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Show Friday, October 20, UTAH VALLEY HEWS company were employed to embarrass Provo officials while the citizens committee operating in the civic clubs and other organizations, tried to revive the old habit of submission to the power company. But Provo, like Logan, had elected a mayor and commissioners who refused to be beaten. And, also like Logan, the city was fortunate in and competent legal staff. Moreobtaining a over her citizens stood loyally back of their city government. Fifteen law suits and eleven petitions for either initiative or referendum elections were hurled at the city in less than three and one half years, with other undermining activities by the group of citizens thrown in for good measure. And as this is written additional suits and petitions for elections are believed to be pending. Utah communities pay an unusual price for the right to govern themselves. THE THIRTY-FOU- MILLION R DOLLAR RACKET high-mind- (Continued from preceding page) Utah Power St Light Company served formal notice on the commission that it intended to force a referendum election to permit the voters of Ogden to pass on the commissions program. The power company then organized and financed a "Citizens Committee to circulate the referendum petition and to undermine sentiment for a municipal plant. When it became apparent that the referendum petition would have sufficient signatures to require an election, the commission, to expedite matters, made extensive preparations for the election. Then occured an? act of perfidy as brazen as may be found anywhere. The Utah Power St Light Company, after having forced the calling of an election took extraordinary steps to delay it. It procured from the State Supreme Court a temporary writ of prohibition. The writ was returnable in twenty days. One delay following another was case procured by the power companys attorneys. The had was determination approximately Final dragged on. months after the temporary writ had been twenty-tw- o so-call- ed I minute-meand out of a committee" or a clear sky, a citizens group of citizens will spring to the offensive defense of the Utah Power & Light Company over night. The speed and alacrity with which they perform discloses the deep concern they have lest their fellow citizens throw off the power yoke. It also discloses the extent of the iron grip of the power company on the community life of Utah cities. It is remarkable how, like n, Equally remarkable is the fact that those purportedly citizen committees invariably follow the same pattern and just as regularly, when forced into the open, are shown to be acting under the direction of power company attorneys, or under the guidance of such leaders as the "assistant to the president. The use of the words citizen and "American could well be left off by those who seem to use those words only to cloak activities. Provos legal staff has been able to profit by the legal pioneering of other communities in their contests with the power company, and similiarly Utah courts, because of the tremendous volume of power company actions, have become habituated to the companys tactics of putting a new front on an old issue merely to utilize a pretext to obtain innumerable delays. The recent attempt of the power company to use the United States District Court to tie up construction ' of Provos municipal power plant and force the city to grant a new franchiser to the power company, met with a rather pointed rebuke from that jurist, Hon. Tillman D. Johnson. The judge said: high-mind- issued. Ogden won. But in the meantime the efficient Utah Power & Light Company in a campaign graced by numerous public appearances and speeches of the assistant to the president had completely changed the picture. Voters of Ogden were feted and given vacations in an staged by the power comorgy of wholesale to inspect the comon taken were trips pany. They panys power plants. The company, of course, paid all the bills. The only requirement for a free trip and lavish entertainment was that the recipient should be a voter of Ogden. Observers estimated that free trips given by the company and its employees to voters of Ogden gave more than fifteen hundred voters a vacation. (It will be recalled that the power company used the same Idea with excellent results to influence four Salt Lake City editors many years before.) Obviously the gratitude of the vacationists who had enjoyed the companys hospitality brought the power company new and staunch allies in its municipal fight. A hosts motives cannot be questioned while you sit at his excellent table. Bub Jet the reader not lose sight of the fact that consumers money exacted in payment of excessive lighting rates in the intermountain region, was used to deliver the corrupt and smashing blow at municipal ownership of power plants. Had there been no court delay, there would have been no opportunity for the company to buy the electorate. But Utahs supreme court countenanced delay after delay on an issue, the basic principles of which it had determined in the Lehi case six years earlier. There is substantial reason to believe that power company attorneys deliberately embarked on a scheme of procuring delays until the election could be controlled in the interest of the power company. Twenty-tw- o months to determilie an application for a writ of prohibition! 