The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-27
POWER IN THE SOUTH
SECTION AHEAD OF EAST IN
 WATER DEVELOPMENT,
Experts are surprised at Plants Which Are Under Way in Alabama, As shown by the Census
 Ren0rfa

Washington. Sept. 26--(SpeciaI. )-The Census Bureau has Issued an advance outline of bulletin soon to be com pleted on Power Employed in Manu- factures.'' The figures given are for the year 1905,
 It is shown that for the whole Unit ed States there was a total of 14,641,- b44 horse power. A surprising state ment Is that the South for the first time in the history of the country out ranks the New England States in the amount of power. This part of the story can best be told in the follow ing taken from the report:
 Among the several geographic di- visions the Middle States ranked first In the amount of power, reporting B. 0O0,S67 horse power. The Central States were second. with 4.077.29S horse power: the Southern States third with 2,3S6,S30; the New England States fourth. with 2.254, 264, the Pacific States fifth. with 474.s97: and the Western States last. with 445.g37. Perhaps the most striking fact revealed by these figures Is that the Southern States re- ported more power than New England. This has not happened before in the history of the country. In this con- nection 1t is interesting to note that the development in the Southern States has been in the utilization of steam power. Tn the South STA per cent of the power was derived from steam and 6.2 per cent from water, but in New England 59.3 per cent was from steam and 29.2 from water"
 Experts for several years have pre- | dicted that ultimately there would be | developed in the State of Alabama won derful water power plants. foremost among which are believed to be those to be erected at Mussell Shoals under the provisions of the bill of Representa- tive richardson passed during the last Congress.
 The Census report just prepared hns this on the subject of water power. The largest amount of water power used in manufactures at the census of 1905 was reported by New York. The | capacity In that State increased from 335,411 horse power In 1900 to 446.134 horse powere in 1905. giving that State 271 percent of the total for the whole country. The continued leader
 ship of New York in the use of water power is due largely to the utilization
 of this kind of power in the paper and
 wood pulp industry. Of the total wa ter power reported by New York ai | the census of 1905, paper and wood pulp manufactures used T3 per cent
 "The next largest utilization of wa ter power in manufactures was report ed by the State of Maine. with 203,094 horse power, followed closely by
 Massachusetts with 1ss,247 horse power 1 Wisconsin was fourth, with 112,66s horse. Tn Wisconsin, as in Maine and New York the paper and wood pull | industry is the largest consumer of wa | ter power. while in Massachusetts the
 cotton and wool industries are the lar gest.
 AS might be expected. in some of the
 States and Territories where the aggrn- | gate of waterpower is least the per
 centage of increase has been greatest
 as the addition of few hundred horse power has been enough to double the | capacity. It Is worthy of note. how
 ever. that the increase between 1900
 and 1905 was 33 per cent in New York 1 27S per cent in Maine, and 21 per cent | in wisconsin. Tn Massachusetts and also in Connecticut and Vermont there
 was virtually no further development | in water power-in fact. n tendency
 toward retrogression is visible in cer-
 tain parts of the New England region. It may be possible that the greater use of steam in some of the industries in the Northern States may be due to the 1 fact that the water powers have al- ready been developed to their full ca-
 Alfred. J. stofer.