itself.” ‘”&‘3&‘1, D erelt. asserted “I_have spoken of a ‘new deal’ for the Ameri- can people,” the crowd roared. He added: “I believe that the ‘new deal’ can be applied to the relationship be- tween the electric utilities on one side and the consumer and investor on the cther. True regulation is for the equal benefit of the consumer and the in- vestor.” Referring to the collapse of the utili- ties formed by Samuel Insull. the for- mer Chicago magnate, as a reason for stricter utility regulation, Mr. Roosevelt aid: 5% Tne Insull failure has done more to open our eyes than anything that has happened.” Affected Millions. The “Insull monstrosity,” as he called 41, “grew during the years of prosper- ity until it reached a position where it was an lmportnnlt factor in the lives of millions of people.” The “investing public,” he declared, “did not realize there had been in- flation of vast capital accounts. “They did not reaize that sound subsidiaries had been milked and | By the Associated Press. PORTLAND, Oreg., September 22.— Following is the address of Gov. Frank- lin D, Roosevelt delivered here last night: E have journeyed many times to this beautiful Pacific Coast, but I want to assure you that I have never compre- hended, as T have this time, the warmth of your hospitality, the greatness of your resources and opportunities, and I want to add, with all earnestness, the great importance of the problem that I am discussing tonight. I have come not primarily to speak, but rather to hear; not to teach, but to learn. I want to hear of your prob- lems, to understand them, and to con- sider them as they bear on the larger scene of national interest. T have strengthened the belief that I have had for a long time and that I have constantly set forth in my speeches and papers in my work as Governor of the State of New York that the question of power, of electrical de- velopment and distribution is primarily & national problem. Uses Navy Metaphor. 6Speaking in the language of the Navy, with which I was associated for many eventful years, I want at the outset of ¢his to take my bearings, to know my destination, to chart my course. In discussing electrical power the speaker, like a ship sailing in dan- gerous waters, must avoid not only un- seen shoals and rocky reefs; he must also be on his guard against false lights on the shore. His only protection against all of these dangers is to set squarely and fairly before him the course that he must steer. Let me do that in a few sentences. As T see it, the object of government is the welfare of the people. The lib- erty of people to carry on their business should not be abridged unless the larger | interest of the many are concerned. ' When the interest of the many are concerned the interest of the few must yield. It is the purpose of government | to see not only that the legitimate in- | terests of the few are protected, but that the welfare and rights of the many are | conserved. Those are the principles | which we must remember in any con- sideration of this question. This, take it, is sound government, not poli- tics. Those are the essential basic con- ditions under which government can be of service. It is scarcely necessary to tell you this out here on the Pacific Coast. In no other section of the country has there been a greater interest in govern- ment and a more intelligent application of the principles of sound government in its legislation and in the action of the administrative authorities; and no- where, may I add, are the people less bound by mere political factionalism than here. When questions like these are under consideration we are not Democrats; | we are not Republicans—we are a peo- | ple united in a common patriotism. This is the spirit of my entire cam- paign. If the spirit and the method that I am applying to public questions is in line with that of progressive citi- zens of parties other than my own, I| invite them to joln me’now, as I have invited them many times before. In the face of present national emergen- cles we must distinguish between par- ties and their leaders. ‘When the great possessions that be- long to all of us—that belong to the | Nation—are at stake we are not parti- sans; we are Americans. I‘ Discloses Views on Power. | It is therefore fitting that I should | choose this great stage of the Coast to set forth my ideas respecting the ques- | tion of electrical power and to_ discuss | it not only with you here in Portland and in Oregon, but with all of the| people in all of the States to whom this subject is a concern affecting their in- dividual lives. This subject has been discussed so much in complex languages, in terms which only a lawyer can understand or in figures which only accountants can understand, that there is need for bringing it back into the realm of simple, honest terms understood by mil- lions of our citizens. This is particularly true because there milked again to keep alive the weaker sisters of the great main. “They did not realize that all these conditions necessitated terrific over- charges for services by these corpora- tions.” Mr. Roosevelt sald the next great hydro-electric development to be un- dertaken “by the Federal Government must be on the Columbia River. After he left Portland, where he ad- dressed also a farm gathering at Gresham, near the city, Mr. Roosevelt made platform