1 I Is the supreme court so guileless that it doesnt appreciate the importance of the time factor in such a case? That twenty-tw- o months delay is said to constitute a record in that type of case unequalled since the birth of the Republic. Ogden won its legal fight, but the delay probably cost it the election. ed anti-soci- al vote-buyi- ng dear-thinki- ng I am of the opinion that the voters of Provo are in a position to, and should declare what they want for themselves without interference - - - at " least! from this court. The power company lost its cases against municipalities rather consistently in the state courts. However, it did accomplish its usual objective of causing exasperating delays. In some instances it became a very near thing as to whether dty officials could retain office long enough to win final victory. That vulnerability of elected officials was heightened materially because of the native Utahns respect for law and his reluctance to analyze or question court practices or decisions. Hence the power companys legalistic trickery became doubly effective and served to retard development of municipal plants. If a local judge sustained a power company demurrer on some insignificant point, the newspapers usually bannered the item as a sweeping power company victory. Public officials were kept busy explaining. And when endless delays dragged on for months at a time, it all tended to accord to the power company a reputation for legal supremacy and superiority that not infrequently rebounded to the PROVO companys benefit in close elections. To carry on such a wearing struggle for years against Provos efforts to throw off the shackles of Utah overwhelming odds takes determination, courage, ani. Power St Light domination brought to that city' the same vision of a order. For not only must elected officials high warfare as was visited upon Logan, of the ruthless, community keep the ultimate objective in mind, and Ogden, and other Utah communities when they dared to do to detract from their standing, but in the meannothing proclaim their right to time they must continue to hold public confidence and Shortly after the election of Mayor Mark Anderson esteem in the face of a tireless campaign against them by and a supporting commission composed of public spirited power company employees, allies in civic clubs, chambers stalwarts, the power companys legal batteries moved into of commerce, daily newspapers, and labor unions. Few inaction. On May 22, 1936 the city passed a resolution acceptdeed are the men who can withstand unsparing and carping ing the offer of a financial concern to purchase the citys criticism that has no end. revenue bonds for construction of a municipal power plant. Within two days the first group of citizens organized by the power company in Provo countered with an application for petition copies of the resolution calling for a referendum election. When the petition was presented the We. have heretofore presented a brief outline of the City Recorder refused to file it on the ground that a complicated financial and manipulations of resolution could not be referred to a vote. Electric Bond St Share Company and affiliates, as gathered The group of citizens then (June 24, 1936) filed a from the report of the Federal Trade Commission, following its investigation of Utah Power St Light Company up to petition with the supreme court for a writ of mandamus to compel the Recorder to file the petition. Six months December 31, 1930. later the supreme court denied the writ. It has been shown that the heavy hand of the merger In the meantime an initiative election was held syndicate imposed a capital structure on Utah Power St (October IS, 1936) to pass upon contracts with John Light Company far in excess of1 a liberal valuation of its Nuveen St Company for sale of the revenue bonds and with physical assets, thereby paving the way for payment of Ulen Contracting Corporation for construction of the munimillions of dollars, filched from consumers, in dividends on common stock that was wholly worthless, and on precipal power system. In the face of the power companys most strenuous ferred stock with a watered content totaling 16.8 per cent efforts and its most vicious and ruthless campaign methods, as of December 31, 1930. the voters of Provo approved the contracts and the citys It has also been shown that Electric Bond St Share program. The people had spoken in unmistakeable terms. imposed on Utah Power & Light Company a system of Yet, notwithstanding that verdict at the polls, the fees for more or less imaginary services. Those "fees Utah Power St Light Company on the day following the for alleged supervision and engineering, and other forms election (October 14, 1936) filed suit in the supreme court of tribute actually carry a water content relatively comof Utah asking for a writ of prohibition to thwart the exparable to the inflation in the fixed capitalization of Utah pressed will of the electorate. The fight was on. Legal Tower St Light Company. And those "fees are still in moves followed in rapid succession, and the help of all vogue. They have not been renounced by Electric Bond possible allies was enlisted by the power company. As in St Share. They are taken from intermountain consumers, the Ogden case, nunterous delays were permitted by the and, for the most part are collected by Electric Bond St court, which finally, on