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Show PAY MORE ATTENTION TO TITLE TWO. I I ' So much has been said about holding hold-ing companies in connection with the I Wheeler - Rayburn bill in congress that the public has overlooked the iinost dangerous sections, of the legis-i legis-i lation Title 2. It is in this portion of , I the measure that provisions are writ-' ten for federal regulation of public, j utilities. Also in this section appears ithat feature which grants such pow- ' 'ers as to eventually lead to govern ment ownership of all electric lines in the nation. Even if the bill is redrafted as has been proposed to permit state com- j missions to regulate retail rates they ' would retain no scintilla of the'r pres- ( ent regulatory powers. Federal bu-' reaucrats would control everything up to the gateway of the local com- munity, and local commissions would j become nothing but "yes-men," dom- j inted by Washington experimentalists and functioning merely to carry ( through policies laid down by them, j Just recently has come the threat I from Washington that hereafter local lo-cal relief officials will become responsible res-ponsible to central bureaus in the national na-tional capitol instead of the governor of the state. This is what usually happens when the federal govern- , ment once prov'des regulatory juris-diction juris-diction in a field that is constitutionally constitu-tionally open to it. It is our bel'ef that state regula-tion regula-tion is more responsive to local con-ditions con-ditions than would be possible under federal control. It is also our belief that such meddlesome interference by those not familiar with local conditions condi-tions is retarding recovery and preventing pre-venting a sound return to stable business busi-ness and economic conditions. |
