Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-02-12
Industrial Supremacy At Stake.

| F,uronean countries have taken up
the question of the regulation of wa
ter power development with more care
than we have. Experts have been en-
Gagged in investigating the subject fer
several wears and such information as
been brought directly to the attention
of their various governments They
have discovered a feature of the stu
alton which has been largely overlook
ed in America and that is that electric
energy generated by water power can
be made a powerful magnate to draw
manufacturing enterprises into any
country if proper attention is given to
low power cost to the consumer.
This matter is treated at some length
by Marshall o. Leighton chief hydro
grapher of the United States Geologi-
cal Survey, in pamphlet recently is
sued by the department of the inter-
or MIR. Leighton's observations are in
the form of an introduction to a more
lengthy discussion of hydraulic power
and irrigation by Rene Tavernier.
chief engineer of the department of
public works of France. Mr.. Leighton
traces the development of water power
from the time it was available only in
the immediate vicinity of the water
Coll ,,rL q
dro- electric plant with limited facili-
ties for distribution, to the time when
it became a public utility because of
the ability to transmit the energy long
distances.
Under the old regime any company
which owned a series of power sites
ard properties simply operated that
number of independent plants. The
only cooperation among them came
from the shipping of the matter man
ufactured from point to point and then
collecting it again for the market. The
sale Of power for the use of others
was restricted entirely to the radius
within which it was practicable to dis
tribute electricity. Long distance
transmission, however. enables those
who desire it to combine the power of
several plants into large system so
that an exceptionally heavy load on
one part may be met by making avail
able the surplus of power which may
be generated at some distant point
According to Mr.. Leighton such a
combination causes the large number
of isolated power plants to become
public utility and subject to public
regulation. He states his position in
the following language:
Mechanical energy is one Of the
prime necessities of a productive
people. and transmitted energy,
distributed over an area, must, in
the nature of things. dominate the
situation. 1t becomes public
necessity. and when the power is
devoted to such use the public ac-
quires an interest therein, just as
it acquires an interest in rail-
roau that, passing through an!
section of the country, becomes an
agent of transportation, which is
but another factor of trade and
economic progress. 1t will not be
commended that facilities for pro-
duction are any less important TO
public interest than facilities for
transportation. Viewed from ev-
cry angle, the public economy in
these two factors is identical in
principle. One water power or a
chain of powers may. under cleo
tric transmission. become the seat
of productive energy over an area
of 500 or 900 square miles, and
this area will progressively in
crease in the efficiency of electric
transmission. Therefore present
conditions of economic demand on
such source of power have by
no means reached their limit, al
| though the principle itself may be
| fully established.
| He then takes up the discussion of
price, saying that the rental is, I'M