Oxford High School - Ravelins Yearbook (Oxford, MA)

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RAVELIN 'S on paying a mere bill when they want it paid and our service is immediately cut off. They cannot see why a man should have more time to pay his bill. No, they need their money! Because these companies realize they have this control, naturally they want to keep the government from breaking their strangle hold, by providing service to the public at a more reasonable rate. The government plants would show the public just how much it actually costs to provide service and would also show the ex- orbitant rates beine: charged by private com- panies. Vilhen one thinks of trying to regulate these companies he feels about as one would toward the Byrd Antarctic Expedition- Not So Hot. Vllith the present svstem of regula- tion. you first bring your complaint to the local board. if you have any trouble about that, it goes to the county board, then to the state board, and then to the national board, until vou are bored to death. and still there is nothing' done. And that is just an example of how reg- ulation has Worked and will work in the fu- ture. Let me ouote Governor Pinchot of Penn- sylvania, on the great electrical monopoly, Nothing like this gigantic monopoly has ever appeared in the history of the world. Nothing has ever been imagined before that even re- motely approaches it in the thorough-'Z0iH!!, intimate. unceasiner control it may exercise over the daily life of every human being within the web of its wires. It is unmeasurably the great- est industrial fact of our time. If uncontrolled it will be a Plague without previous example. If effectively controlled in the public interest, it can be comp'-rablv the greatest material blessing in human history. One reason why the public is charged such exorbitant rates is because there is little chance to check on the capitalization of these plants. I have already mentioned the fact that utilities commissions are a failure, but I will give an example to show how they have fallen down abominably. In the Conowengo Power Com- pany in Maryland nine million dollars were added to the capitalized value of that corpora- tion, because they said they spent that amount of money in promoting the corporation. Nine million dollars simply added! Because the com- missions haven 't the power to inquire into the acts of the corporation before it is chartered, that nine million dollars had to stand. They couldn't inquire into it, and consequently the capitalization increased by nine million dollars and rates were charged on the basis of the in- creased capitalization. So. after all, it was a pretty good business proposition. They should try it aff-ain, some time later. Here is a section of e report of the Michigan commission, This meth oil of determining value included percent- ages for engineering services never rendered, hvpothetical efficiency of unknown labor, con- jectural depreciation, 'opinion as to the condi- tion of property, the supposed action of the ele- ments, and of course its correctness depends on whether superintendence was, or would be wise or foolish. the investment improvident, or frugal. It is based upon prophecy instead of reality. and depends so much upon half truths that it bears only a remote resemblance to fact, and rises at best, onlv to the plane of a dignified guess. These words are quoted directly from a report by utilities commissioners and that is what We pav the high rates for. Such expenses are camoutlaged to hide the enormous profits, but we know now where they go. I have given examples of what public owner- shin does and would do for other cities and towns. now let us apply the example to our own town. In Oxford the water, electricity, and tel- ephone are controlled by private companies. There are not many who would disagree when I sav the rates are excessive. Such a rate as 2516 a year for water service is too much and this is disregarding the numerous excess charges. VVater is a vital necessity and should be put within reach of the family with a small income. Such rates for electricity as some people in Oxford pay. 3310 SEI 5. is entirely too much, and such rates should be done away with. In re- Qv-fl to the telephone service, that could be taken care of later but such vital necessities should not be kept from the public because of excessive rates. If the town of Oxford were to own and 'operate its own Water and electricity plants it would of course mean a great cost at the start. It would be necessary to buy from the private companies, if possible, the various properties and power houses now in their pos- session. It could then emplov town help in the operation of the plant, maintain the present wage system, and, in a short time. reduce the rates fifty per cent, let me say, with safety. It would be a safe investment-one sure of re- turns. Such an undertaking would not be car- ried on with the selhsh motive, profit, as the un- l28l

