The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-16

| new When the public welfare is in
volved, congress should resolve any
power in favor of the people and
against the seekers for a special privi-
| lege-
Reason for His Action.
"Mv reason for believing that the
| federal government. in granting a IL
| cense to dam a navigable river, has
! the power to impose any conditions it
finds necessary to protect the public,
including a charge and Limitation OF
| the time, is that its consent is legally
| essential to an enterprise of this char
| acter. 1t follows that congress can
| impose conditions upon its consent
| The president continues:
| believing that the national gov
| eminent has this power. 1 am con-
WINGED that its power ought to be ex-
ercised. The people of the country
are threatened by a monopoly far
| more powerful, because in far closer
| touch with theid domestic and indus
| trial life than anything known to our
| experience. A single generation will
sources of oil and gas and such a rise
| in the price of coal as will make the
| price OF electrically transmitted water
power a controlling factor in trans
portation, in manufa curing and in
! household lighting and heating. Our
water power alone if fully developed
and wisely used, is probably sufficient
for our present transportation, indus
3.
Most Of it is undeveloped and is still
in national or state control.
An Act of Folly.
ITO give away, without conditions,
this, one of the greatest Of our resour-
ces, would be an act of folly. If we are
guilty Of it, our children will be forced
to pay an annual return upon capt.
talization based upon the highest prices
which the traffic will bear They will
find themselves face to face with pow
erful interests intrenched behind the
doctrine of vested rights and strength
ened by every defense which money can
buy and the ingenuity of able corpor-
alton lawyers can devise. Long before
that time they may and very probably
will have become a consolidated inter-
est controlled 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"
Information collected by the bureau
of corporation says the president, shows
that Is large concerns of which the
General Electric company and the
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacture |
ing company are most important now
hold waterpower installations and adj |
vantageouS power sites aggregating |
about 1,046,000 horse power, 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 |
Further evidence, he says, makes 1t pro- |
bable that these Is concerns directly or /
indirectly control developed water power /
and advantageous power sites equal to
more than SO per cent of the total water
power now in use.
This astonishing consolidation" says
the president, has taken place practi-
cally within the last five years.
Movement Still Young.
The movement is still in it's infancy
and unless it is controlled the history
Of the oil industry will be repeated in
The hydro-electric power industry, with
results far more oppressive and disas-
.rous for the people.
1T is, in my opinion, relatively unim-
1ortant for US to know or not whether
he promoters of this particular project
ire affiliated with any of these great
corporations If we make an uncondi-
iitfona1 grant to this grantee our con-
rol over it ceases. He, or any purchas-
n from him win be free to sell his
lights to any one of them at pleasure.
The time to attach conditions and pre-
Tent monopoly is when grant is made
The great corporations are acting
with foresight, singleness Of purpose {
and v1gor to control the water powers
Of the country. They pay no attention {
to state boundaries and are not inter
ested in the constitutional law affect
ing navigable streams except as it af- *
fords what has been aptIy called a l
twilight zone,' where they may find a 1t
refuge from any regulation I
whatever by the public whether +
through the national or the state gov s
1t is significant that they
are opposing the control of water pow u
er on the DeSplaineS river by the state Y
Of Illinois with equal vigor and with c
like arguments to those with which s
they oppose the national government g
pursuing the policy I advocate. Their {
attitude is the same with reference to
their projects upon the mountain s
streams of the west, where the juris- I
fiction Of the federal government as e
he owner of the public lands and ma a
-ional forests is not open to question. a
They are demanding legislation for I'M t
grants in perpetuity of land h
-or reservoirs, conduits, power houses a
and transmission lines to replace the y
existing statute which authorizes the a
officers of the govern c
nent to impose conditions to protect s
he public when any permit is Issued T
Several bills for that purpose are now b
in both houses These biIlS e
we're either drafted by representatives
If the power companies or similar in g
fleet to those thus drafted" Is
Rainy River Bill.
The president repeats his recon-
nendations made when he vetoed the =
Rainy river bill. This included acts,
Lmong others, providing that water
rants should contain a provision MAX
ng it the duty of a designated official I
o annul the grant if the work is not
arried out in accordance with the =
uthorlty granted. Another provides Y
or license fee or charge which can n
n the future be adjusted so as to Sc q
ure control in the interests of the L
,ublic. He now suggests another con- c
ition. namely, that the license should ="
'e forfeited upon proof that the Ii
ensee has Joined in any conspiracy II
II unlawful combination in restraint p
f trade as is provided for grants of b
oai lands in Alaska. n
the president in concluding says: Il
81 will sign no bill granting a privi- T.
eye of this character which does not