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

been delivered, was one of the mos
important In my whole administra
ton. This proposal, now far unde
way to accomplishment, of monopo
lizing the nations water power, ha
significance which ought to be mad,
clear to the people. / shall be yer,
glad to see proper effort to inform
the country concerning this far-reach
ing project"
1t is proposed to tell as simply a,
possible what the Water Power Trus
is, what is has done, what 1t is plan
ming to do, how it operates, and wha
its grip on the nation would mean.
Skeleton Of the Water Power Trust
Up at the top of this scheme stant
the General Electric Company, witt
$65, 900, 900 capital and $4,000, 0O(
funded debt, and the Westinghouse
Electric and Manufacturing company
with $28,000,0 900 stock and 500, 00O,.
900 funded debt. The General Elec.
trio owns all the shares of the Edison
and Thompson-Houston companies
and the Electric Bond and Share com.
pany are COR ,lle1; and the com.
pany is idt .4fed in various ways
with mar other companies.
Rels ions between the General
Electric and Westinghouse are indi-
fcated by the fact that since 1895 their
patents have been pooled. The West
inghouse company controls the stock
OF British, Canadian, and French
Westinghouse companies; both Gen
eral Electric and Westinghouse in
terests appear in the Off1ciary or d.
rectorates of the numerous corpora
tions that are broadly denominated as
related to the Water Power Trust.
The investigations by the government
have caused the following companies
to be classified as of General Electric
affiliation.
United Electric Securities, Electro
cal Securities Corporation, Electric
Band and Share company, Schenecta-
dy Power company, carolina Power
and Light company, Rockingham
North Carolina) Power company,
Animas Power and Water company
(Colorado), Central Colorado Power
company, Montgomery (Alabama)
Light and Water Power company,
Summit County Power Company
Colorado, Butte Electric and Power
Company (Montana), Montana Power
transmission company Madison Riv-
er Power company (Montana), Bill
ings and Eastern Montana Power
company, Washington Water Power
Company Washington and Idaho)
Great Western Power company (Cali-
formal, besides number Of others
whose connection with General Elec-
trio is indicated
Standard Oil Names Prominent.
Finally, it is worth while to OBJ
serve that the General Electric is
commonly regarded as affiliated close
~ with the group denominated "Stan-
dard OIL that j. P. Morgan and
Charles Steele, of the Morgan house.
were in 1908 directors in the General
Electric; and that the names of
Standard Oil people are constantly re.
curing throughout the lists Of officers
and directors Of these companies.
Even the most casual study of inter-
corporate relationships brings out the
approximate community of interests
throughout this widely scattered ar
ray OF interests in water power.
Ihere, then, Is the corporate skele-
ton of the Water Power Trust. The
details can be filled in only incom-
pietely lntercorporate relations are
not easily got at and proved. There
are reasons for concealing them in
many cases, and concealment is easy.
It is a matter of common acceptance
that STANDARD Oil has been going in
FOR the water powers, using electrical
transmission The recurrence of
standard Oil names bears out this
belief. Any we'll informed man in
lower New York, looking over the
directories of these grouped concerns,
VIII agree that they represent a
wealth, power, and business expert
snce capable of carrying out even SO
immense an undertaking as the mo-
1opolization of the countrys power.
The probable willingness of the men
n power to use that monopoly to i'm
pose their owns terms may be Judged
~ experiences of the past. President
roosevelt seems to have suspected |
such Willingness, for in the James
river veto he declared that if the |
water powers be given away reckless
" our children will be forced to
'ay an annual return upon capitali-
alton based upon the highest prices
which the traffic will bear Thew
viii find themselves face to face with
'oWerfuf Interests intrenched behind
he doctrine of vested rights and
trengthened by every defense which
money can buy and the ingenuity of
bic corporation lawyers can devise.
.ong before ,--,.t time they may and
robably will have become consol-
dated interest, controlled from the
reat financial centers, debating the
erms upon which the citizen can con-
uct his business or earn his liveli-
ood."
This aggregation of interests was
ldicted by Presiden .sosevelt on
re charge of seeking control Of water
over. What will it have if 1t sue
aeds?
'hat Water Power Trust Means to
the Country
The photographic bureau Of the
Biological Survey has been for MANY
ears studying water resources. mea-
ring the flow of streams, and work
lg out the subjects that relate to
alter supplies. 1t has carefully com
led data showing that the minimum