THE PROFITS OF POWER
The Profits of Power Editorial in Tulsa (Okla.) Tribune In its municlpally-owned power plant, i Ponca City has an advantage that some of the other growing cities of its class in Oklahoma may find...
...All logic Is in favor of it...
...There can be no question but that the big power companies are going to exact more and more of power consumers as the monopoly is perfected...
...A watt'is a fixed quantity...
...penditures for public Improvements are | necessary...
...Many smaller cities that owned their own municipal power plants up to 1922 were caught in the big business hysteria that swept, the country the next six years, and sold out...
...No citizen uses more electricity than he needs...
...Holding its ground against anti-public ownership prejudices and propaganda and utilities-inspired political pressure, this growing town is making electricity pay a large part, cf the costs of its growth...
...It is needless to say that rio equitable plan of taxation by personal or property levies has ever been devised...
...Some pay more than their share...
...The same basic fact of common usage leads inevitably to argument for public ownership as a just plan of carrying the burdens now borne by the taxation system...
...A recejit juggling stunt staged by Arkansas subsidiaries of the growing trust added $217,000 to the valuation at a single stroke...
...It is by no means ideal...
...The total number of municipal plants in the country decreased 21.3 per cent during that period...
...Tribune In its municlpally-owned power plant, i Ponca City has an advantage that some of the other growing cities of its class in Oklahoma may find difficulty In overcoming as long as they cling to the theory that it Is little short of criminal for the public to deny the utilities the right to over-charge it for electricity...
...It is one of the fairest tax plans ever devised...
...Every move they make is in that, direction...
...It is not variable...
...Constant ex...
...But because taxes are a big Hem in cities, the city that can show both rapid growth and a low tax rate is especially favored...
...Knowing that no city can grow \ without public Improvements to serve the population's needs, rising taxes are not a handicap where they are a sign of growth...
...Taxes are an important item in the life of a growing town...
...Every user of electricity from the lines of a private utility corporation is alrear'y paying a considerable amount as interest on wholly Invisible "investments...
...No small group should be allowed to traffic in this vital horsepower at the expense of manpower...
...Ponca City is wise, and it has found that it pays to be...
...They also serve as step-up transformers, for every holding company adds to the valuation claimed by the distributing agent for rate-fixing purposes...
...Broadened governmental activities call for larger bud-j gets and higher tax rates...
...The holding companies are the faucets through which various groups tap the profits of the utilities as they flow from the consumer to the powers that be...
...Most people would rather pay high tax rates in' a1 glowing city than low taxes in a dead , one...
...It belongs to all men...
...Public buildings are outgrown...
...Ponca City, however, will not be one of this group...
...The public utilities, acquiring the franchises as they w-ere released for private control, advertised the decline as proof of the failure of^ "municipal ownership...
...This is the purpose of tax levies...
...But this Is the argument for public ownership of power as a means of common enjoyment of its benefits...
...Ralph Dewey, professor of economics -at Ohio State university, discovered in a recent, survey that pot one of the 16 cities of 100.000 population or more that were operating municipal systems in 1922 has chosen to change over to private ownership, fn cities with such plants as Cleveland's which is municipally-owned, he noted increasing satisfaction with their operation...
...As the substitute for labor, as the means of giving men more leisure for the enjoyment of life, it is a necessity...
...Nobody pays for more than he gets in the use of electricity—so far as distribution of costs is concerned...
...There' is further refutation of the claim that cities cannot successfully engage in the production and distribution of electricity...
...Provided for all the people, every citizen should obviously be required to pay his part of the costs...
...The faster a city grows, the more it spends...
...Everybody uses electricity...
...Others escape too lightly...
...Municipal government, parks, streets, public buildings and all other things a city must'provide for public service and enjoyment impose a common obligation upon all the people...
...And it is a bad month in the utility business that, does not see a new one created—in fact...
...As the agent of all the people, the government is compelled toward public ownership by its obligation to give justice to all...
...Ponca City shows that it is not a failure—that it was largely prejudice and political pressure...
...The holding companies take care of t,hls...
...Every horsepower used in home or factory renders the same service to its user...
...Already tasting the benefits of public ^ownership through low city taxes, it is not likely that the people of Ponca City will be browbeaten into giving a private concern its power franchise in time to be gouged with the rest, of us on rate increases.' There is no logical argument against Ponca City's running its own power plant...
...New residential areas require ex- j tended park facilities...
...It is generally presumed that in the collection of taxes every citizen pay his just share...
...The watt is equal to a hand...
...As the smaller concerns merge one by one into the protective circle of General Electric and its numerous subsidiaries, their valuation Is automatically stepped up for future rate-fixing purposes, even though their actual value may not have increased a cent...
...It will realize greater returns on its foresight and independence as it continues to grow and the big utilities corporations press their rate demands more stiffly upon the consumers of other cities...
...The direct taxation system has no defense except that it is the best thing custom has provided for spreading a common burden over a citizenship made up of individuals and groups of varying capacities to pay...
...This is what Ponca City has to offer...
...Users of electricity in many American towns and cities will probably help to finance its operations through their light bills...
...Electric Bond and Share company, the parent of the tribe served by Senator Joe Robinson's firm and the shadow of General Electric, has announced organization of a world-wide holding concern...
...As a means of paying the costs of providing and maintaining the common requirements of the people, public control of the profits of a natural monopoly is infinitely fairer than taxation...
...The people of Ponca City, thanks to the good work of Lew Went.z and other public-spirited citizens who have blocked sale of the municipal plant in the past, will not have to pay usury to the expert manipulators of high finance who are now running ] the power business and many of our great statesmen...
...Part of it was probably for the purpose of taking care af damp stock at some other point of the compass, but the people will eventually be forced to pay interest on it, in their monthly electric bills, just as though it were real money...
...To permit private exploitation of power Is, therefore, to sanction a form of human slavery...
...One is as big as another, whether it runs the tiny bulb over the workingman's living room table or illuminates the chandelier of the rich man's library...
...J This is not a drawback...
...It has valuable j public properties paid for out of the j profits of electriciiy distribution that ! other cities surrender to prlvnte in- ! terests...
Vol. 1 • September 1930 • No. 42
