Chapter 4: The Parent Structure
Chapter 5: Non-Utility Organizations
Chapter 6: Membership and Financial Support
Chapter 7: The Concentration of Control
Chapter 4: The Parent Structure
Titanic Power of the United Utilities
The first and most striking feature that stands out in the hearings of the Federal Trade Commission is the fact that the utility corporations have developed a nation-wide and even an international, compact, thoroughgoing, and powerful organization such as has never before existed in the history of the country.
The first volume and the exhibits that accompany it open with a description and the details of this prodigious organization. And as the hearings proceed in volume after volume and in exhibit after exhibit, the evidence and substantiation of this statement appear.
1. The Joint Committee of the National Utilities Associations
There is, first of all, in this organization of the utility companies of the country what is known as the joint Committee of the National Utilities Associations. This committee is made up, or at least seems to be closely co-operating with, three other committees, also of nation-wide scope, namely, (a) The National Electric Light Association; (b) The American Gas Association; and (c) The American Electric Railway Association. Looking at the matter from a little different angle, it would seem that the National Electric Light Association stands out more prominently as the dominant organization. At any rate, the first one of these various organizations to be examined by the Federal Trade Com mission, and the one that seems to have been given the most complete and thorough examination is the National Electric Light Association. Whichever may be the dominant, or parent, or “holding” group, the whole investigation makes it clear enough that these four organizations are closely co-ordinated, have constantly and in all matters, covered in the report, a common purpose and a unity of action.
Thus we are confronted with a new phase of the utility question and a new method of control. It may be true, as the earlier investigation of the Commission disclosed, that “no single power interest or group” completely dominates or controls the electric industry, but we have now to consider whether in this combination or coordination of these four great utility interests, acting essentially as a unit, we do not have what amounts to a complete control of the electrical field by the combined power of these coordinated groups.
The Joint Committee of National Utilities Associations seems to have been a more recent organization than the others above referred to. In response to a question by Judge Healy of the Commission Mr. Paul S. Clapp testified that “the Joint Committee of National Utilities Association is made up of the three associations, The National Electric Light Association, The American Gas Association, and The American Electric Railway Association.”‘ On this joint committee are found representatives of all of these three different associations?
[Exh. Pt. 1, pp. 9-77.]
2. The National Electric Light Association
This organization of the electrical companies of the country seems to be in many ways the most important, powerful, and influential of all. It was the first organized. Paul S. Clapp, Managing Director of the National Electric Light Association; and the first witness to be called in the hearing, testified that the Association was organized in 1885 and had been at that time in existence 43 years. [No. 1 of the Reports on Utility Corporations, 70th Congress, Doc. No. 92, p. 2.]
This organization has 12 geographical divisions covering the entire United States, and a 13th division covering Canada.
The headquarters of the organization are in New York City and in the departments there, there was a personnel of 98 as of February 29, 1929. The general management was under Paul S. Clapp, Managing Director, with a personnel of 3. Then there was a Secretary, A. Jackson Marshall, with a personnel of 46, including an Assistant, a General Secretary, Office Management, Finance and Accounting, Purchasing, Membership, and several others.
There was a Public Information Department under the direction of George F. Oxley, with a personnel of 14; an Engineering Director, H. S. Bennion, with a personnel of 28; a Statistical Bureau, a Commercial Director, with 2 assistants,.and a Service Department, with a personnel of 5: all of this in the national headquarters alone.
There was a National Executive Committee of 20; 4 National Sectional Chairmen, and then geographic division presidents covering the 13 geographic divisions.
The list of officers alone of the 13 geographic divisions covers nearly three pages of the Commission’s report. [Exh. Pt. 1, pp. 9-14.]
3. Geographic Divisions
In order to facilitate the work of the above organizations of the utility companies and make it still more efficient, the National Electric Light Association has divided the country into 12 sections, with a geographic division in each of these sections and one in Canada, making 13 in all. [Pt. 1, p. 3.]
These geographic divisions are as follows:
(1) The, Canadian, covering the entire Dominion of Canada.
(2) Eastern: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania.
(3) East Central: Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia.
(4) Great Lakes: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin.
(5) Middle Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia.
(6) Middle West: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska.
(7) New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.
(8) North Central: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota.
(9) Northwest: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington.