December 31, 1937 141 months Share Company, or its affiliates, before mortgage interest after the suit was instituted refused to issue the per-ne- or preferred stock liabflities are met. writ. Thus, a more or less fictitious operating charge is Thereafter the fight gathered momentum. All of the permitted to displace a bona fide service engagement on and tested methods used elsewhere by the power company debt. The widows and orphans, together with 1 dog-eat-do- g, nt. Reform or Liquidate stock-jobbi- nt ng 1939 of municipal power plants, or who, plete and final destruction of a perennial contest at the employees, and local purchasers of preferred stock, alternative the questionable of PSCU. during encounters with public ownership advocates, always have their polls for control of the personnel occupy the power companys front line trenches, VL valid claims to preferred stock dividends moved to one side of cut so that Electric Bond St Share may have the first The conclusion has been forced upon us that the per. financial the pie. manent policy of Utah Power & Light Company is always We have examined the status of the Public Service to be based upon use of corruptive methods, tactics, and Commission of Utah and have shown that its attitude from influence. the very outset has been one of consistent and conspicuous VIL friendship for utilities. out of millions of Hijacking intermountain consumers In its administration of law it appears to have assumed must end, and system exploitive a multiple the role of defender of corporate utilities rather than pro- dollars, through consumers out of Utah money of milking atmosthe fee system tector of the puMid interest That St Share Bond Electric St by foundaPower Light Company phere is not a result of deficiencies in the statutory likewise must go. tion of the utilities act, although we agree that the law VIIL . Rather, the atmosphere apneeds drastic improvement.the of attitude the be to in the as personal now, past pears Electrical power in the west should be developed for majority of the commission, and lends color to the assumpbenefit rather than for insatiable private profit. tion that in Utah, as elsewhere, the power trust has been public IX. successful in bringing about the appointment of commisuse almost invariably residential sioners who are, to say the least unsympathetic to actual for rates Cftpppor considerathe as interest with the prime public ownership. regulation follow efficient public tion. Even were rates for current in publicly owned plants in Utah Power The technical staff of the commission has compiled much higher than for similar service owned system a would we publicly prefer volume after volume of statistical information to support Light Plants, out set reasons Cheap abavq. electricity its decisions and rulings. We have yet to find an instance for the first eight does not compensate a people for the loss of where the basis of such information was not of corporate and all of the malignant things loss of utility genesis. Those volumes are brought out and laid before the chronic "kickers who grumble about the failure that go with corrupt practices for control of public opinion. of the commission to effect stroke, now and again, for The single offense of coloring and distorting news the benefit of the people. Apparently the gigantic books upon which the people must rely for accurate information are designed to bury complaints in the maze of figures is serious enough to warrant receivership and liquidation that, in the final analysis, mean absolutely nothing, based of Utah Power St Light Company in the public interest, as they usually are on utility premises rather than on un- were such a course possible. biased and independent investigation in the public interest. And when the policies and methods of Utah Pbwer are given considered attention it all adds Any investigation from the viewpoint of the public Light Company conclusion Utah Power St Light inevitable one to the up welfare must bring the inevitable conclusion that the comand Share Company must remission regulates the major utilities only to the extent Company and Electric Bond driven from the intermountain be must or forthwith form the utilities consent to be, or desire to be regulated, states. thus making a monumental farce out of the entire field of Since there is no prospect of reform and since there regulation a farce enacted for the benefit of the major no is hope of ousting the concerns by legal procedure, there utilities. one alternative, the people must foster municipal but is e Indeed, it appears that as an instrument of public with the hope of developing an ownership in the regulation of the powerful utilities the comon. later system mission may be set down as an impediment rather than a If we would preserve free and uncorrupted governhelp. ment, unpolluted institutions and cultural life; if we would Consequently the independent citizens of Utah have consumers money, we been left with no alternative but public ownership. But in terminate corporate hijacking of in Utah but no other other alternative no have course, that field the power company has interposed every obstacle Public Ownership. turns to an effort to force the publicly owned plants under to successful establishment of municipal plants, and now the jurisdiction of PSCU. . Advocates of publicly owned plants look upon the recent move of the Utah