More Abundant Light

Because on some 6,000,000 of the nation's 6,800,000 farms farmers still read their mail-order catalogs by lamp light, still run their radios, if any, on batteries, still pump their water by hand or gasoline engine, President Roosevelt last May used his emergency powers and some of his relief billions to set up a Rural Electrification Administration. Its job was to provide farmers with electric lights, electric refrigerators, electric pumps, electric feed grinders. Early this year Nebraska's Senator Norris, No. 1 Congressional lover of electricity, sponsored a bill to lend $100,000,000 a year for ten years to promote rural electrification on a permanent basis. With cries of "Extravagance!" ringing in their ears, New Dealers looked at Senator Norris' billion dollar bill, suggested that he crop it down to $40,000,000 a year, then gave it their blessing. Month ago it passed the Senate. Last week it passed the House. After a conference agreement on minor amendments and the President's signature, the U. S. will be committed to a ten-year program of electrifying farms.

Chief aim of REA is to organize farmers in co-operative associations to build power lines on money borrowed for 25 years from the Government. But States, Territories and even "persons and corporations" can borrow money for that purpose. Power plants, as the bill's backers explained, would be built only where necessary, since in most cases power would simply be bought from existing utilities. Individual farmers would be given five-year loans to wire their houses and install electric equipment. Of the $40,000,000 a year ($50,000,000 of RFC money the first year), half will be divided among the States in proportion to their present lack of rural electrification, the balance allocated by REAdministrator Morris L. Cooke where he thinks it can best be used. In ten years, it is officially hoped. 1,000,000 more farm homes will be electrified.

Since REA provides for no yardstick competition and many a utility company should profit by the sale of additional electricity in districts where it does not now care to risk its own money on transmission lines, power companies raised little objection to the Norris bill. Only serious kick last week came from New York's Representative James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr., who feared that by lending 100% of the cost of such projects the U. S. would risk a lot more money than it would ever get back. Said this onetime Senator scathingly: "I predict that if an act of God strikes one of these lines, the Government will have to take it over, unless the Administrator requires the rates charged to be large enough to provide a cushion, in which case they will be prohibitive. If we are going into this, let's go in on a sound basis. I am sick of the disillusionment handed out every year to farmers by Congress."

By more than 4-to-1 his House colleagues voted down the Wadsworth proposition that farmers should be required to put up 15% of the cost. Congressmen could easily imagine thousands of farmers sitting under the glow of electric lights listening to their radios and nodding approvingly next November as an announcer broadcasts the news of their benefactors' reelection.

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