(10) Pacific Coast-Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Philippine Islands.
(11) Rocky Mountain-Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming.
(12) Southeastern; Alabama, Cuba, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Porto Rico.
(13) Southwestern -Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas.” [Exh. Pt. 1, p. 11.]
Under and within these geographic divisions, and yet apparently more or less independent, there have been set. up state organizations. Of these there are 28, covering 38 of the states in the Union. [Pt. 1, p. 20.]
And in addition to these geographic and state organizations there have been created also company organizations which seem to be more or less independent, although cooperating with the state and national organizations. Finally, there exist in many cases also local clubs or local organizations.
4. General National Committees
Next in this hierarchy of super organization come the General National Committees. There are nearly 30 of these, among them the following: (1) Civic Development Committee; (2) Educational; (3) Insurance; (4) Membership; (5) Rural Electric Service; (6) Accounting; (7) Commercial; (8) Customer Relations; (9) Domestic Electric Range; (10) Electrical Advertising; (11) Merchandising; (12) Home Lighting; (13) Industrial Heating; (14) Promotional Rates; (15) Refrigeration; (16) Street and Highway Lighting; (17) Transportation; (18) Water Heating; (19) Wiring; (20) Engineering; (21) Accident Prevention; (22) Electrical Apparatus; (23) Hydraulic Power; (24) Overhead Systems; (25) Prime Movers; (26) Underground Systems.
5. Special National Committees
Besides the regular subsidiary organizations mentioned above, the all-inclusive nature and the equipment for perfectly organized work of the utility organizations is indicated in the fact that there are more than a dozen Special National Committees. Among these may be mentioned the following: (1) Advertising Committee; (2) Prize Committee; (3) Codes and Standards; (4) Constitution and By-Laws; (5) Electrification of Steam Railroads; (6) Exhibition Committee; (7) Finance Committee; (8) Lamp Committee; (9) Membership; (10) Prize Awards; (11) Public Policy; (12) Public Relations; (13) Rate Research; (14) Water Power Development, etc.
And many of these committees have sub-committees. There are also general national committees on civic development, education, insurance, rural electrification, accounting, fixed capital, statistics, commercial cooking, customer ownership, merchandising, home lighting, industrial heating, refrigeration, promotional rates, street and highway lighting, transportation, water heating, accident prevention, electrical apparatus, inductive co-ordination meters, prime movers, underground systems, cooperation with educational institutions, public relations, industrial relations, relations with financial institutions, public speaking, women’s committees, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, International Chamber of Commerce, state public utility information bureaus, electrification of steam railroads committee, related organizations committee, and many others.
6. Specialized and Technical Sub-Committees
These numerous committees are much more than mere shells of organization. For many, if not most of these committees are again subdivided and have geographic divisions covering the various sections of the country; or in the technical field the committees have sub-committees dealing with the most intricate and specialized phases of the subject. And the listing of the committee memberships of the above committees, their geographic and sub-committees often cover page after page of the hearings of the Commission.
As an example of the subdivisions of some of these committees and their special provision for highly specialized and technical work may be mentioned the sub-committees of the General Committee on Prime Movers mentioned above. Among these are subcommittees dealing with such highly technical subjects as “Distillation Products of Coal Sub-Committee”; “Higher Steam Pressures and Temperatures Sub-Committee”; “Oil and Gas Engines Sub-Committee”; “Power Station Betterment Sub-Committee”; “Pulverized Fuel Sub-Committee”; “Station Piping Sub-Committee”; “Stoker Equipment and Furnaces Sub-Committee”; “Turbine Sub-Committee,” etc. [Exh. Pt. 1, pp. 14-56.]
7. Public Relations National Section
One of the most important and aggressive of the subsidiary organizations of the utility companies is the so-called “Public Relations National Section.”
This committee has its own independent executive committee, officers, members-at-large, etc., and geographic division representatives from each of the 13 geographic divisions mentioned above into which the country is divided.
And then under this Public Relations Section are a number of subsidiary committees as-follows:
(1) Co-operation with Educational Institutions.
(2) Customer Ownership Committee.
(3) Information Bureau Organizations Committee-and this again has its geographic division representatives.
(4) Industrial Relations Committee.
(5) Manufacturers Advertising Committee.
(6) Public Speaking Committee: and geographic division representatives in each of the 13 districts.
