The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-01-09

L
the manufacturing waters Of our State. nro-
posed IN my last communication to your col
umns, has received emphatic and weiahty
endorsement in the message of our newly in
augurated chief magistrate, and is therefore
fairly before the people and their representa-
tives for discussion and action.
There are one or two points connected with
the proposed enterprise which wish to pre-
sent in confederation of, or in addition to, any
suggestions already made, which are impor-
tant to be borne in mind by our Legislators, to
whom, by the recommendation of the Gov
ernor, this whole affair is now made matter
OF concern.
In the nrst place, any real or supposed fail
ure OF the Geological Survey, conducted at
the states expense, to render economical re-
turns for money outlaid, which failure. even If
it be actual, may be only temporary. should
| not be allowed to throw discredit at the ont.
set upon this undertaking. Casting out the
word Survey" there Is really no parallel be-
tween the Two enterprises. The geological
survey might be very properly denominated
hunt, an exploration. Its object was to as
certain whether any valuable and available
deposits OF metals, minerals, ores, building
stone of unique quality, etc, were hid from
general knowledge, anywhere in our domain.
From the first there was an uncertainty
whether anything of importance would be
found; and it may be, that for practical pu-
poses for some time to come, nothing has been
found though of this am not persuaded
But the object of the proposed photographic
survey is not to hunt up water-power, not to
ascertain by exploration whether we really
have any water power or not. Its object is to
define the locations Of, ascertain the amount
OF, determine the practical availability, pre-
cisely and definitely, of an actually existing az
gregate of power, which we know at the out
set, in general way, to be equivalent to the
working capacity of hundreds of thousands of
able-bodied men. We have the treasure
that we are sure Of; we only want to learn
everything about it necessary for its develop
ment and utilization; everything necessary to
its intelligent and authoritative advertisement
to the world. j.. s.-..j 1
In the second place, it is to be remembered
that any development of our resources in the
direction proposed, is of so permanent and in
destructible character as practically to be
for all coming time. II we open up vast tracts
OF primeval forest growth to the lumbermeu.
presently the wealth which hundred wears
have produced is exhausted. New regions Of
agricultural productveness, likewise, soon fail
OF their virgin fertility. Mines and ouarries
also give out sooner or later, or are worked at
constantly augmentins expense. But wa
terfau once turned to account, viii, save the
exceptional and temporary interruptions of
repairs, extraordinary dearth or overplus of
water, work on for ages. In particular, as /
showed il a former article, the water-power
OF this State is, for several reasons, singularly
permanent and constant, and its constancy IS
dependent upon great geographical conditions.
as, for example, proximity to Newfoundland
and its vapors, low temperature in summer
and consequent small evaporation, lake con-
nections, etc.; and is not dependent upon To-
cal circumstances, mere conditions of surface
as to cultivation, forests, OF any causes which
can be affected seriously by human agency.
So long as the Gulf Stream runs, and the
White Mountains with their outlying ridges
stand at their present attitudes, our water
power will not fail, and can suffer no material
abatement. Alf n t.i,.1 -.l
In the third place, the cost of the enterprise
upto the extent required, at least at present.
will not be great The survey will not be
obliged to concern itself with the navigable
portions Of our rivers, and indeed that portion
of the work has already been done, or is in
process Of doing, by the U. s. government.
Its sphere OF labor will be across that breadth
ofdeclivity lying between the line of naviga-
BILE waters, on the one side, and that, on the
other, where the manufacturing volume of our
rivers becomes dispersed in complex system
Of divarication and ENHANCEMENT amongst
our mountain ravines, or is merged in lakes,
Only those points in the watershed referred
to need be specially examined at which it is
obvious from casual inspection considerable
power is available; and throughout, only the
more important conditions need be carefully
determined, those of merely scientific interest
being passed over. "a aaL.-,u aub.4. ',
There is special reason why we can with
propriety venture to expend little money in
developing, or attempting to develope, the
physical resources Of our State, in the TACT
thai as regards special effort we arc doing so
little for our intellectual or educational ad-
vancement This is statement which it af
lords one no satisfaction to make, but which
Is warranted by the facts. WeShave Nor
NAL School, an excellent institution under
hard-working management, but 1t Is not ade-
quately endowed; not BY any means put upon
good working basis. We have State Su.
periptendent of Education. But we give him
nothing to work with; no institutes, no con-
Ventions, no assistants; and we lay instruc-
tons for labor upon him, which half dozen
men could hardly fulfil over this large State
The money which We withhold, doubtless
from persuasion OF the necessity of so doing,
from outlay in the direction of our intellec-
tual development, we shall perhaps be willing
to lay out upon promising chance of great
material advancement. None OF the funds
need 60 out of the State. We have engineers
in our midst, Anderson, Wilde, etc., entirely
competent to conduct the survey, to digest its
results, and to put them upon paper in an at
tractive and effective form. The cost of one
frst-class railway locomotive judiciously ex-
pended, would undoubtedly carry the work
along to stage more or less closely approxi-
mating conclusion, and to point where its
results might legitimately be expected to
become largely fruitful.
1t should be remembered, In the fourtb
place, in reference to the survey of our State
water-power, that manufacturing proper, that
is to say, working the raw materials of nature
by the aid of the forces of nature. has hut
made beginning In this country. The enor-
nous population now coming forward to oc-
cupy the great fertile valley of the Mississippi,
Will require an amount of manufacturing in
dustry of which we now have little concep-
ton. A very large proportion Of this work
can be and doubtless will be done within our
national limits. Legislation, if not the nat.
ural course of labor, will doubtless determine
this to be the result. The labor in ouestion
will be done in part by steam and in part bv
water-power; by the latter always. where
practicable, when great amounts of power
are required, and operations are to be carried
on on grand scale; because it Is the cbeap-
eat N0u vvhora sbon a.: