Business: Charge

Ever since the Government got into the power business by setting up hydro-electric plants to distribute current at cheap "yardstick" rates, private utilitarians have been groaning that the Government rates are grossly unfair. Chief complaint is that the Government could reach its low rates only by charging off an excessive amount of plant construction to things that have nothing to do with producing power—navigation aid, flood control, erosion control. A year ago the War Department, building Bonneville Dam in Oregon, suggested that $50,500,000 ought to be assigned to power producing. Last week the...