(7) Relations with Financial Institutions Committee: with geographic division representatives.
(8) Woman’s Committee-with separate officers, members-at-large, and geographic division representatives in each of the 13 districts; also sub-committees on home service and manufacturers? [Exh. Pt. 1, pp. 14-56.]
8. Related Organizations
Besides the above thoroughgoing and all-inclusive organization of the forces of the utility interests, and supplementing them, additional organizations have been set up for the purpose of bringing into co-operation and coordination the forces of various non-utility organizations throughout the country. Among these “related organizations” may be mentioned the following:
(1) The American Engineering Standards Committee. This committee is headed by an “allied power group,” [Exh. Pt. 1, p. 62.] of which the Chairman is Mr. S. G. Rhodes of the New York Edison Company. Other members are selected from various electric light and power concerns. The committee is then subdivided into “sectional committees,” the list of which covers nearly a page and a half of the report. Exh. Pt. 1, pp. 62-63.]
Then follow three pages of the subdivisions noted as “additional technical advisers”; then there are special committees, etc.
(2) The next committee representing the “related organizations” is the “American Society of Mechanical Engineers.”
(3) The American Uniform Boiler Law Society is next.
(4) Then comes The American Water Works Association.
(5) Chamber of Commerce of the United States.
(6) Committee on the Relation of Electricity to Agriculture.
(7) Electrical Manufacturers’ Council.
(8) International Chamber of Commerce.
(9) Joint Committee of Bell Telephone System and National Electric Light Association on Physical Relations Between Electric Light and Signal Circuits. On this committee representatives of both American Telephone and Telegraph Committee (Bell Telephone System) and the National Electric Light Association are shown. There are a number of sub-committees of this particular joint committee.
(10) Joint Committee of Western Union Telegraph and National Electric Light Association. Here again the representatives of the Western Union Company and the National Electric Light Association are shown.
(11) National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Under this Association there are two joint committees of manufacturers and representatives of the National Electric Light Association, and sub-committees on various technical matters.
9. State Public Utility Information Bureaus
These bureaus, while operating under the direction of the National Electric Light Association, and in more or less close cooperation with the geographic divisions mentioned above, seem each to have its own particular field and function. There are 28 of these state bureaus covering in their operations 38 different states. [Pt. 1, p. 20.]
10. International Organizations
Besides the above complete and all-inclusive organization of the utility forces of the country, covering the United States and Canada, there are two international organizations as follows:
(1) Union Internationale des Producteurs et Distributeurs D’Energie Electrique.
(2) United States National Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission.
11. National Conventions
Among other things, the National Electric Light Association holds a national convention each year. These conventions are very large. According to the reports, attendance frequently reaches 10,000. [Exh. Pts. 10-16, p. 912.] Speakers are brought to these conventions from many different groups and from nearly every part of the country. Thousands of dollars are paid to university and college men to attend and address these conventions. The cost for speakers at these conventions between I92o and 1928 is given as $12,332.
A. Thorough, All-Inclusive Organization
Considering the thoroughness of the organization of this National Electric Light Association, not only geographical, but also in the innumerable subjects that are covered by the committees and sub-committees, it would seem that almost nothing, either ‘of a popular or of a technical nature is unprovided for.
It will thus be seen that there is a very high degree of interconnection and coordination between all of the various committees representing, not only the electric light and power companies of the country, but in addition the gas companies, electric street railway companies, the telephone and telegraph companies, electrical manufacturers’ associations, national and international, Chambers of Commerce, and the American Water Works Association. In addition to this, through the various committees which these organizations have set up, there is, to an almost astonishing degree, cooperation and coordination of efforts between these groups and the educational institutions of the country, farm organizations, such as the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, various civic organizations such as Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs, etc., women’s groups and clubs, etc.
Chapter 5: Non-Utility Organizations
Big Business Answers the Utilities’ Roll Call
The utility interests thoroughly united and organized constitute in themselves one of the most powerful forces that has ever arisen in the economic life of the nation. We have seen in the previous chapter how thoroughly and well they have united and organized their own forces.
But they have not been content to organize and unite their own forces. As we have pointed out, they have set up special committees for the purpose of interesting and securing the support and co-operation of other forces and influences outside of the utility field.
