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Show AL SMITH ON POWER. Recently Alfred Smith who is an almost unequaled authority on the subject of practical politics said that he doubted that power could be successfully suc-cessfully turned into a major political issue. He said further that he was never able to get for with it in his own state of New York. The ex-Governor's candor is refreshing re-freshing and it is likewise important, due to his position as the best known and most powerful member of the Democratic party. What he says is borne out by his own record in New York his personal popularity and his stand on other issues far overshadowed overshadow-ed any position he may have taken on the subject of power. In some cases, cas-es, where men opposed to the power industry have been elected to high office, of-fice, it will be found that a very great part of the vote they received was given them by persons to whom power is not of the slightest importance as a political issue. The entire power issue has beer confused by idle talk. To the average citizen, this talk is not only pointless point-less it is dull. He knows that hJ lights his home and operates any number of electric, devices he wishes for a few dollars a month. He knows that an extremely small part of his income goes to the utility company that serves him. He knows that the electric industry is of great value as an employer, taxpayer and purchaser, purchas-er, directly and indirectly of supplies and commodities of all kinds. At the present time the United States Treasury is facing a gigantic deficit, and talk is going the rounds of tax increases of various kinds. Many states are in a similar position. This fact alone is an almost insurmountable insur-mountable barrier to the ambitions of those who would give the power industry in-dustry over to political control at an additional expense. |