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RAVELIN 'S PUBLIC OVVNERSHIP OF UTILITIES By George Sibley ENV people realize the extent to which pub- lic ownership pervades our common life. Those acquainted with it are sometimes sur- prised to hear people speak of public ownership as though it were some strange doctrine, for- eign to the thought and life of our people. It may be well, therefore, to acquaint ourselves with some of the more familiar forms of public ownership. Public ownership of utilities will be taken to mean the actual ownership and operation, under any government, whether it be state, national, or municipal, of such necessities as water, gas, electricity, and telephone. The control of utilities in the United States is a very vital question. The electrical industry alone is made up of 8000 plants. The question should affect every citizen because after all the citizen pays the highest rate and is annual- ly using more of the service. It is dangerous to leave the development of the utilities plants entirely to private enterprise because it is likely to create monopolies. Under such monopolies, private companies are charg- inff excessive rates, rates which under munici- pal control are lower and can be proven so. Such utilit'es are natural monopolies and it is best that the government be in control. In the first place the government is not interested in private gain, but in the interests of the peopleg private monopolies almost invariably leave out the people's interest. In the year 1926 the price for domestic electric service in the United States was 7.4c per kilowatt hour, while in On- tario wnder government owned rates it was 1.60 per killowatt hour. CThese prices may be higher now in the United Statesl. Regulation of these utilities is insufficient. What We need is complete public ownership for such commis- sions for regulation are politically organized. In the election of Smith to the Illinois Public Utilities Commission, Insull erave S200,000. In the case of the American Telephone and Tele- graph Co., the Supreme Court held that no local regulating bodies have the riffht to pass judgfment on contracts made by utilities com- panies, and unless fraud is proved, such con- tracts must stand. The chief danger of a mon- opoly is that those who have secured control of a supply or commodity, whether honestly or otherwise, will use that control to benefit them- selves at the expense of the public. The con- trol of these industries by concentration in a few hands has increased so rapidly that in 1925 twenty companies controlled 83 percent of the electrical industry in the United States. In the eight years up to now this number certainly has not decreased. This means the control of these utilities is so colossal that the 100 millions or more people in America must depend on these corporations for their supply or go without it. That is the grip that the utilities companies have on the American home today. The point I want to bring 'out at this time is that these private companies are overcharging the domestic consumers, knowing that they have no way such as industrial companies some- times have to beat the power trust. This situa- tion should be remedied and the only proper plen is to have the government 'own and devel- op some of these utilities in order that service mev be furnished to the public at cheaper rates. These trusts threaten the political and indus- trial life of this nation by attempting to gain control of the political machines. By large ex- penditures of money they control many state commissions. There is quite a difference in price rates when municipal Plants have been put into operation in competition with private plants. VVhen there is no competition they know that they can charge what they want and the consumer must pay or do the next best thing-go without. When we consider that a discontinuation of water service would result in probable sick- nessg or when we consider the discontinuation of telephone service would perhaps mean the loss of life in emergencies, or when We consid- er that the discontinuation of electric service would result in our being cut off from the use of convenient electrical appliances, Csometimes even sold by our obliging companiesj without light, and possibly without heat, we realize the throttling control these great monopolies have on the American public. We need but slip up l27l

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RAVELIN 'S derlying cause. It would be an undertaking to benefit the interests of the general public. After the system were in operation for a year or more I venture to say the investment would be well paid for. The only way the utilities of Oxford can be made public is by the people's expres- sion of opinion on the subject. It has been proven that public ownership is a success in other places, let us make it a reality in our own town. TWO CIVILIZATIONS By Sophia Nesta NUMBER of years ago Kipling told us that East is East and West is West, and Ilev- er the twain shall meet' He must have noticed the variations in customs and manners of the peoples in the Orient and America, for each has its own civilization and philosophy of life, and the question is, which seems most likely to bring real happiness to mankind? There are many mistaken ideas of Chinese civilization. American people have always thought of the Chinese people as composed of only two classes-laundrymen and chop suey artists. In the average western mind, China is made up of opium smokers, or men who do dark and devious deeds that are no credit to any na- tion. But nothing is farther from the truth. There are some famous men such as Confucius who are Chinese. Chinese people believe happiness should come from spiritual values-things not dependent upon money alone. Chinese people get happi- ness in learning to control their desires, rather than by satisfying all of them. Living in China is an art. They live in hope, in spite 'of famines and civil war. The Chinese, however, spend too much time in thinking and not enough in Work- ing out their ideas. The Chinese pursue truth for the sake of truth and Americans pursue it for what the truth can give them. Instead of keeping sci- ence just for scholar's pleasure, We make sei- ence give us better homes, better cars, control of disease, and better transportation. The Chinese are wrong when they say that all this doesn't bring about happiness. Chinese boys and girls stay with, and care for, their parents, and try to make them happy. They do not leave their parents and go far away from home to make their future. The home is a spiritual unit where they strive for everything that is beautiful in life. They strengthen and cherish it and give it the best that they have. They are proud of their home. American ideas of happiness are founded on how much money, or what material things a person may have. This makes a short-lived happiness because We are happy only when We have 116W thi11gS. Take the average Amer-i- can. When is he happy? He is happy when he has bought his car or his first radio. Take the housewife. She is happy when she has a Hoover cleaning machine, for instance. She is happy when she has bought a new dress or the one-hundredth new dress, as it were. Then af- ter a while, when the novelty has worn off the thing, she lapses into her ordinary routine of life and is thinking of a new idea of how she can be happy. All these material things make happiness for us. America is a nation of business men who are too busy earning, to be happy. Money, the al- mighty dollar, is the mark of success in Ameri- ca. The dollar is chased so seriously that the spiritual things in life are forgotten. We should not be too materialistic in our conceptions of the important things of life. Take the big apartment housesg are the hu- man values there? Not at all. A man may live in an apartment and he may not even know the man who lives next to him. Love thy neigh- bor as thyself the Christian religion tells us, but he doesn't even know his next door neigh- bor in the big apartment house. In the morn- ing he sees neighbors on the stairs and g'oes by without saying good morning. What is the re- sult? Why, he gets to thinking of materialis- tic things and forgets the human things such as love thy neighbor as thyself and to honor thy parents with all the love you have. We might consider buildings and h'omes. In China you walk down the street and see a great many huts. Occasionally you see elegant l29l