“Public Relations” a Far-Reaching Function
Especial attention is called to the Public Relations Section of the National Electric Light Association. This special committee is one of the most powerful of the numerous committees which the utilities maintain. It has an independent executive committee of its own, with offices, members, etc., and representatives in all sections of the country. But especially significant is the fact that this committee has certain sub-committees whose particular function it is to secure and maintain friendly relations and cooperative support in various ways with groups of people, organizations, and institutions outside the utility field.
For example, we have a sub-committee of this Public Relations Section on “Cooperation With Educational Institutions.” The records have much to say about the activities of this particular committee in enlisting the support and co-operation of schools, colleges, universities, and especially the teaching forces of the country. Then we have a sub-committee on “Industrial Relations,” another on “Customer Ownership,” etc. But the task of reaching, influencing, and bringing the big financial interests of the country into co-operation with and support of the utilities was assigned to the sub-committee known as “The Committee on Relations With Financial Institutions.”
Lining Up the Banks and Insurance Companies
That this sub-committee and other forces of the utility organization were very successful in lining up the great financial interests of the country in support of their program is shown by the record.
A very large proportion of the funds of the insurance companies of the country is invested in the securities of the utilities. Thus they are bound by the compulsion of economic and financial necessity to support the utilities. The banks and investment companies are similarly interlocked and dependent upon the utilities. And the record shows how active their support became.
With these two great financial institutions of the country so closely related by the ties of common financial interest and necessity, the utilities are given very powerful allies. But the work of enlisting the support and co-operation of big business interests does not stop here, as we shall see. It reaches out in many different directions and into innumerable financial, industrial, and commercial organizations.
Big Business Stands By
We have seen how the electrical utilities or power companies have very naturally enlisted the co-operation and support of the other utilities, such as railroads, telegraph and telephone companies, street car lines, gas companies, water works, etc. These were natural allies because they operated in the utility field. We have also seen, or shall see as we study the records, how the great financial interests, such as the banks and insurance companies, financial interests, such as the banks and insurance companies, which are not in the utility field, have been enlisted. But the record goes farther than this. It shows that this alliance and alignment of forces has reached into almost every imaginable line of big business.
A Partial List of Big Business Interests
As illustrating this far-reaching influence we may mention from the record the following, which are only a few of the innumerable and better known commercial and business organizations of the country which are given in the records as having interlocking directorates in or otherwise co-operating with the utility organizations.
Adams Express Co.
Alberene Stove Co.
Alliance Coal Mining Co.
Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co.
American Brass Co.
American Exchange National Bank.
American Express Co.
American Locomotive Co.
American Ship & Commerce Core.
Anaconda Copper Mining Co.
Andes Copper Mining Co.
Art Metal Construction Co.
Associated Laundries of America (Inc.).
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co
Bankers Trust Co.
Bethlehem Steel Corp.
Braden Copper Co.
Bradstreet Realty Co.
Bristol Paper Co.
Brooklyn Warehouse & Storage Co.
Canal Bank & Trust Co.
Central Union Trust Co. of N. Y.
Chamber of Commerce of the United States.
Chase National Bank.
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Co.
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway Co.
Children’s Aid Society, New York.
Chili Copper Co.
Cocoa Cola Co.
Colon Oil Corp.
Continental Mexican Rubber Co.
Continental Oil Co.
Cramp Ship & Engine Building Co.
Cuba Cane Sugar Corp.
Cuban Portland Cement Corp.
Curtis Wright Corp.
Diamond Match Co.
Federal Insurance Co.
Gallup American Coal Co.
Gasoline Products Co.
Greenwich Savings Bank
Independence Indemnity Co.
Intercontinental Rubber Co.
International Cement Corp.
International Nickel Co.
Irving Trust Co.
Island Run Coal Co.
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co.
London Guarantee & Accident Co. (Ltd.).
Manhattan Railway Co. .
Matangas Sugar Corp.
Mathieson Alkali Works.
Mavis Bottling Co. of America.
Merchants Refrigerating Co.
Mesabi Iron Co.
Missouri State Life Insurance Co.
Monroe Water Supply Co.
National City Bank.
National City Safe Deposit Co.
National Fire Insurance Co.
National Surety Co.
New York Rapid Transit Co.
N. O. Branch Federal Reserve Board of Atlanta.
North American Cement Corp.
