The Fight Over the Bone Initiative Power Bill
A political war over public ownership of power utilities reaches a fever pitch in Washington state ahead of the November 4 election.
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Written proof that Initiative 52 is the vehicle by which the Public Ownership League of America hopes to establish itself in the State of Washington is proven in a letter just mailed from the National office of that organization in Chicago by Carl D. Thompson, its secretary, says a statement issued by the Citizens Association Against Initiative 52. The letter, addressed to all members in the United States, says: 'We need money to print extra copies of the September issue to help carry the Bone Initiative Power Bill in Washington which goes to referendum vote next month, November 4.' Meanwhile, the superintendent of Seattle’s municipal light plant wires that the Washington Public Ownership forces are short of money. Bone and Ross have been denying the hidden plan, if Initiative 52 passes, to not only condemn the private tax-paying plants in Seattle and destroy the competition which serves as a check upon the politicians, but to take over the light and power properties aggregating $300,000,000 in other parts of this state.
“Washington offers the best opportunity for putting a public super-power into actual operation of any place in the United States at this time.”
The 1924 battle over public power—pitting municipal authority against private utility interests—set the stage for the massive public utility districts that define Washington's energy landscape today. The anxiety over political monopoly and tax impacts is a direct ancestor to modern debates about utility governance.
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