appearances at several points in Oregon. His train is due to Teach Sacramento at 3:10 p.m., Pacific standard time, and San Francisco at P. MAKES PLEA FOR COUNTY VOTERS G.0.P.MA Holds Those Registered TUnder has not only been lack of information— and information difficult to understand —but there has been in the past few years, as the Federal Trade Commission has shown, a systematic, subtle, delib- erate and unprincipled campaign of misinformation of propaganda and if I may use the words, of lies and false- hoods. The spreading of this informa- tion has been bought and paid for by certain great private utility corpora- tions. It has permeated the schools, the editorial columns of newspapers, the activities of political parties, the uni- versities and the printed literature in our book stores. A false public policy has been spread throughout the land, through the use of every means, from the innocent school teacher down to a certainly less innocent former chairman of the Republican National Committee itself. | Let us go back to the beginning of this subject. What is a public utility? Let me take you back 300 years to old | King James of England. The reign of | this king is remembered for many great events, two of them in particular. He 1929 Law Should Not Be Barred in Montgomery. By a Staff Correspondent of The Star. ROCKVILLE, Md. September 22.— Persons who registered in 1930 under the 1929 registration law, subsequently ceclared invalid, and who have con- tinued to reside in Montgomery County, “ought not to be deprived of their right to vote at the coming election on the technical point involved in the decision of the Court of Appeals” is the opinion of the Republican State Central Com- mittee for Montgomery County. The attitude of the committee was made known today by Paul Sleman, chairman, in a letter to Berry E. Clark, chairman of the Democratic State Cen- iral Committee for the county. In writing the Democratic chairman, Mr. Sleman said the G. O. P. commit- tee hoped Mr. Clark's committee “will reach and announce a like conclusion on the guestion.” BRITISH MILK SUPPLIES THREATENED BY STRIKE gave us a great translation of the Bible and through his Lord Chancellor, a great statement of public policy. It was in the days when Shakespeare was writ- ing Hamlet and when the English were settling Jamestown, when & public out- cry arose in England from travelers who sought to cross the deeper streams and rivers by means of ferry boats. Obvi- ously these ferries, which were needed to connect the highway on one side with the highway on the other, were limited to specific points. They were, there- | fore, monopolistic in their nature. The | ferry boat operators, because of the privileged position which they held, had | the chance to charge whatever the traf- fic would bear and bad service and high rates had the effect of forcing much trade and travel into long detours or to the dangers of attempting to ford the streams. Sought Lord Hale’s Advice. The greed and avarice of some of these ferry boat owners was made known by an outraged people to the King and he invited his great judge, Lord Hale, to advise him. The old law lord replied that the ferryman’s business was quite different from other businesses; that the ferry business was, in fact, vested with a public character: that to charge ex- cessive Tates to set up obstacles to Farmers and Distributors Fail in Negotiations Over Contract for Coming Year. By the Associated Press. LONDON, September 22.—Great Brit- ain faced a country-wide holdup of mms supplies today as result of a farmers’ decision to inaugurate a “milk strike” October 1. The decision followed a breakdown of negotiations between the farmers’ rep- resentatives. and representatives of the milk-distributing _companies over con- tracts for the forthcoming year. A statement issued by ihe National Farmers' Union said the decision of the milk distributors to refuse farmers better prices for their product for the coming year renders inevitable a holdup in the supply. Unless a lasi-minute step is taken, the ‘strike” will go into ef- fect at the end of this month, they said. SMITH WILL CAMPAIGN IN ALLEGANY COUNTY By a Staff Correspondent of The Star. ROCKVILLE, Md., September 22.— Harold C. Smith, Republican candidate for the House of Representatives from the sixth Maryland district, left here yesterday to open his campaign in Alle- gany County. Smith will remain in that county for about one week, speaking in all of its thickly populated communities, and will then mw on to Garrett County for a elmilar tour. was' public use, and that the rendering of good service was & necessary and pub- lic responsibility. “Every ferry,” said Lord Hale, “ought to be under a public regulation: to wit: that it give attend- ance at due time, keep a boat in due order, and take but reasonable toll.” In those simple words, my friends, Lord Hale laid down & standard which, in the ordinary at least, has been the definition of common law with respect to the authority of government over public utilities from that day to this. With the advance of civilization many other necessities of a monopolis- tic character have been added to the list of public utilities—such necessities as railroads, street railways, pipe lines and the distribution of gas and elec- tricity. The principle was accepted, firmly established