The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-05-28


vastly more than this.
II But this Is only beginning. II
storage reservoirs be erected to cut
off the top of the floods, and feed IL
out during the dry seasons, total OF
230, 100000 horse power can be pro.
duced; that is, seven and one third
times as much as the whole country is
now using!
This is the prize for which the
Water Power Trust is contending
i If horsepower Is worth one hun
dred dollars--and ! am assured by
government experts that for the whole
country this is moderate valuation
j en- this total development would
be worth twenty-three billions of
dollars to the interest dominating it.
The figures sound ridiculous. Yet in
truth no money valuation could be
adequate to measure such power. 1t
would mean absolute domination of
Industry, finance, and transportation.
The Trusts Secret Growth.
The activities of the trust agencies
In gathering power sites extend liter
ally from Maine to California, from
4 Oregon to Florida the trust, in fact,
being particularly strong in those
| four states. The Geological Survey,
the Reclamation Service, and other
agencies Of the government are con-
stantly being apprised Of the activi-
ties of well-orgainzed trust engineers
and promoters in new fields. Today
1t is undoubtedly true that In no field
Of promotion and investment is there
more persistent inquiry for opportun-
tiles, or greater readiness to grasp
them, than In this field Of water pow
er development. All kinds Of go-be-
tweens are employed. Recently 1t
came to official attention that the
General Electric had agents and en-
gineers III the field, with blanket in
structions to investigate and report
on every available power site within
two hundred miles of Boston,! That
means the annexation of New Eng
land, already a sort of suzerainty of
General Electric in power matters.
New England is not only very rich
in water powers, but with electrical
transmission it offers one of the best
markets in which to sell power. New
York, California, and Maine, in order,
are the three richest states at present
in water power development; but
Oregon and Washington are vastly
the richest in personalities The ex-
perts calculate that one third of the
cOuntry's available horsepower is in
those two states. The profound per-
sonal concern which Messrs. James j.
Hill and e. HI. Hartman have dis
played in the development Of those
states, and in getting interests in
every conceivable sort of resources
lands, forests, mines, waters, seems
to have been inspired by quite in
telligent understanding of conditions.
When the scouts of the trust To-
cate a power that promises satisfac-
tory development, they set about
through innocent looking intermedi-
aries to buy up the riparian rights
necessary for it's control. These are
gathered in quietly and unostentati-
ously, without intimation to land
owners that the water power is the
real object. One man will buy piece
Of land for hen farm, and another
because he has a theory that it's Just
the place to raise frogs for commerce.
Ii the stream is navigable one, and
therefore under control of Congress
and the War Department as to naVi-
cation, the next step is to get author
ity, by Congressional legislation, to
build the necessary works. In these
cases, President Roosevelt established
the rule of vetoing all such measures
unless the government and public are
protected. But in case of streams not
nominally navigable there is no such
difficulty, and the states have been
slow to move in protecting their wa
ter powers.
When the trust finds an attractive |
power in control of some independent
interest, it has various ways of pro-
cedure. A case that has recently been
before committees of Congress will IL
lustrate.
Example of Trust's-Methods
Roswell H. Cobb of Gadsden, Ala
bama, owned power at Lock 2,
Coosa River. Alabama, of about 4O,-
600 horsepower, undeveloped. He
had introduced in Congress bill au-
thorizing him to develop it. Into this
bill he wrote every one of the safe
guard provisions in the public interest
that the Inland Waterways Commits
sion and the President proposed. The
bill didn't get reported, however. The I
Electric Bond and Share company, a
trust concern, bought small holding
IL stock in Cobb's company, in order
20 get inside. 1t tried to buy more,
out failed. Then corps of engineers
,urned up one day, examining the
power in detail; ostensibly an indie
PENDENT investigation. Their conclus-
ons were bearish; it wasn't a very
good power, and people would hardly L
ARE to invest money in helping Cobb
nance 1T. This report promptly got {
o the Electric Band and Share Office Y
n Cedar street, New York. Some s
ime afterward Cobb received propos- t
us from Sydney z. Mitchell, vice. |
PRESIDENT and treasurer of the Elec- /
ric Bond and Share company, say {
ng 1t was not much of a power, but |
le would finance it on proper terms. /
10 pointed out that he controlled all
he other powers on the Coosa and t
lad the situation thoroughly under c
ontrol that neither Cobb nor any, 4
'ody else could afford to oppose him. i
lie was willing to take the thing off a
,obb's hands and pay him for his S