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 neither the administrative machinery nor the technical means necessary to discover the conditions and that the centralizing of technical skill which could be of use to all was the only safety for the community—at least for the present.

It is well to note here that the municipality retained the right to compel reasonable extension and good service and to provide ordinances for that purpose, subject to an appeal to the commission as to their unreasonableness.

Public Utility in Relation to Municipalities

The peculiarly defenceless position of the ordinary small municipality and the relation of the public utility



commission to the whole question of the control of public utilities is illustrated by Diagram IV.