and became a basic part of our theory of government. The next problem was how to be sure that the services of this kind should be satis- factory and cheap enough while at the same time making possible the safe investment of new capital. For more than two centuries the pro- tection of the public was through legis. lative action, but with the growth of the use of public utilities of all kinds a more convenient, direct and scientific | method had to be adopted—a method which you and I now know as control and regulation by public service or pub- lic utility commissions. Let me make it clear that I have no objection to the method of control through & publie service commission. | States. | 000 were invested in the electric light | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, many instances departed from its proper sphere of action, and, I may add, from its theory of responsibility. It 'is an undoubted and undeniable fact that in our modern American practice the public service commissions of many States have often failed to live up to the high purpose for which they were created. In many instances their selec- tion has been obtained by the. public utility corporations themselves. These corporations have often influenced, to the prejudice of the public, the actions of public service commissions. More- oven, some of the commissions have, either through deliberate intent or through sheer inertia, adopted a theory, a conception, of their dutles wholly at variance with the original object for which they were created. Let me fllustrate. When I became Governor I found that the Public Serv- {ce Commission of the State of New York had adopted the unwarranted and unsound view that its sole function was to act as an arbitrator or a court be- tween the public on the one side and the utility corporations on the other. I thereupon laid down a principle which created horror and havoc among the Insulls and other magnates of that type. I declared that the Public Service Com- mission is not a mere judicial body to act solely as umpire between complain- ing consumer or complaining investor on the one hand and the great public utility system on the other hand. I declared that, as the agent of the Legis- lature, it has delegated authority to act as the agent of the public; that it is not a mere arbitrator as between the people and the public utilities, but was created for the purpose of seeing that the utilities do two things—first, give service; second, charge reasonable rates —that in performing this function it must act as agent of the public upon its own initiative as well as upon peti- tion to investigate the acts of public | utilities relative to service and rules | and to enforce adequate service and reasonable rates. The regulating commission, my friends, must be a tribune to the peo- ple, putting its engineering, accounting and legal resources into the breach for the purpose of getting the facts and doing justice to both the consumers and investors in public utilities. Protection for Public. ‘This means positive and active pro- tection of the people against private eed. 8o much for the simple, clear, defi- nite theory of regulation—a theory which today is observed more in the breach than in the observance. Now I come to another principle, which, in spite of having been be- fogged and bedeviled by many utility companies—and, I am sorry to say, by | many of our courts as well—is never- theless clear and simple when you get down to the roots of it. ‘The ferryman of old under King James, through regulation and control of the government, was compelled to give Great Britain service for a fair return on his labor and his property. 1t is only in recent days that the direct | descendants of the ferryman have in hundreds of cases found ways of paying to themselves inordinate and unreason- able profits and overcapitalizing their | equipment three, five—yes, even 10 —times the money which they them- selves have put into it. I am not going to confuse the issue by setting forth a lot of figures, but I do ask you to remember a few facts which are so tremendously important in | our enthusiastic life. | Senator Norris, using the figures of | the Federal Trade Commission, sum- | marizes this in a great speech in the Senate of the United States two, months ago. He pointed out the over- capitalization of many companies by | name in definite figures, and summed | up for discussion by setting forth in | round numbers these main companies | had been found to be overcapitalized to | the extent of $520,000,000. | This means, my friends, that the peo- | ple of the United States were called | upon to supply profits upon this amount of watered stock. It meant that some one was deriving profits from the capi- | talization into which they had put no | substantial capital. It meant that the | people had to pay these unjust profits through higher rates. | As Senator Norris eloquently pointed it out on the floor of the Senate in these words: “Just try to comprehend what that means, With the investiga- | tion only partly finished, the Federal | ‘Trade Commission has disclosed ‘write- ups’ (this means water) in round num- bers to the amount of $520,000,000 upon | which the poor people—the common people—must pay a profit for all times | —not for a day, not for a year, but, unless some change is made in public authority, it