Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-01-20
WATER POWER RIGHTS
ENDANGER FUTURE
Make Possible Greatest Monop-
oily the World Ever Saw.
A Few Years Hence We VIII Greatly
Regret What We Are Now Reck-
lessly Giving Away.


divert the water so it may be used
to develop electric power, President
Roosevelt points out to congress what
he considers one of the gravest dangers
confronting the nation.
The president contends that the
beginning has been made toward
building up the greatest monopoly In
the worlds history; one which will
control all electric power in America
by the time when scarcity of coal has
necessitared the use Of electricity
developed by water power for heating,
lighting and transportation purposes.
In his special message he says that
he will fight consistently any attempt
to give private corporations complete
title to any portion of navigable
streams, or waterways valuable for
power purposes. and he deplores the
tendency which he says is leading
congress TO become more free with
these grants than was the case
hitherto.
He says the large corporations are
showing great foresight in attempting
to get title to water power property,
and that at the present time two con-
Germs control a third of all the
water power utilized in the country.
COAL PRICE TO GO UP.
The message in part is as follows:
NM on
prevail house bill No. 17707 to auth
orize William Fl. Sandish to con-
struct a dam across James river, in
Stone county, Mo-, and divert por-
ton of its waters through a tunnel
into the said river again to create
electric power. My reasons for not
signing the bill are:
The bill gives to the grantee a
valuable privilege, which by its very
nature is monopolIstic, and does not
contain the conditions essential to
protect the public interest.
The people of the country are
threatened by a monopoly far more
powerful, because in vastly closer
touch with their domestic ind in
dustrial life, than anything known to
our experience. A single generation
will see the exhaustion of our natural
resources of oil and gas and such
rise in the price of coal as will make
the price of electrically transmitted
water power a controlling factor in
transportation, in manufacturing, and
in household lighting and heating.
Our water power alone, if fully de-
veloped and wisely used, is probably
sufficient for our present transport
tion, industrial. municipal, and
domestic needs. Most of it is unde.
veloped and is still in national or
state control.
To give away, without conditions,
this. one of the greatest of our re-
sources, would be an act of folly. If
we are guilty of it, our children will
be forced to pay an annual return
upon a capitalization based upon the
highest prices which ''the traffic will
bear They will find themselves
face to face with powerful interests
intrenched behind the doctrine Of
vested rights" and strengthened by
every defense which money can buy
and the ingenuity of able corporation
lawyers can devise. Long before that
time they may and probably will have
become a consolidated interest, CEN
troIled from the great financial centers,
debating the terms upon which the
citizen can conduct his business or
earn his livelihood and not amenable
to the wholesome check of local
opinion.
HAVE THIRD OF SITES.
The total water power now In use
by power plants in the United States
is estimated by the bureau of census
and the geological survey as $500,
600 horse power. Information col
lected by the bureau of corporations
shows that thirteen large concerns, of
which the General Electric company
and the Westinghouse Electric and
COMPANY OAO AAOSl
important, now hold water power in
stallations and advantageous power
sites aggregating about 1,046, 600
horsepower, where the control by
these concerns is practically admitted.
This is a quantity equal to over 10
per cent of the total now in use.
Futher evidence of a very strong
nature as 10 additional intercorporate
relations, furnished by the bureau,
leads me to the conclusion that this
total should be increased to "a per
cent; and still other evidence, though |
less conclusive. nevertheless affords
reasonable ground for enlarging this