Effect of State Regulation of Public Utilities upon Municipal Home Rule

• Published date: 01 May 1914
• DOI: 10.1177/000271621405300108
• Date: 01 May 1914
• Author: J. Allen Smith
• Subject Matter: Articles

85

EFFECT

OF

STATE

REGULATION

OF

PUBLIC

UTILITIES

UPON

MUNICIPAL

HOME

RULE

BY

J.

ALLEN

SMITH,

Dean

of

the

Graduate

School,

University

of

Washington.

That

some

form

of

public

control

must

be

exercised

over

the

privately

owned

and

operated

utilities

in

cities

is

no

longer

an

open

question.

It

is

now

generally

recognized

that

private

corporations

supplying

such

necessities

of

present

day

urban

life,

as

gas,

electric

light

and

power,

telephone

service

and

street

railway

transportation,

must

be

regulated

by

public

authority

in

order

to

protect

the

people

against

poor

and

inadequate

service

and

excessively

high

rates.

The

only

question

about

which

we

have

not

yet

been

able

to

reach

an

agree-

ment

pertains

to

the

choice

of

a

regulating

agency.

Would

adequate

regulation

be

best

secured

by

leaving

the

initiative

in

such

matters

in

the

hands

of

the

local

authorities

directly

interested,

with

such

general

and

supervisory

power

in

the

state

government

as

may

be

deemed

necessary

to

protect

all

interests

involved,

or

would

it

be

better

to

take

this

power

to

regulate

entirely

out

of

the

hands

of

cities

and

give

to

the

state

government

exclusive

control

over

such

local

utilities?

It

is

evident

that

the

present

tendency

is

strongly

in

the

direction

of

exclusive

state

regulation.

No

other

proposed

reform

in

recent

years

has

had

so

much

influential

support,

or

encountered

so

little

opposition

from

the

sources

which

usually

offer

more

or

less

deter-

mined

and

effective

resistance

to

every

legislative

proposal designed

to

increase

popular

control

over

corporations

of

this

sort.

But

the

fact

that

the

corporations

subject

to

regulation

favor

state

as

opposed

to

city

control,

is

no

evidence

that

this

plan

of

dealing

with

the

prob-

lem

will

benefit

the

public.

If

it

has

any

significance,

it

doubtless

means

that

the

representatives

of

such

interests

expect

less

exacting

treatment

at

the

hands

of

the

state

than under

a

policy

of

local

control.

The

advocacy

of

exclusive

state

regulation

is

not

confined,

how-

ever,

to

the

representatives

of

the

public

utility

interests.

Many

who

desire

effective

regulation

believe

that

complete

state

control