must be paid forever. * * *” And Senator Norris added: “As I showed yesterday in the beginning, all this in- | vestigation would have been stopped if | President Hoover had his way. He is| opposed to it all.” | These were the deliberate, spoken | words of Senator Norris on the floor of | the United States Senate July 14, 1932, a permanent record for the benefit of the American people, uncontroverted and uncontrovertable. Importance of Utilities. | | Let us consider for a moment the | vast importance of the American utili- ties in our economic life, and in this I am not including the railroads and | other transportation companies which | 1 have already discussed. The utility industry in 1931 collected over $4.000,000,000 from the users of electricity, gas, telephone and telegraph. That means an average of $133 from each and every family in the United According to the figures of the in- dustry itself, the American public has invested nearly $23,000,000,000 in pub- lic utilities, again excluding the rail- roads. Of this sum, nearly $8.000,000,- and power industry alone during the five | years that preceded the stock market | collapse in 1929. Compare this, if you | will, with $11,000,000,000 nvested in railroads, $9.000,000,000 in farm mort- gages and with the national debt of the United States itself, which was some- thing slightly less than this investment in public utilities. You will readily see that this “lusty younger child” of the | United States needs to be kept very closely under the watchful eye of its parent—the people of the United States. But these cold figures do not measure the human importance of the electric power in our present social order. Elec- tricity is no longer a luxury; it is a defi- nite necessity. It lights our homes, our places of work and our streets; it turns the wheels of most of our transportation and our factories. In the home it serves not only for light, but it can become a willing servant of the family in count- less ways. It can relieve the drudgery of the housewife and lift the great bur- den off the shoulders of the hard- working farmer. 1 say ‘“can become,” because we are most, certainly backward in the use of electricity in our American homes and on our farms. In Canada the average home uses twice as much electric power per family as we do in the United States. What prevents our American people taking full advantage of this great eco- nomic and human agency? The an- swer is simple. It is not because we lack undeveloped water power or un- claimed supplies of coal and oil. The reason that we cannot take a vantage of our own possibilities is frankly and definitely because many selfish interests in control of light and power industries have not been suffi ciently far-sighted to establish rates low enough to encourage widespread public use. The price you pay for your utility service is a determining factor in your use of it. Low prices to the domestic consumer will result in his using far more elec- trical appliances mk lnl!‘;l doe;h k;‘x‘xi Again, let me speak plainly. Thr lack of vigilance in State capitals and | spoke the present | but the unsound conditiens created by | the policies of the Federal non-inter- | United States still so valiantly main- | posed and advocated heretofore, the in the National Government we have 1t is, in fact, a proper way for the people the terests. In f¥actice, however, it has in ves to protect their in- | around the common allowed many utility companies to get | law. o capitalize | themselves without regard in- vestment made in Ffoperty to pyramid capital through holding companies and without restraint of law, to sell billions of dollars of securities which the public has been falsely led into believing were properly superv: the Government itself, And now for a personal word. T am speaking to you as the Governor of a State who for four years has been at- tacked by the propaganda of certain utility companies as a dangerous man. I have been attacked for pointing out the same plain economic facts that I state here tonight. Claims New Converts. My answer has been, as it is tonight. to Eolnc out these plain principles that | seek to protect the welfare of the people against selfish greed. If that be trea- son, then make the most of it. But I have found new converts to my treason. The President’s Federal Trade Com- mission has just come out with a re- port which, if I am not mistaken, is a last-minute effort to fall in line with the plain implication of the present temper of the public. Some of its con- clusions bear careful reading, in the light of what the President has said on many occasions in the past. In 1925 the then Secretary of Com- merce, now the President, said: “Noth- ing could be more hideous extension of centralization in Federal Government than those to undermine State utility commissions and State responsibility.” Somewhat later he said: “The argu- ment is sometimes used that the power situation is parallel with the railroads, where Federal regulation has been found absolutely necessary. This is an illusion. It differs in several profound | respects. Power has no such interstate | implication as transportation. Further- | more, there has been outrageous exag- | geration of the probable extent of in- terstate power. For economic reasons these power districts will in but few cases reach across