Public control of public utilities

For the last three years I have been connected more or less with the movement of public control of public utilities; for two years in New York, our firm being consulting engineers for the Public Service Commission of the First District; for eight months in Pittsburgh, studying the transportation problems there, and since last January I have been here, almost constantly connected with the question of the control of public utilities. I am often asked where the movement started; and where it is going to end. There is no question about its having been started. The people here a few years ago found out that they had a right to control — they were a long time in finding it out — and there is no question about their right to control. I have heard it stated that the state has a right to everything; to your property and to my property if it is necessary for the good of the state.