It is also desirable that the authority of the commission should be extended to certain phases of power regulation.  The nature of the electric utilities industry is such that about 90 per cent of all power generation and distribution is intrastate in character, and most of the States have developed their own regulatory systems as to certificates of convenience, rates, and profits of such utilities.  To encroach upon their authorities and responsibilities would be an encroachment upon the rights of the States.  There are cases, however, of interstate character beyond the jurisdiction of the States.  To meet these cases it would be most desirable if a method could be worked out by which initial action may be taken between the commissions of the States whose joint action should be made effective by the Federal Power Commission with a reserve to act on its own motion in case of disagreement or nonaction by the States.

THE RADIO COMMISSION

I recommend the reorganization of the Radio Commission into a permanent body from its present temporary status.  The requirement of the present law that the commissioners shall be appointed from specified zones should be abolished and a general provision made for their equitable selection from different parts of the country.  Despite the effort of the commissioners, the present method develops a public insistence that the commissioners are specially charged with supervision of radio affairs in the zone from which each is appointed.  As a result there is danger that the system will degenerate from a national system into five regional agencies with varying practices, varying policies, competitive tendencies, and consequent failure to attain its utmost capacity for service to the people as a whole.

MUSCLE SHOALS

It is most desirable that this question should be disposed of.  Under present conditions the income from these plants is less than could otherwise be secured for its use, and more especially the public is not securing the full benefits which could be obtained from them.

It is my belief that such parts of these plants as would be useful and the revenues from the remainder should be dedicated for all time to the farmers of the United States for investigation and experimentation on a commercial scale in agricultural chemistry.  By such means advancing discoveries of science can be systematically applied to agricultural need, and development of the chemical industry of the Tennessee Valley can be assured.

I do not favor the operation by the Government of either power or manufacturing business except as an unavoidable by-product of some other major public purpose.