State lines.” Thus President of the| United States in opposition to Federal regulation and control of power public | utilities, His statement of facts then | 1s now contradicted by his own Federal Power Commission. It states what I have long been sa: ing, that power has grown into inter- state business of vast proportions and | requires the strict regulation and con- trol of the Federal Government. They say: “Analysis of information fur- nished by 91 holding companles shows that 48 major projects under public utilities are subject to control by 10 top companies and these groups serve 12,478 communities with a population of more than 42,000,000.” Let me give you an illustration. Not only to show the vast extent of opera- tions of some of these great companies ference which the President of the tains. Cites Insull Crash. | The crash of the Insull empire has given excellent point to the truth of :\'hst 1 have been arguing for for a long ime. The great “Insull monstrosity,” made up of a group of holding and investing companies and exercising control over hundreds of thousands of operating | companies, had distributed securities | among hundreds of thousands of in- vestors and had taken their money to an amount running over $1,500,000,000. The “Insull monstrosity” grew during the years of prosperity until it reached a position where it was an important factor in the lives of millions of people. The investing public did not realize then, as it does now, that the methods used in building up of these holding companies were wholly contrary to every sound public_policy. They did not realize that there has been arbitrary write-ups of assets, in- flation of vast capital accounts. They did not realize that excessive prices had been paid for property acquired. They did not realize that the expense of financing had been capitalized. They did not realize that payments of divi- dends had been made out of capital. They did not realize that sound sub- sidiaries had been milked and milked to keep alive the weaker sisters in the great chain. They did not realize that there had been borrowings and lendings —an interchange of assets, of liabilities and of capital between the component parts of the whole. They did not realize that all these conditions necessitated terrific overcharges for service by these | corporations. | The Insull failure has opened our eyes. It shows us that the development of these financial monstrosities was such | as to compel ultimate ruin; that prac- | tices had been indulged in, that suggest the old days of railroad wildeatting; that private manipulation had out- smarted the slow-moving power of Gov- | ernment. | As always, the public paid, and paid dearly; as always, the public is begin- | | ning to understand the need for re- form after the same public has been fleeced out of millions of dollars. I have spoken of a “new deal” for the American people. I believe that that “new deal” can be applied very | | definitely to the relationship between | the electric utilities on the one side and | the consumer and the investor on the | other. True regulation is for the equal benefit of the consumer and the in- | vestor, and the only man who will suf- fer from true regulation is the specu- lator or the unscrupulous promoter who levies tribute equally from the man who buys the service and from the man who invests his savings in this great in- dustry. Remedies Proposed. T seek to protect both the consumer and the investor. To that end I pro- pose and advocate now, as I have pro- following remedies on the part of the Government for the regulation and control of public utilities engaged in the power business and companies and corporations relating thereto: 1. Full publicity as to all capital issues of stocks, bonds and other se- curities—liabilities and indebtedness, capital investment, and frequent infor- mation as to gross and net earnings. | 2. Publicity on stock ownership of stocks and bonds and other securities, including the stock and other interest of all officers and_ directors. 3. Publicity with respect to all inter- company contracts and services and in- terchange of power. 4. Regulation and control of holding companies by Federal Power Commis- | sion, and the same publicity with re- gard to such holding companies as pro- vided for the operating companies. 5. Co-operation of Federal Power Commission with public utility commis- slons of the several States, obtaining information and data ng to the regulation and control of such public utilities. €. Regulation and control of the issue of stocks and bonds and other securities on the principle of prudent investment only. 7. Abolishing by law the reproduction cost theory for rate making and estab- lishing in place of it the actual money grudent-investm:nt principle as the of rate making. 