The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-20
INTERPRETATION OF WATER
 POWER

One or the most hotAphe instauCes oh Au- dustrial decline and revival in modern times is connected with the use of water powers. Speaking of conditions in New England The Hartford courant says: hiA while ago water-powers were neglect ed and were regarded as relics of a past condition of development which with the ''oid mill" had been left far behind in
 II as 1ns or tsas to day the running water is not only rein stated but has a higher value and more important work than ever before: Elec- culture have worked the change. and to- day a steady-dowing stream has as sure a value as a coal mine.
 Taking Alabama as e single example it Is within the memory of many yet living that steam mills were so rare as to be looked on as curiosities by most people. 1t was only in localities where water power, used under conditions then pre- vaifing, was entirely unavailable that steam was used at all. And the methods of utilizing the water-power, even half a century ago, were entirely different from those of the present day. Then the huge over-shot or breast-wheels required a high fall or they could not be used at all. and with the old-style tub-wheels 1t was not much better. for fall of several feet was necessary in order to get sufficient power with the wheels then used.
 It was while these wasteful and inefii- cient methods of using ,water-power pre- vailed that steam began to take the place of water. The rapid development of our immense coal fields was an active factor in the work of relegating water to the rear. Then steam mills and factories and | shops began to spring up and water-pow- CT seemed destined to become a thing of the past. The mills routed down. the great water wheels ceased to revolve and fell into decay and the nnharnessed wa ter laughed It's way to the ocean. Steam reigned and water-power was discredited. Then electric development began, an- other revolution was the result, and wa ter is not only regaining what 1t had lost but is becoming mightier than ever. Il was soon found that electric power could be developed at less cost and with greater ease and certainty by water than by steam power and that settled it. Econ- omy. certainty andf dispatch are three feyers ins the industrial world which will move aaountains, and all of them work together for the reinstatement of water. All over the, country that fluid is being again brought under subjection and made to perform the labor from which it had ] for a time been freed
 And the beauty of it is that the water power need not now be used where it is generated. It is no longer necessary that the mill or shop or factory shall nestle close beside the running stream, for cleo tricity. like light, can be diffused in all direchers. The Savforss speaking to Nico- detAns, said: s-The wind bloweth where i, isteth, and thou nearest the sound there. of. but canst not tell whence it cometh noI whither it goeth."
 Almost the same language might be used about electric power. Man can send il where he chooses. We see its effects 1T our shops, in our lights, on our street cars and wherever machinery is used The ordinary man cannot tell how i ] comes nor where 1t goes when its worl k4s done.-~A- dam is huut across running stream, machines are erected, wires ar' laid and straightway machinery begins tC buzz. street cars to run and lights t. spring upi miles away as if by magic. l is wonderful triumph of mind over mat ter.
 And, as we have said, the great value of this power lies in the ease and cer tainty of it diffusion. We have just reat in a contemporary of a company being organized in South Carolina with a cap ital of $2.0OOOOO to develop certain water
 powers in the Piedmont region, and the statement is made that towns within 8 radius of fifty miles are to be supplied by the company's with electric power. Three years ago Just above the city of Colum. bus, Ga, a dam was built on the Chatta. hoochee River to develop 10000 horse. power. Now we are told that not more than 24O horsepower for electrical pur. poses is left for sale. It is practically all taken and more is needed.
 Our own city of Montgomery is an ex. ample of what may be done and what is done in utilizing water-power thirty miles away. Tallassee's waters are run ming our street cars. driving our machin- cry anu lighting streets and houses. The same thing is taking place all over the land and we have only reached the frontiers so to speak, of the unexplored possibili- ties of electric development. Wherever there is water with fall sufficient to operate generator there one can be built and from it power will radiate and pull sate to the surrounding country, tireless. noiseless and unremitting. The age of steam has had its day and the reign of water returns.
 The York Dispatch says:
 Even if Miss Todd does not get the postoffice back she ought to be satisfied I