Part 1.-The Cotton Textile Industry in 1933 and 1934. Certain tabulations made at the suggestion of the Cabinet Committee on Textiles showing analysis of operating results in 1933 and 1934, grouped by type of product, size of textile investment, rate of return on textile investment, and by profit or loss on sales, of 108 cotton spinning companies, and for 296 companies manufacturing cotton woven goods. Part 2.-The Woolen and Worsted Textile Industry in 1933 and 1934. Part 3.-The Silk and Rayon Textile Industry in 1933 and 1934. Part 4.-The Thread, Cordage, and Twine Industries in 1933 and 1934. The first two parts of a study based on data furnished by 1,188 companies for the first half of 1935 were issued during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1936. The third part was practically completed at the end of the fiscal year. The titles of these parts are: Part 1.-The Cotton Textile Industry in the First Half of 1935 (including Thread, Cordage and Twine). Part 2.-The Woolen and Worsted Textile Industry in the First Half of 1935. Part 3.-The Silk and Rayon Textile Industry in the First Half of 1935. In addition to the foregoing, preliminary reports based on information furnished by 582 cotton textile companies for the first half of 1935 and by 257 cotton textile companies for the 6-month period ending December 31, 1935, were released as of March 19 and April 10. As rapidly as these parts were completed, copies were forwarded to the President, the Cabinet Committee on Textiles consisting of Hon. Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture; Hon. Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor; Hon. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State; and Hon. Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of Commerce; the Labor Advisory Board, and other interested Government officials, textile trade associations, and labor executives, and made available to the public. Further reports to be made public later will cover the period up to and including June 30, 1936. The report for the first half of 1935 introduced tables showing separately the unit cost of labor, fuel and power, dyes and chemicals, property taxes, depreciation, gain or loss on commodity exchange futures, processing tax, raw material, cost of selling and bad debts, payments to officers and directors, and other general and administrative expenses, for each pound or square yard of goods sold. These unit costs are shown for only a limited number of companies in each branch of the textile industries, due to the fact that the majority of the companies manufacture two or more general types of product, and the separation of mill cost for different kinds of goods manufactured in the same plant is a very difficult cost accounting problem. Due to these cost accounting difficulties, the textile manufacturers were not requested to furnish cost data or selling prices for different types of goods manufactured. Consequently, it was impossible to show unit cost where two or more different types were produced. Ratios of cost for groups of companies manufacturing the same classes of goods, grouped by size of investment, rate of return on textile investment, and by profit or loss on sales are shown in appendix tables of the textile reports. ELECTRIC AND GAS UTILITIES INVESTIGATION CONCLUDED AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1935 The electric and gas utility inquiry, begun under Senate Resolution No. 83, Seventieth Congress, first session, introduced by the late Senator Walsh, of Montana, and continued under Senate Joint Resolution 115, Seventy-third Congress, second session, was concluded at the close of the calendar year 1935. The accounting examination of electric and gas utility companies covered the growth of capital assets and capital liabilities, methods of issuing securities, including payments of commissions, fees, bonuses, etc., and the relations between electric and gas holding companies and subsidiary operating, construction, and finance companies. A study was also made of servicing and other contracts between the holding companies and operating utilities, of syndicate operations in which company officials were active, and engineering and economic surveys were made of the physical properties and operations of producing, pipe-line transportation, and distribution companies and systems. During the inquiry, the Commission's accountants, engineers, and economists examined 29 holding companies having total assets of $6,108,128,713, also 70 subholding companies with total assets of $5,685,463,201, and 278 operating companies with total assets of $7,245,106,464. In many cases an examination involved. numerous predecessor companies. Testimony and reports printed as exhibits on the financial and economic phases of the electric and gas utilities industries are printed in 64 volumes with a total of approximately 52,000 pages. In addition, three volumes of summary reports, and an index to volumes 21-45, inclusive, have been published. PUBLICITY AND PROPAGANDA ACTIVITIES The Senate resolution under which the investigation was conducted said: The Commission is further