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co.
Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Co.
Philadelphia National Bank.
Postal Telegraph & Cable Co.
Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co.
Rockefeller Foundation.
Santa Fe Pacific Railway Co.
Securities Corp.
Shell Union Oil Co.
Simons National Bank.
Skandia Insurance Co.
South Porto Rico Sugar Co.
The Valley Realty Co.
Trexler Lumber Co.
Tulane University.
Twin Branch Railroad Co.
United States Cast Iron Pipe & Foundry Co.
Western Union Telegraph Co.
Wilkes-Barre & Scranton Railway Co. [Pts. 23 & 24, pp. 735-749.]
And so on through page after page of the record, 15 pages in all. The above is, therefore, only a very partial list.
Investments of Utilities in Non-Utility Enterprises
The interrelation between the utilities and other lines of business outside of the utility field is indicated at many points in the hearings in connection with the investments which the utility companies carry in these outside enterprises. Investments of this nature are mentioned in paper mills, spinning mills, fertilizer companies, chemical products, manganese [Pt. 27, pp. 274-75.]; also in bus lines, ice plants, water works, land and coal. [Idem, p. 281.]
Similarly, the Electric Bond and Share Company is interested in a wide range of business outside of the utility field, including banks, insurance, and industrial concerns of various kinds. [Pts. 23 & 24, p. 2 ff.]
Thus the picture: a figure of speech used not only by Governor Pinchot but by speakers of the utilities as well-a huge web of titanic power covering the whole country: concentric circles of power with the utilities at the center; their various committees reaching out over their radii to every circle in the mighty network of financial, industrial, economic, and cultural organizations of the country and tieing them into the web of their system by incorrigible bonds of economic, financial, and industrial necessity.
Chapter 6: Membership and Financial Support
The Bone and Sinews of War
The power and influence of these highly developed organizations may best be judged by the membership and financial resources at their command. The membership, as the records show, includes the individuals and organizations representing approximately 90 per cent of the electrical industry of the country, to say nothing of the allied and cooperating groups outside the utility field. As to finances the records show that the National Electric Light Association alone had at its disposal well over a million dollars per year besides special funds for special purposes said to amount in some cases to from $25,000,000 to $30,000,000 a year additional.
A Huge Membership
Back of the above organization, and supporting it financially and otherwise, are, of course, the various utility and non-utility companies, national and international, with their membership and financial contributions.
Exhibit No. 4 [Exh. Pt. 1, pp. 78-96.] gives the list of the member companies of the National Electric Light Association as of January 1, 1928, classified as follows:
Class A (light and power companies) 790
Class D (manufacturers) 375
Class F (associate companies) 327
Class H (foreign) 101
Total 1,593
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS. “In addition” to the company members mentioned above “the National Electric Light Association has 17,331 individual members comprising 13,83o employees of light and power companies, 118 invited members, 2,682 employees of manufacturer companies, 657 employees of associate companies, and 44 foreign individual members. The complete membership, both companies and individuals, totals 18,924:”
The mere listing of the Class A, Class D, and F companies occupies 26 pages in the Commission’s report. And it is interesting to note that among the foreign members there is a long list in Asia, covering China, Japan, the Malay States, Java and Siam; quite a list in Australia, New Zealand, one each in Tasmania and Bermuda; a long list in Europe, of course, especially in England, several in South America, and two in the West Indies.
HOLDING COMPANIES. In the membership of the National Electric Light Association are a number of holding companies. In 1928 there were listed 48. Of these holding companies, Exhibit No. 5. [Exh. Pt. 1, pap. 96-97.]
Abundantly Financed
The financial support of this great organization is derived from annual dues collected from the various company and individual members of the Association on a percentage basis. Class A, made up of companies having a gross revenue amounting to, but not in excess of, $50,000, pays at the rate of 50 cents per thousand dollars of its gross revenue. The minimum dues for this class are $10 per year. The annual dues of central station individual members, Class B, are $3.00 a year; invited members, Class C, pay not to exceed $5.00 per year; annual dues-of manufacturer company members, Class D, are fixed by the executive committee, and so on, various members paying generally on the basis of volume of business handled, [Exh. Pt. 1, pp. 2-3, Article IV of the Constitution of the N. E. L. A.