8. Legislation making it a crime to publish or circulate false or deceptive matter relating to public utilities. I now come to the other great prob- lem of the relationship of the Govern- ment to the development through Gov- ernment itself of power resources and power manufacture. I do not hold with those who advo- cate Government ownership or Govern- ment operation of all utilities. I state to you ly that as a broad general rule ti should remain, With certain exceptions, a function for private initiative and private capital, But the exceptions are of vital im- portance, local, State and national, and I believe that the overwhelming ma- jority of the people in this country agree with me. sible in D. C, THURSDAY, LER 22, 1932. insure at all times from mere - tion, supervision and regulation that th public shall get a fair deal; in other words, to insure adequate service and reasonable rates. “A Community Right.” T therefore lay down the following principle: it where & community— a city or county or a district—is not satisfied with the service rendered or the rates charged by the private utility, it has the undeniable right, as one of its functions of government, one of its functions of home rule to set up after a fair referendum has been taken, its own governmentally owned and oper- ated service. That right has been re- scinded in most of the States of the Union. Its general recognition by every State will hasten the day of better service and lower rates. It is perfectly clear to me and to every thinking citi- zen that no community which is sure that it 15 now being served well and at reasonable rates by a private utility company will seek to build or operate its own plant. But on the other hand the very fact that a community can by vote of the electorate create a yard- stick of its own, will in most cases guarantee good service and low rates to its population. I might call the right of the people to own and operate their own utility the “birch rod in the cup- board, to be taken out and used only when the child gets beyond the poin where a mere scolding does any good.” That is the principle that applies to communities. I would apply the same principles to the Federal and State | governments. State owned or Federal owned power sites can and should properly be de- veloped by government itself. When so developed private capital should be given the first opportunity to transmit and distribute the power on the basis of the best service and the lowest rates to give a reasonable profit only. The right of the Federal Government and State governments to go further and to transmit and distribute where reason- | able and good service is refused by private capital gives to Government, viz, the people, that same very essen! birch Tod~ ity the cupboaTd. e We have undertaken the devel ment of the Boulder Dam on the Colorado River. The power will be sold by the United States Government at a cost that will return the Government investment with 4 per cent interest in 50 years. States and municipalities were given a prior right to contract the power s0 generated. Norris Bill Vetoed. Long before that we undertook the | development at Muscle Shoals. We | have spent millions on this project. The 1930 session of Congress passed the bill introduced by Senator Norris for public operation of Muscle Shoals. President Hoover vetoed the Norris bill and subsequently appointed another “commission” favorable to the power interests, which recommended leasing this great public project to private companies. All that President Hoover offers on this vital subject as set forth in his acceptance speech is contained in the sentence, “I have opposed the ‘Government un« the operation of the power business and I shall con- tinue in this opposition.” In contrast, let us repeat the positoin which I took in my first inaugural ad- dress as Governor of New York, Janu- ary I, 1929, and which I have main- tained ever since. I sald then and I say now, “the water power of the State should belong to the people. The title to this power must rest forever in the people. No commission—not the legis- lature itself—has any right to give, for any consideration whatever, a single potential kilowatt in virtual perpetuity ! to any person or corporation whatever, possibilities of power development on the Columbia River. The next great hydro-electric development to be under- taken by the Federal Government must be_that on the Columbia River. “This vast water power can be of in- calculable value to this whole section of the country. It means cheap manu- facturing production, economy and comfort on the farm and in the house- hold. Your problem with regard to this great power is similar to our prob- lem in the State of New York with re- gard to the power development of the St. Lawrence River. Criticizes G. O. P. Record. The power issue, When vigorously handled in the public interest, means abundant and cheaper current for American industry, reduced rates and increased use in millions of urban and rural homes and preservation of our water-power resources in co-ordination with flood control, reclamation and ir- rigation. The American people have a vital stake in the proper handling of this issue. On the one hand we i!mve the record of the present Republican administration. It proposes to continue, as in the past, to allow the interstate promoters and manipulators of public utilities to play fast and loose with the American public without adequate reg- ulation or control. Although the President in his ac- ceptance speech recommends the Fed- eral regulation of interstate power, he | has in the past and as Secretary of Commerce in the Harding and Coolidge cabinets opposed Federal regulation of interstate holding and transmission | companies. He has been silent on the | nonsenforcement of the Federal water- It is the duty of our representative bodies to see that this power is trans- | ferred