Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-11-15
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS
FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES
WATER YoKEo TO ELECTRICITY WILL
MOVE THE WORLD.

government of Sweden had ordered the
directors of the state railways to prepare
plans for converting the steam railways
to electrical roads calls public attention
to twentieth century development that
is destined to revolutionize the industrial
activities of mankind.
The Harvesting of the Niagara cataract
directed engineering genius to the thou
sands of waterfalls and reservoirs that
nature has stored 10 hills and mountains,
and which may be yoked to electricity to
propel street cars, light cities and turn
the wheels of great manufacturing enter
prises. In Sweden recent Judgment of
the supreme court decided that most of
the waterfalls belong to the crown, and
hence it is proposed to utilize them by
converting their power into electrical en-
ergy for operating the railroads of the
state.
In this country several water power
plants, all of them remarkable achieve
ments in electrical engineering, are in
operation, and many are being projected.
The most interesting development, and
one which promises results that now
seem so fanciful as to appeal only to the
idea of romance, is the long-distance
transmission of electrical power, by
which the power of a waterfall or great
natural reservoir that has been going to
waste for centuries is converted into
electrical energy and the current carried
for hundred miles or more to propel the
street cars or light the streets of town.
According to The Engineering News the
taet Oh, In n lc
seen at Oakland and San Jose, CAL,
where power is actually carried 1Si
miles from the Upper Y uba river in that
state. The distance to Oakland from the
power plant is 40 miles, but through a
temporary connection the current Is also
transmitted to San Jose, making total
transmission of 1S4 miles. The interest
ing feature of this power transmission
line is the fact that the current is carried
at the high pressure of from 10000 to
10000 volts, which is Justly regarded as
wonderful engineering achievement.
The Harvesting of a mountain stream
to propel the street cars and to light the
streets of oakland and ISan Jose opens
up possibilities inithe way of electrical
development of water power that point
to the ultimate downfall OfIsteam as the
king of the industrial world.-Chicago
Record Herald.
THE NEW ENGLAND FARM.
A change, rather than decline, is the
answer which Mr.. Charles 5. Phelps
gives in the New England Magazine to
the familiar query: "Is There a Deca-
dence of New England Agricultural"
For the changes which have come
about this writer assigns four causes.
One is the growth of the factory as
against the household industries that
used to be carried on on small scale on
New England farms. Another cause is
imitation of prices after the Civil War,
which led to Over-prOductiOn and to over
valuation of farm property. third,
and the most potent cause, Is the rapid
development of the West, with free lands
and vast extension of railroads. These
cheap lands drew struggling New Eng
land farmers westward, and intensified
the competition which had to be met by
those who remained at home. A fourth
cause is the growth of the cities and the
concentration there of business.
However, as this writer contends, most
of the decline that has actually come has
occurred in the remoter and less fertile
areas. SIN the river valleys and within
easy hauling distance of good markets.
says Mr.. Phelps, "progressive conditions
are manifest. Even on the more remote
farms that are within easy reach of milk
shipping stations or cooperative cream
cries, a condition of thrift and prosperity
is not lacking"
The typical New England farmer no
longer raises such crops as wheat, corn,
oats and rye, that returned gross in
come of from S25 to $40 an acre. He is
engaged in speciality farming-in dairy
ing, sheep-raising, poultry culture, fruit
or tobacco growing or market gardening.
Instead of $25 or $40 per acre for wheat
or oats, the alert New England farmer is
now receiving from 5000 to $50 an acre
for Strawberries, from 5000 to $500 for
celery, from $3.50 to $500 for onions.
The increased use of machinery and of
commercial fertilizers has lessened the
labor of the farm and greatly increased
its production. Many go-ahead farmers
are utalizing small streams and ponds for
irrigating land for small fruits and veg.
etables. Dairying and tobacco are large
and profitable Industries.
The hill towns have Enthusiastically de-
clined in agriculture, and their loss is
apparently irretrievable. This New
England Magazine article does not dis
pute it. But even there the homesteads
that have been abandoned are being
taken up for summer residences by wist
pilgrims from the cities and the towns
This does not mean an increase in agri
culture beyond the gathering of a croI
of hay for the family horse, but it does
mean a saving of taxable property
that otherwise might go to waste and re
vert to the primeval wilderness. Al
together, 1t is very easy to make out 1
case for the negative In reply to this
question SIS There a Decadence of New
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