Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/90

 it was felt by the men responsible for this regulation that service was the first thing to be sought and if proper service could be attained with a fair return to the corporation, that was all that was necessary. They depended upon publicity and valuation as clubs to achieve this service under these conditions; there is no doubt but that municipalities have a hard time convincing people that they should purchase plants, but the law is so arranged that besides the regulation pursued by the commission, there is constantly hanging over public service corporations the purchase clubs used in connection with the indeterminate permit. It will be remembered that municipally owned plants and private plants are under practically the same terms of control.

Nothing in this law has excited greater interest nor greater antagonism than this very question of home rule and the relations in general to municipalities. When the public utility act was first proposed there is no doubt but that the public utilities of the state thought they would gain by placing in the hands of some kind of a weak commission, a power which would protect them from the localities. They were constantly in fear of the encroachments of municipal ownership and the concerns which were granted spurious franchises in so-called competition. The outcry was great from the localities but the law was sustained by public sentiment. The friends of the bill answered that the small cities had