empowered to inquire and report whether, and to what extent, such corporations or any of the officers thereof or any one in their behalf or in behalf of any organization of which any such corporation may be a member, through the expenditure of money or through the control of the avenues of publicity, have made any and what effort to influence or control public opinion on account of municipal or public ownership of the means by which power is developed and electrical energy is generated and distributed, or since 1923 to influence or control elections: Provided, That the elections herein referred to shall be limited to the elections of President, Vice President, and Members of the United States Senate. Pursuant thereto, the Commission (1) Investigated and reported upon the publicity and propaganda activities and expenditures of the various associations and committees of the electric and gas industries. The record of this part of the investigation is practically all contained in vols. 1 to 20, inclusive, with accompanying volumes of exhibits. The report on this phase is printed as part 71-A, and the index to these volumes is printed as part 72–A. (2) Investigated and reported on the publicity and propaganda activities and expenditures of the various groups and companies. These activities were carried on either in connection with the associations and committees, or separately, and are additional to those reported on in part 71-A. The records of these activities and expenditures are printed throughout the various volumes, in connection with the reports on the financial structure. The report on this phase is printed as part 81-A. This volume also contains an index to the publicity and propaganda material found in vols. 21 to 84, inclusive. RECORD OF INVESTIGATION EMBRACES 94 VOLUMES The record of the investigation embraces 94 printed volumes, of which 84 comprise testimony and exhibits,1 4 of which are summary reports, 1 is a final report, 1 is a combined final report on publicity and propaganda with index, 2 are appendixes, and 2 are indexes. Printed as part of the series known as Utility Corporations, Senate Document 92, Seventieth Congress, first session, the summary, final, appendix, and index volumes are as follows: Title Summary report: Compilation of proposals and views for and against Federal incorporation and licensing of corporations and compilation of State constitutional, statutory, and case law concerning corporations with particular attention to public-utility holding and operating companies Summary report: Efforts by associations and agencies of electric and gas utilities to influence public opinion... Index of association publicity and propaganda and index of names in parts 1 to 20, inclusive; and Summary report: Economic, financial, and corporate phases of holding and operating companies Economic appendixes to no. 84-A.. 1 Volume 84 was in press at the time of publication of this report. Vol. no. 69-A 71-A 71-B 72-A 73-A 77-A 81-A 84-A 84-B 84-0 INDEX TO ELECTRIC AND GAS REPORTS The first section of the index of the reports in utility corporations, embracing parts (volumes) 21 to 45, was received from the printer during the fiscal year. This is included in part 77–A. The second section of the index, comprising parts 46 to 70, inclusive of the public utility reports, was completed. These indexed volumes total about 22,000 pages of accounting and other reports and testimony thereon. The index covers about 800 subjects and on these subjects some 200,000 references are made. Upon completion of parts 46 to 70, work on the third and final section of the index was undertaken. This section will include parts 71 to 84, inclusive, and will cover about 11,000 pages. During the fiscal year, hearings were held at which reports concerning the following companies or subjects were placed in the record: The work during the last 6 months of the inquiry was confined to the completion of the examination of companies engaged in the natural gas business, and in the preparation of a final report on the natural gas industry. This report was submitted to Congress December 31, 1935, and summarized the principal facts developed in this part of the inquiry. This report described the growth and importance of the natural gas industry; economic aspects of exploitation, waste, and conservation; technical problems of the industry, including field conditions affecting the installation and operation of natural gas supply systems and building and development of transportation systems of natural gas, and the marketing of natural gas. It also described the purchasing policies and practices of the large natural gas pipe line companies and groups; presented prices paid to or charged producers, distributors, and consumers; and summarized the facts in respect to the form, structure, and practices of holding companies, and their competitive relations. In the report were set forth in detail the growth of assets of principal natural gas holding company groups and information concerning growth of capital liabilities and financing methods of natural gas production, transmission, and distribution companies. |