Other People's Money, and How the Bankers Use ItBrandeis, Louis Dembitz
History
Other People's Money, and How the Bankers Use It
Brandeis, Louis Dembitz
Banks and banking -- United States; Finance -- United States
“The water-power companies subject to General Electric influence
control the street railways in at least 16 cities and towns;
the electric-light plants in 78 cities and towns; gas plants in
19 cities and towns; and are affiliated with the electric light
and gas plants in other towns. Though many of these communities,
particularly those served with light only, are small, several of
them are the most important in the States where these water-power
companies operate. The water-power companies in the General
Electric group own, control, or are closely affiliated with, the
street railways in Portland and Salem, Ore.; Spokane, Wash.; Great
Falls, Mont.; St. Louis, Mo.; Winona, Minn.; Milwaukee and Racine,
Wis.; Elmira, N. Y.; Asheville and Raleigh, N. C., and other
relatively less important towns. The towns in which the lighting
plants (electric or gas) are owned or controlled include Portland,
Salem, Astoria, and other towns in Oregon; Bellingham and other
towns in Washington; Butte, Great Falls, Bozeman and other towns
in Montana; Leadville and Colorado Springs in Colorado; St. Louis,
Mo.; Milwaukee, Racine and several small towns in Wisconsin; Hudson
and Rensselaer, N. Y.; Detroit, Mich.; Asheville and Raleigh,
N. C.; and in fact one or more towns in practically every community
where developed water power is controlled by this group. In
addition to the public-service corporations thus controlled by the
water-power companies subject to General Electric influence, there
are numerous public-service corporations in other municipalities
that purchase power from the hydroelectric developments controlled
by or affiliated with the General Electric Co. This is true of
Denver, Colo., which has already been discussed. In Baltimore,
Md., a water-power concern in the General Electric group, namely,
the Pennsylvania Water & Power Co., sells 20,000 h. p. to the
Consolidated Gas, Electric Light & Power Co., which controls the
entire light and power business of that city. The power to operate
all the electric street railway systems of Buffalo, N. Y., and
vicinity, involving a trackage of approximately 375 miles, is
supplied through a subsidiary of the Niagara Falls Power Co.”
And the General Electric Company, through the financing of public
service companies, exercises a like influence in communities where
there is no water power:
“It, or its subsidiaries, has acquired control of or an interest in
the public-service corporations of numerous cities where there is
no water-power connection, and it is affiliated with still others
by virtue of common directors.... This vast network of relationship
between hydro-electric corporations through prominent officers and
directors of the largest manufacturer of electrical machinery and
supplies in the United States is highly significant....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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