The magnitude and volume of the work done by this National Electric Light Association may be judged by the fact that the receipts grew from approximately $549,705.31 in 1923 to $1,079,190.33 in 1928, as follows:
July 1, 1922, to June 30, 1923 $ 549,705.31
July 1, 1923, to June 30, 1924 $ 626,917.23
July 1, 1924, to June 30, 1925 $ 680,057.25
July 1, 1925, to June 30, 1926 $ 1,056,673.84
July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927 $ 1,075,905.42
July 1, 1927, to June 30, 1928 $ 1,079,190.33
[Exh. Pt. 1, p. 98.]
These funds of the National Electric Light Association alone do not, of course, represent all of the financial resources that are available for the work of these organizations. It is stated by a number of the witnesses at different times that for advertising purposes alone the combined organizations of these various committees have had available between $25,000,000 and $30,000,000 a year.
Chapter
7: The Concentration of Control
Many and Devious Methods
The earlier report of the Federal Trade Commission-Senate Document No. 213, submitted in February, 1927-found that there was no single company nor single group of interests that exercised a dominant control over the electric industry in the country. “Nothing approaching control has been acquired by a single interest over the electric power industry.” [Sen. Doc. No. 213, 68th Congress, 2nd Session, p. XXII. See also pp. XII to XXXVIII covering summary; also p. 49.] The representatives of the power companies have seized upon this particular feature of the summary of the earlier findings of the Federal Trade Commission as final and conclusive evidence that there is no power trust in the United States; that there really is no concentration of control, and that the concern of those who regard the present tendencies in the electric light and power field towards complete monopolization are entirely without foundation.
“The power trust is a myth,” according to these representatives of the utility interests. No such thing exists. And, what is more, they claim, under existing laws and conditions, no such concentrated control or trust is possible.
What Is the Trend?
But the important consideration in this matter is not only whether there is one single company that has secured complete control or domination in the electric power industry of the country, but whether there is a group of interests representing a considerable number of companies that dominate the situation, and
whether this group is steadily and rapidly narrowing into fewer and fewer companies or organizations. In other words, the essential question is whether or not the trend in the electric industry is towards concentration of control. And again, the essential question is not whether the tendency to concentration in ownership and control in the industry has already reached a point where that control has actually been secured by some one single company or concern, but whether or not the tendency in that direction is moving with such rapidity and certainty that the ultimate control of the whole industry by a very small group of interests or individuals is assured. That such is the case is clearly indicated even in the earlier reports of the Federal Trade Commission, and still more so by the more recent findings, as we shall find.
Different Methods of Control.
Moreover, both the earlier and the more recent reports of the Federal Trade Commission bring out in sharp relief the fact that the concentration of control in the electrical industry is being accomplished, not by one but by a great many different and devious methods and devices.
Among these may be mentioned the following:
(1) Direct ownership of the voting stock in sufficient proportions to secure control.
(2) Through mergers, reorganizations, and combinations, by means of which the owners of the dominating organizations secure control of subsidiary groups.
(3) The holding company, the most powerful and effective of all of the devices for concentrating control.
(4) By interlocking directorates, by means of which the directors of one company secure control of other companies through a majority or controlling influence on the directorates of other companies.
(5) Through the voting trust, by means of which the holders of voting stock surrender their voting power to a voting trust that thereafter exercises control.
(6) Through control of proxies.
(7) By stock trading, by means of which the officers seeking control acquire common or voting stock, for which they exchange preferred or non-voting stock, thus increasing their control.
(8) Through supervision of subsidiary operating companies by holding companies, by means of which under contract the holding companies determine substantially the methods of “operation, development, construction, financing, rates, and general management of the supervised operating public utility companies.” [Pts. 23 & 24, p. 123.]
(9) By control of the issuance of stock by boards of directors so that they may perpetuate their control. [Pts. 23 & 24, p. 333.]
(10) Control through the issuance of option warrants. [Idem, p. 341.]
It will thus be seen that the concentration of control of utility corporations does not depend upon any one particular method but that such control is brought about in a great many different ways. And the operation of these various methods and means throughout the utility field multiplies the force of the tendencies working towards concentrated control. In subsequent chapters we shall examine briefly the evidence presented in the hearings of the Commission with reference to these various forces at work in the field of the utility corporations.