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Show POWER IN THE ELECTIONS. As election time draws nigh, there is a certain amount of agitation in certain political groups to make power the foremost issue of the campaign. cam-paign. Support for this comes from two sources. One consists of those who honestly believe in government ownership own-ership of the electric industry, in spite of the remarkable, record of development de-velopment and progress which this industry has made, because of a socialistic so-cialistic or "progressive" political-economic political-economic philosophy. The other, which is undoubtedly the larger group, consists con-sists of those who lean toward power ; because it seems a safe issue. The politicians who dodge prohibition, be-'. be-'. cause they are afraid of alienating both drys and wets, who dodge unemployment unem-ployment and taxation, because these things are "hot" at present, are the ones who are whooping it up for power. Power may be a safe issue but hs an issue it vanishes when balanced against these great national problems. People who want work, who are worrying wor-rying about their futures, aren't much interested in attacks on an industry whose service is of inestimable value and yet costs an infinitesimal part of the family budget, an industry which has maintained employment and wage scales at a high point during depression, depres-sion, an industry which has led the way in developments which have brought employment and new taxable property to many communities. . The public wants real issues, honestly hon-estly discussed and the greatest spellbinder who ever lived cannct make more than a secondary, local issue out of power. |