into usable electrical energy and | distributed at the lowest possible cost. | It is our power—and no inordinate | profits must be allowed to those who | act as the people’s agent in bringing this power to their homes and work- shops.” We have, as all of you in this sec- | tion of the country know, the vut‘ power act. He has been evasive on val- uation method and high rates and is apparently satisfied with the present type of State regulation. Since 1928 my distinguished opponent has done nothing to enforce the regu- latory sections of the Federal water- power act. He has done nothing to block the financial operations incident to the great post-war power develop- | ment as planned by its promoters. The ' Governor Roosevelt Outlines Plan for Control of Public Utilities in Portland Speech history of the Pedersl Power Commis- sion prior to the creation of a full-time commission under the Couzens bill, after a congressional investigation, the character of the appointments made when_ this commission took office, the Muscle Shoals veto and the closing of the White House doors to the public interest in the St. Lawrence project— -u" del;l‘un;tnlL; t::“vy n;;fl Rewvubumn policy ominal vate rather than public interest. Defends “Radical” Policy. In 1925 Secretary Hoover ssid that while there was a considerable amount of speculation going on, especially in the stocks of holding companies, he wished to make it clear that with an intelligent State regulation. neither water capital nor speculation could affect the rates pald by consumers and that there was no need for Federal control, While President Hoover now urges Pederal control, no administration bill has been introduced in Congress in the Pty distinguished y guished opponent is against giving the Pederal Government, in any case, the right to operate its own power business. I favor giving the people this right where and when it is essential to protect them against inefficlent service or exorbitant charges. As an important part of this policy, the natural hydroelectric power re- sources belonging to the people of the United States or the several States shall remain forever in their possession. ‘To the people of this country I have but one answer on this subject. Judge me by the enemies I have made. Judge me by the selfish purpose of these util- ity leaders who have talked of radical- ism while they were selling watered stock to the people and using our | schools to deceive the coming genera- tion. My policy is as radical as Ameri- can liberty. As radical as the Consti- tution of the United States. Never shall the Pederal Government part with its sovereignty and control over its power resources while I am President of the United States. X % K Kk K K K ok K Kk K K R K K K K K K Kk Kk ok ok ¥ K K K K K K K K K Kk ok ok kK Kok ok K ok kK K K K K ¥k K A New Store for a New Neighborhood A De Luxe PIGGLY WIGGLY OPENS THIS SATURDAY (September the Twenty-fourth) At 506 3rd St. sty DIGGLY WIGGLY wovse NORTHWEST « « . right in the center of the thriving new community of Colum- bia Park . . . between Petworth and Marietta Park...on Third street between Kennedy street and Concord avenue. —DPiggly Wiggly, 5506 3rd St. N.W. We feel this thriving new community should have a modern food store . . . as modern as any in Washington . . . so we are opening this new Piggly Wiggly Store Saturday. This store is roomy— forty feet wide . . . and its fixtures are beauti- fully trimmed in green and white. We have installed in this store the very latest in fixtures and.equip- ment. This store compares most favorably with the best of stores. We call your particular attention to the double checking counter . . . the electrically refrigerated meat box, butter box, produce cooler and meat case. And of course we offer our usual high quality fresh and smoked meats, our tempting fruits and vegetables, our nationally famous and locally popular canned and packaged foods at our customarily low prices. Choose Your Food as You Go: Choose as you go down wide aisles stocked on either side with food you know and want. Many meals have been improved by the addition of one or more items that were served only because the shopper happened to rest her gaze upon a particular tin, package or jar, and the thought flashed through her mind that this would add so much to a certain meal. So Easy Not to Forget: How many times have you returned home and.found you had overlooked one or more items? That is hardly po ble when you see foods of all varieties so placed that you see every item, and unconsciously your brain asks the question—Do 1 need this item or would this item improve my menu? Price Tags Guide Your Purchases: Each display is plainly priced that you may see just what you are paying for each item. Often you will be pleased to find that you can effect a real saving by choosing the less expensive of two items upon which you were undecided. No Hurry and No Delay: You are the sole judge of how fast or how slow you do your selecting. You may leisurely stroll down the aisles, picking and choosing as you go, or you may hurriedly rush through—then a brief pause at the checker’s counter, where your purchases are machine added, and the slip inserted in your package as proof against error. - PIG TR THAT’S THE PIGGLY WIGGLY WAY GLY WIGG Owned and Operated in Washington by SANITARY GROCERY CO., INC.