The Portland daily press., 1892-08-01

State.-Immense Power of the Great Xiv
ers of Maine.-Hannibal Hamlin's
Prophecy Verified.
At the banquet given at the Grand
Union Hotel at Saratoga, June 21th by
the American Paper Manufacturers As
sociation the after dinner speakers were
Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, Hon. Charles
F. Libby and Hon. Warner Miller. We
reprint the remarks of Mr.. Libby, as of
interest to Maine people:
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
1t is with some surprise, and at the
same time, pleasure, that find myself
present at one of the annual gatherings
of the American Paper Manufacturers
Association. have been querying how
it happened that the honor of an invita-
ton was extended to me as one of your
guests, and had come to the conclusion,
before your president had spoken, that it
was due to the fact that you recognized
that Maine is becoming an important
/ ldCbOI LII UllC Duo1aCoo SpShoSN NJ
your association, and that you were dis
posed, perhaps, to hear from Maine
man upon that subject. You will pardon
me, therefore, if, as loyal son of Maine
who has faith in the future of his state,
1 speak to you of home matters.
We have great deal of water in my
state, and it has bothered us to know
what to do with it. We have tried to
use it as beverage. and even to compel
it's enlarged use by legal penalties; but
the experiment has not worked alto
gother as expected, the supply still ex-
fceeds the demand: and the surplus is a
large and troublesome one. We have
therefore cast about to see what could
be done with it, and have discovered
that water can be usefully employed for
manufacturing purposes; and since we
have made this discovery, our success
has been so great. especially in the line
of business represented by this assocla-
ton. that we have decided to work in
harmony with nature, rather than to
thwart her, and to build up the waste
places in our state. Maine is SO near the
iumping-off place, and has increased so
slowly in wealth and population com
pared with other sections of our country,
| it lies so near Canada, and geographically
it is so much part of it,-our state
sharing with that country its rivers and
furnishing the latter with the terminus
of one of its important railway systems
and it's best natural seaport, my own
city,-that had it not been that Maine
| has become prominent by reason of the
distinguished sons which she has given
| to the nation, she would have been al
most forgotten by the rest of the Union.
l am happy, however, to state to the
| gentlemen present, that Maine is still in
| the Union and intends to remain there,
| if only for the purpose OF furnishing TO
the nation, Secretaries of State, Speakers
| of the National House, and Chief JUS
tees of the United States Supreme Court
and, incidentally, to the other states
| Governors, Senators and Representatives
galore.
But, in the future, Maine is to appear
in another role, and one that was long
since foreseen by the prophetic eyes of
another of her sturdy sons, Hannibal
Hamlin-and that role is, as one OF the
greatest, if not the greatest, manufacture
! ing States of the Union. This may seem
rash claim, but if you will consider for
a moment the physical features of our
State, | think you will admit that the
| claim is not without foundation, es-
pecially if you recognize the fact that
water power is to play an important part
| in the future development of the great
| industries of this country For, within
the limit of this State, a little more than
| two hundred miles in width and about
three hundred miles in its extreme
| length, containing a territory OF about
| thirty-one thousand square miles, the
| average elevation of which is one thous-
and feet above the level of the sea, IS to
| be found
| Larger Available Water Power
than within any territory of equal extent
on the face of the globe. This power, in
it's present unimproved state, is estimat-
ed to exceed one million horse power,
and is capable, by improvement of the
natural storage basins which are to be
found in the large lakes and ponds which
are scattered over State, of being in
creased to a total of not less than two
million horse power, not One-fifth OF
which has yet heen utilized for manufac-
turing purposes. And this power, by
reason of favorable climatic conditions
restricting loss by evaporation, is singu-
larly uniform and constant throughout
the year. Tine geological structure OF
our State is such that our rivers are
hemmed in by rocky barriers, which re.
strict their course within narrow chan,
nels and thereby increase their efficiency
and economy for manufacturing pur.
poses. This power is to be permanent
source of wealth to Maine, not subject tc
exhaustion like the coal fields of Penn
sylvania or the gold and silver mines Of
the Rocky Mountains. For, so long as
the granite hills. of Maine and New
Hampshire lift their sumits to the sky as
barriers to the moisture-laden winds Of
the Atlantic, SO long will the Saco, the
Androscoggin, the Kennebec, the Penob
scot, the st. Johns, and the st Croix,
Roll Down their Vast Floods
over the rock-ribbed surface of Maine, il
their precipitous descent from the noun
tains to the sea. How rapid that descent
is, you will appreciate, when you con
slider that Lake Itasca, the source of the
Mississippi, is only few feet higher ther
fine RaugeIy Lakes which are the source