The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-12-18
AS TO WATER POWER.

AS III Wal In fOWb h'
We see that the Times and Republican
are trying to infuse life into the effort to
redevelope die Ottawa water power, so
long now a bete.noir to Ottawa, viewed In
the light Of its past history. 1t cannot be
denied that there Is a prejudice in the
minds of capitalists against water power
schemes, even so noted an economist as
Edward Atkinson having only recently
written 70 Bradstreet's his ideas on the sub.
ject his conclusions being decidedly
against the development of water power as
business investment. However, the
same paper a week later contained reply
by Mr.. Herschel, hydraulic engineer at
Holyoke, which points out Mr., Atkinson's
errors, and makes a much better case In
favor of water power as an investment than
MIR. Atkinson does on the other side. AS
70 the real value of water power and the
cause of failure by many water power com
panies, Mr.. Herschel says:
This brings us to consideration OF the
underlying principles In this consideration
of the value of water power Its only com
petitor, as a purchasable commodity, Is
steam power, Steam power, even in large
ouantities--500 or 600 horse power-can-
not be created and maintained at a cost
much less than fifty dollars per horse
power per annum, while water power will
not ordinarily cost one half that sum. That
| l., tba 10 nht nd yxb a
can be produced at less cost than that 1t
will pay to produce 1t and offer 1t for sale.
There are yet many places in the United
States where this can be done, and the pres
ent and succeeding generations, not dis
posed to rest content either with the
achievements or with sundry failures OF
their predecessors, will probably go on and
do 1t so long as no cheaper source of mo-
tive power than steam is known. The rea.
son water power enterprises need strong
financing 10 carry them through the peri
lous days of their youth Is, to my mind,
the YER palpable fact that they require an
outlay, at the beginning, nearly equal to
their whole final cost, while the income to
be derived therefram has a small begin
ming and would ordinarily require say,
twenty years TO attain a considerable mag
nitude. But this should be foreseen and
provided for, as 1t can be, In various ways
In trustworthy cases.
1t is unquestionably true that the de-
velopment of the Ottawa water power
would add immensely to her power of at
tracing outside capital-which Is the only
means as we apprehend of building up OF
tawa. And water power on Illinois river
is more reliable than any in New England
for the reason that the river can never have
less water in it than now, for Chicago must
send more water sown this way every year.
And should the water power be improved,
there Is no reason to expect that only fac
tories using water power would come here.
The experience at Rockford, AURORA and
all New England towns is that new facto
ries using steam plant themselves down
along side of water power mills long after
the water power had been wholly EN-
ployed for concentration of manufactur-
ing enterprises is one of the marked ten
denotes of the time. The possession of
water power here would give the impetus
which would unquestionably continue long
after that power had been entirely utilized
This much is certain, that If Ottawa is
to retain her prestige as the leading city of
La Sale county she has got to grow and
grow rapidly and at once The trade of
Ottawa has In a measure come to ii from
the neighborhood surrounding because 1t
has been the largest town and the pest
trading town of the county, but with a
much larger city near her, better provided
with railway facilities, 1t would not be
strange or an unexpected event If large
part of this, the best patronage our bust
ness men have, would leave her to go to
the larger place. A city large or small is
like sponge, and the biggest sponge will
absorb the greatest amount of water.