State Federation of Labor at Price, Utah wherein it went on record as favoring legislation forcing publicly owned utilities under jurisdiction of PSCU, as a most dangerous attempt to break the backbone of municipal ownership. MR. GEORGE M. GADSBY As referred to elsewhere, the City of Logan was com(Prevalent and General Manager, Utah Power A Light Compaaj) pelled to use every resource at its command to escape jurisdiction of the commission, well knowing, in spite of 1. In your administration of the affairs of Utah lofty protestations of impartiality, that if PSCU should ob- Power & Light Company are the wishes and orders of tain jurisdiction over it, Logans municipal plant would be Electric Bond & Share Company a first consideration? regulated out of existence and one more municipal plant 2. Did you come to Utah to improve electrical service scalp would adorn the power companys belt. for the patrons of Utah Power & Light Company, or is your Our advocacy of public ownership in the intermountain genuine role that of agent for Electric Bond & Share Co.? states is not only based upon the savings to be effected for 3. Whose interests were you serving when you pro consumers, but upon far more important and decisive concured the suppression of publication of the report of the siderations. We assert that if the Utah Power & Light Federal Trade Commission, which report exposed the finanCompany will not reform will not cease to attempt to cial racketeering of the Electric Bond & Share group of dominate the people of Utah for its own selfish purposes, corporations? that it must be liquidated. There can be no question of the 4. Do you believe the people of Utah are capable of supremacy of the rights and privileges of the people. And or do you believe they require the assistance and when those rights, privileges, and methods of representasupervision of the accomplished gentlemen who maintain tive government are broken down, subverted, and all but offices at 71 Broadway, New York City? destroyed by power company intrigue, the time has come DR. ADAM S. BENNION to act. to the Previile jit") Therefore, in the absence of any hope that the power 1. Did you assist the president in the suppression of company will mend its ways, we advocate public ownership news to the Federal Trade Commissions report, to displace it in the intermountain region and support that which relating million detailed the story of more than thirty-fou- r advocacy with reasons that we believe to be unanswerable. dollars of water in the financial structure of Utah Power Those reasons we list in what we believe to be the order and Light Company? of their importance: 2. Do you approve of payment by Utah Power & Light Company of dividends on its watered stock? Also, do you approve of the fee system of wringing money out of Utah The degree of control of newspapers and news policies ; consumers for Electric Bond & Share Company? the pollution of chambers of commerce, service clubs, labor 3. Does your assistance to the president oblidge you unions, and other reservoirs of public opinion by Utah to participate in inspection tour and citizens committee Power St Light Company, as the agent for Electric Bond methods of Or, is your assistance limited to & Share Company, precludes genuine government virtually perpetual at meetings of clubs, orappearances by, for, civic ganizations, gatherings, etc, with the object of promoand of the people. ting friendship for the corporation that makes such excellent use of your eminent qualifications? 4. Do you believe that gifted sons of honored and The unwholesome atmosphere in Utahs political and honorable Utah families should devote their talents and. cultural life brought about by "use of leading public to further the purposes of acquisitive gentlemen prestige figures to assist in the betrayal of the people of the Broadway, New York City, who organized Utah Power intermountain states, must be cleansed of its foulness. & Light Company i a the manner described by Federal Com-pan- y - I self-respe- ct, t wel-ar- inter-connecte- d Questions self-rul- e, (Altnt vote-gettin- g? . Because of the political grip of utility interests, the functioning of regulatory authority in Utah has been a long and unsavory record of failure to protect the interests of the public. The people of Utah must be absolutely free' to select a utilities commission that will hold to the ideal that at all times the public interest alone is to be served. The use of legal procedure, and of departments of government, by Utah Power St Light Company, not to obtain justice, but to obstruct and interfere with the orderly programs of Utah communities. V. The pernicious plans of Utah Power & Light Company and its new labor puppet to force publicly owned utilities under the jurisdiction of PSCU, with the objective of com-- ,.e high people of Utah have heretofore held each of : esteem. You have had their confidence. Recer the companys methods and activities have been publi challenged by responsible public officials. A petition been sent to a United States Senator requesting an inve gation of your company. k our standing as prominent citizens of Utah make! imperative that your position on power questions sho be known at once. There should be no equivocation. evasion. If you are on the peoples side that fact sho be made clear. If you are not, they are entitled to kr why. . In (Paid Advertiseme |