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Congressional Record-Senate 747 Senate 1931 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE 747 167. By Mr. HOGG of Indiana: ·petition of citizens of Social Science at Philadelphia, Pa., on November 7, 1931, on Whitley and Huntington Counties, in Indiana, members of the subject of public or private ownership. the Church of the Brethren for Middle Indiana, urging re­ The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so duction of armaments and the participation of the United ordered. • States in the Geneva disarmament conference; to the Com­ The address is as follows: mittee on Naval Affairs. Because of my official position, it may be well to Saj" that I am 168. Also, petition of substitute clerks and carriers of the here speaking for myself alone. For the same reason, it may also Detroit post office, urging enactment of H. :R,. 5110 to guar­ be well to say that I am not urging either immediate or early public ownership and operation of the railroads. Because of its antee 30 hours of employment each week to suostitute em­ magnitude, that would be an undertaking which ought not to be ployees of the Postal Service; to the Committee on the Post contemplated without most careful preparation and planning, and Office and Post Roads. there has been nothing of the kind. Nor is the time ripe. Para­ doxically, it 1s not so near to being ripe as it was some years ago. 169. By Mr. KVALE: Petition of 15 residents of Marietta Transportation is now in an era of change. Competition is a and Madison, Minn., urging immediate cash payment at full bigger factor than it has been for many years. It is difficult to face value of adjusted-compensation certificates; to the visualize even in the near future. Until we can see ahead a little more clearly, at least, I am not ready to advise that steps be taken Committee on Ways and Means. toward public ownership and operation of the railroads. 170. Also, petition of 219 residents of Lac qui Parle Nor am I crusading for such ownership and operation of other County, Minn., urging immediate cash peyment at full face utilities. I have certain convictions which I am quite willing to value of adjusted-compensation certificates; to the Com­ express. But the subject is an intensely practical one, and ought to be dealt with accordingly. Without much doubt progress will mittee on: Ways and Means. be made slowly, and I am not disposed to complain of that fact. 171. By Mr. SMITH of West Virginia: Resolution of the Thought and public opinion on the subject are st111 in the de­ Business Men's Club, of Rainelle and Meadow Bluff district, velopment stage. Rainelle, W. Va., favoring the plan for forming a system My views are the product of 25 years' observation of and ex­ perience with publtc utilities, and some 17 years' participation in of mortgage-discount banks, etc.; to the Committee on their public regulation. These views may not be any the more Banking and Currency. valuable on that account, for experience does not always beget 172. By Mr. WELCH of California: Petition of sundry wisdom. But certainly they have been changing and developing in that time. At the beginning they were quite different from· citizens of San Francisco, Calif., proposing an increase in what they are to-day. duty on antimony oxide, section 336, tariff act, 1930; to the It is still a custom to brand the idea of public ownership and Committee on Ways and Means. operation as socialistic, and dismiss it with that brand as opposed to what has been called rugged American individualism. But this is us.e of words to paralyze rather than promote thought. As a matter of fact, our individualism has always been tempered to a SENATE considerable degree with socialism, and the tendency has been to increase that degree. We have found that certain activities can FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1931 best be carried on by the Government for the collective common The Chaplain, Rev. Z~Bamey T. Phillips, D. D., offered the good, instead of being left to private enterprise. Illustrations, . which could be multiplied, are parks, highways and bridges, folloWing prayer. schools, fire protection, Postal Service, water supply. All these Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who knoweth our I ~~~:tebe~n~:;r~:.en,;: ~~v~on;~u~~e~~a~t~~::: ~~;~~e~na~~ frame, who remembereth that we are but dust, pardon all numerous others can with advantage be socialized, and in that that we have done amiss. Strengthen our weakness and form they now have their place among accepted American institu­ make us true instruments in the fulfillment of Thy holy tions. In such inst~nces Gov~rnment has superseded, or at least . invaded, the domam of busmess. There may be those who purpose. Help