Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
All these subjects, however, require careful investigation, and it might be
found advantageous to create a joint commission embracing Members of the
Congress and other appropriate Federal officials for subsequent report.
ELECTRICAL POWER REGULATION
The Federal Power Commission is now comprised of three Cabinet officers,
and the duties involved in the competent conduct of the growing
responsibilities of this commission far exceed the time and attention which
these officials can properly afford from other important duties. I
recommended that authority be given for the appointment of full-time
commissioners to replace them.
It is also desirable that the authority of the commission should be
extended to certain phases of power regulation. The nature of the electric
utilities industry is such that about 90 per cent of all power generation
and distribution is intrastate in character, and most of the States have
developed their own regulatory systems as to certificates of convenience,
rates, and profits of such utilities. To encroach upon their authorities
and responsibilities would be an encroachment upon the rights of the
States. There are cases, however, of interstate character beyond the
jurisdiction of the States. To meet these cases it would be most desirable
if a method could be worked out by which initial action may be taken
between the commissions of the States whose joint action should be made
effective by the Federal Power Commission with a reserve to act on its own
motion in case of disagreement or nonaction by the States.
THE RADIO COMMISSION
I recommend the reorganization of the Radio Commission into a permanent
body from its present temporary status. The requirement of the present law
that the commissioners shall be appointed from specified zones should be
abolished and a general provision made for their equitable selection from
different parts of the country. Despite the effort of the commissioners,
the present method develops a public insistence that the commissioners are
specially charged with supervision of radio affairs in the zone from which
each is appointed. As a result there is danger that the system will
degenerate from a national system into five regional agencies with varying
practices, varying policies, competitive tendencies, and consequent failure
to attain its utmost capacity for service to the people as a whole.
MUSCLE SHOALS
It is most desirable that this question should be disposed of. Under
present conditions the income from these plants is less than could
otherwise be secured for its use, and more especially the public is not
securing the full benefits which could be obtained from them.
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