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Show DODGING THE REAL ISSUE. A well-known economist recently advanced the interesting argument that the present-day campaign against the electrical industry has grown out of the fact that public officials are looking for a way to dodge the liquor question. Prohibition is a passionate issue that arouses strong emotions in "wets" and "drys" alike. It is not, from the politicaal standpoint, "safe" Only in those few states which are irrevocably "wet" or "dry" can it be argued without damaging the political politi-cal futures of the campaigners. Thus the office-holders and the of-! fice-seekers turned to power as the i . next best available issue. Power, un-' like prohibition, does not rouse personal per-sonal feeling in the great mass of t voters. It is a pleasantly abstract sub-1 ject and one which can be misconstrued miscon-strued to the politicians' hearts' content. con-tent. J In the face of all the known facts they have attempted to make a skeptical skep-tical public to whom electricity is an almost infinitesimal part of the family fam-ily budget believe that the nation is menaced by a great power trust. If they have failed it is because they have been trying to do the impossible. The material for an "issue," in the political sense, just isn't there. Power has no place in politics. It is safe to say that of all modem governmental problems, more people . are interested in prohibition, from one standpoint or another, than any ' other issue. It is amusing to see our . "saviours of the people" run to cov- er when a real issue, which must eventually be solved, appears on the horizon. I ', |