us this day. humbl~ a~d WISely ~o devote shudder at the thought, but certainly they are not conspicuous. our talents to the larger clarms of life m the serVIce of our Granting, therefore, that the public ownership and operation of fellow men. Teach us to give and not to count the cost; public utilities is socia~istic, th~ question presented is not one to to toil and not to seek for rest· to labor and not to seek be settled by th~ bandymg of epithets or p~rases, but.t~e intensely · . ' . practical quest10n of whether these particular activities are of reward save only consCiousness of havmg done Thy will such a· kind that they can with general advantage be socialized, Give us the sense of inner happiness that comes from living in whole or in part, like many others which have already under- 1 t Th · f 11 0 h 1· with H' wh 0 b Thine own gone that change C ose. o. ee, In e V.:S P liD. Y we start, in the case of the public utilities, with the fact that a:nnomtmg was made farrer than the. children of men, whose they perfOJ;m public functions. That fact has not only been con­ bps were full of grace, who loved righteousness and hated ceded but proclaimed by our courts. They are, to use the Ian- ~ iniquity, and who lived His life in Thy sunshine's blaze that guage of the courts, "affecte~ ~th a public interest.". That is our day might brighter fairer be Jesus Christ Thy Son why we call t~em public utilities. Another fact ~hlCh 1s no • ' ' • longer the subJect of dispute is that they can not WlSely be left our Lord. Amen. .:;olely to private enterprise. It is a fact established by sore and THE JOURNAL entirely convincing experience. Consequently, we subject them to public regulation, which means, to speak baldly but yet ac­ The Chief Clerk proceeded to read the Journal of yester- curately, that within certain limits, which are capable of more day's proceedings, when, on request of Mr. FEss and by or less indefinite expansion, the Government undertakes to con· unanimous consent, the further reading was dispensed with trol and direct their management. To that extent, therefore, these public services have already been socialized. and the Journal was approved. At this point I digress to mention a rather singular thing about MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE public reg-qlation. Its original purpose was to protect the public against extortion and unsafe, inadequate, or poor service. It is A message from the House of Representatives by Mr. Hal- now regarded, also, as a means of protecting the regulated com- tigan, one of its clerks, announced that the House had passed panies against each other, against their competitors, and even the following bills, in which it requested the concurrence of against the public. The transportation act, 1920. was motived the Senate: to a very considerable extent by that thought, and in still greater degree it motives the present demand .for the extension of public H. R. 5822. An act to provide a tax on the transfers of regUlation in the case of motor busses and trucks, water carri~rs, estates of decedents; airplanes, and pipe lines. As a further illustration, I venture the H. R. 5823. An act to increase the motor-vehicle fuel tax assertion with some confidence that if the railroads had been subject to no public regulation whatsoever, a general increase in in the District of Columbia, and to provide for the better freight rates during times like these would never have been pro- administration thereof; and posed. It reqUired a solidarity which I believe could not have H. R. 5824. An act to require the registration of motor been achieved under conditions of open, unregulated competition, vehicles in the District of Columbia, to prescribe reaictration and which in fact was not in the past achieved when such con- c....., ditions prevailed. fees based upon the weight of such motor vehicles, and for Now, I am the last man to deny that public regulation serves other p:o_zrposes. very useful purposes in the general ·interest. I would not be a part of it if I thought otherwise. Nevertheless, it is open to cer­ " PUBLIC OR PRIVATE OWNERSHIP " · tain obvious criticisms. Inevitably it means a responsibility which Mr. NORRIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to is divided and overlapping. When things go wrong, the companies can and do blame the commissions, the commissions can and do print in the RECORD an address delivered by Hon. Joseph B. biame the companies, and the public can and does blame either Eastman before the American Academy of Political and or both. Such a system runs counter to what are ordinarily re- 748 CONGRESSIONAL R·ECORD-SENATE DECEMBER 18 garded as sound -principles of · "administration~ - -The· clash.
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