Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1909-01-22
Who Owns the Water

The same organized greed Wnlcn mas
already exploited the other natural
resourc IS of the country for personal
gain is now doing its audaciOus and
crafty best to secure control also of
the water. And unless the public does
wake up-and wakes in wrath, sJernly
determined to protect forever the
remnant of it's birthright-twenty-f five
years will add to the present peerage
Of IronmasteCs, Coal Kings, Land
Barons, aud Petroleum Princes,
vastly greater list of Monarchs of
Water. And an aristocracy of wealth,
based on HzO is more dangerous than
any other; coal. iron. copper and oil
deposits will some day be exhausted;
properly conserved the water supply
will last forever and wealth based on
it's control will go on increasing to
the md of time.
To the myoplc and Indifferent public
the idea of few men getting control
of the water supply and Of drawing
vast wealth from that cUntrol will
sound like the foolish wall of a crack
Drained sensationalist; it will arouse
only fatuous smile of ignorant con-
tempt. But the readers of this maya
zine have heard of the turbine water
wheel: they know what is meant by
the long distance transmission of
electric power; they are able to real
ize what it means to hand over, for
ever, as free gift TO a little coterie
of men the absolute control of the
incalcuabIe power developed by the
rivers and streams Of the United
States And-pray God-once they do
understand the situation, they will
not smile, buG smite. The Congress
Of the United States and the legisla-
lures of the various states are the
danger points which must be constant
iy watched if the people are to be
saved from spOilatIOn.
When the first cost of a water pow
er development and distribution plant
have been met, it will put the richest
gold mine to shame in the potent mat
ter of profits. In rhe latter case the
supply of ore must be continually dug
from deeper and deeper levels; this
ore must be crushed and the gold ex-
tracted at considerable cost for la
Dor and materials and every night
the mine owner goes to bad with the
fear that on tUmrr0w his rich veins
may pinch out into stratum Uf
worthless schist. The owner of a
warer-power. on the other hand, if the
watershed of the stream which he con-
trUls is properly protected-and this
work the people will be forced. for
compelling reasons, 20 do at their own
expense, no matter who gets the in
cIdental beneft-maY sit snugly st
home, knowing that at no cost for raw
materials; no cost of manufacture or
labor-save the trIfle required for the
upkeep and management of his plant
his spinning turbines will deliver
every day and twenUy-four hours each
day two. five, ten thousand horse.
power. available anywhere within two
hubuACu hIllSS at eh0 SiIu VI q COPpCl
wire the size of mans thumb. And
in any market such power is worth
upwards uf twenty dollars per year
for each unit. Most comfortable of
all, the happy owner of a perpetual
ater-power franchise rests secure in
the certainty that. humanity speaking,
the golden stream will to the end of
time pour its forty hundred or two hun
thousand dollars year into the dis
tant money bags of his most remote
descendants From "The New Mon
opoly in Water" Oy Henry M. Hyde,
in the February Technical World
Magazine.