Power Politics

The issue of public power is political dynamite in some sections of the U.S. Opponents are vehement in believing that federal control of power is (as Socialists freely admit) a basic step toward socialism. Yet the lavish public-power projects of the New and Fair Deals brought regional benefits which kept many a Congressman in office for years. TVA started the South's industrial boom; the Columbia River dams rejuvenated the economy of the Northwest. Last week, when Interior Secretary Douglas McKay issued his long-awaited statement on the power policy of the Eisenhower Administration, politicians from Nashville to Seattle listened intently.

What they heard was a cautious pronouncement designed to have as much appeal for an Oregon farmer as for a down-East manufacturer. Items:

P: For advocates of cheap Government power, a promise that the Department of the Interior would "emphasize those multipurpose projects with hydroelectric developments which, because of size or complexity, are beyond the means of local, public or private enterprise."

P: For free enterprisers, assurance that the Administration believes that the primary responsibility for supplying the power needs of any area rests with the local inhabitants rather than with the Federal Government.

P: For publicly or cooperatively owned utilities, a guarantee that they will get first chance to buy Government generated power (but private companies would not be strong-armed out of the way).

Like most middle-of-the-roaders, McKay irritated extremists on both political sidewalks. The left-wing Americans for Democratic Action condemned the new program as "an ill-concealed giveaway of resources which belong to all the people," and the Fair Dealing New York Post saw "special interests . . . winning the battle of the Potomac." Columnist David Lawrence, an arch-Republican, complained that "the statement reaffirms more of the New Deal than the Old Deal . . .'

For all its political hedging, McKay's statement jettisoned the Washington-can-do-it-better philosophy which dominated Federal power policy during 20 years of Democratic rule. In the final analysis, the policy of the Eisenhower Administration would be judged by the specific actions of McKay's Interior Department. So far McKay's chief decision in the field of power policy had been to favor the Idaho Power Co.'s plans for hydroelectric development of the Snake River over the Interior Department's long-standing Hell's

Canyon project (TIME, May 18). The indications are that there will be more such decisions, and that McKay's acts, like his pronouncements, will represent a cautious shift to the side of private enterprise.

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