Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-03-08

not like to raise the question that, if
that should be done, there is no ready
remedy or any easy recourse to stop
it. | do not like to suggest that, i'll
the terms of the bill, while it p:c.iIes
for damages to those people along the
shores of that lake, that that is an
indefinite promise which they refuse
to accept and they see more hardships
III securing that remedy than they
do in going without it.
Senators,-0n this matter Of water
storage in this State ii must cone -
every thoughtful and serious man
perhaps il is too late to stop it now
that CTR Srrat State HAS not from the
from its nlagniiic. Mt natural resources
what the State. a.: q political entity, is
entitled to. We have resources be-
You'd those of any other state. We
have illimitable wealth in our great
water power and our timberlands.
Once we had the fisheries which help
ed when we were 2 struggling people
along the coast. Once we had ship
building in that section; but today, Of
all the resources available to this
StSate, there remain only the timber
lands and the water power-illimit-
able, both rich beyond computation.
What l would like TO ask is this:
What does this State of Maine repre-
scented here by ourselves, as a politi-
cal entity and in its sovereign capac-
ity-what does it draw from these
vast interests? The timberlands have
Slipped away from US, and with the
timberlandS went numerous and I'M
known and undeveloped water powers
all through that vast region. The wa
ter powers We're developed, charters
were granted, franchises in perpetuity
granted and the State from all these
riches gathered no toll and get no toll
today.
Here we have within the area of our
State section which hardly has an
equal throughout the world ~ re-
CARDS the impounding of water Six
million six hundred thousand horse
power flows daily down our streams;
and we are told, oy those who have
studied it; that this represents the
work Of over eighty million of men
working for ten hours a day every day
in the wcek-and yet, with 1t all, what
do we get?
The elevation Of the Rangelcys is
as high as lake Itasca which feeds
the whole Mississippi. The Kennebec
has more lakes connected with it than
the Oronoco and the Pcnobscot more
than the Amazon and both have more
lakes than all the rivers OF the great
continent of Africa combined. And
what does our poor State get from
it all?
From a title Of these natural re-
sources. if we husband them as we
ought, we could have paid our State
debt-We could pay the running cX-
penses of this State and we need not
do as we now do-cOmc here and cut
down a thousand worthy charities
that appeal to our sympathies, or sell
our good name and our virtue in Or
DER that corporations that have no
right to live should receive here their
creation and go out to the world with
the good name Of the State of Maine
affixed upon them; and then try to
remedy the situation by sending rep
resentatives to Washington to bust
the trusts" ((Anplause)
Now. all through that vast terri
tory, silently and stealthily there has
been going on the purchase of our
magnificent water power; and. gen.
tlemen, the same influences-and +
might say the same hands-that seek
now to invade and spoliate the Range
leys are ready to stretch out to ravish
Moosehead and the whole line of lakes
along our northern boundary. If YOU
permit the precedent to be establish
ed, that sober truth will come back
to you almost before you return to
your constituents. What have we left ?
Only the excellent and stretching wa
tiers which are the property of the
state and we the trustees of the peo-
pie whom we represent? Never before
in this State has the proposition been
made to tap these lakes from under
meath. Always the proposition has
been: Increase your dam, provide
your storage and draw upon the wa
ter in natural way
This is not a question Of whether
the Androscoggin valley shall be al
lowed to suffer. l stood in the library
of Bowdoin College last Saturday be-
fore map of our beloved State with
a representative Of the photographic
Commission, which with the aid of the !
United States Government is doing
the great work of determining the
water capacity Of our State; survey
ing the streams; looking into the
matter of water storage and doing
work beyond any other work that is
being done in our State today; and 1
asked him what he thought of this
We turned to Moosehead. !