Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-28
StenOgraphiC Record to
M Complete Wednesday House.

4 a power house costing S91 goo; they
! have beer lighting Camden and Rock
land and Thoma ston and Rockport al
i these years, and as far as l know anc
!, can understand, | have never heard oil
i any complaint until now.
/ We have heard some complaints
here in regard to the rates being high.
l do not blame the people of Rockland
for wanting cheaper power; we all
want cheaper power and we all want
cheaper light, and every man has Il
right to those things if he can get
| them. | find that there never has
been any solicitation to this company
| for lower rates. In the year 1905
| this company voluntarily cut down its
| rates for lighting and power % per-
cent, three years later they cut again
| 10 percent for men who paid cash be
| fore the 18th of the month; and two
| or three months ago they cut again -
percent, which makes a cut in p years
| or less of about 50 percent in the rates
| in those towns.
Another thing. find that within 10
years these directors have been reach
! ing out in all directions for cheaper
pOntI loI lity lidNt itCo
to reach out for water power because
they We're using steam power which is
very expensive. They have had en-
gineers in different parts of the coun-
try making examination, and they
could not find any cheaper power.
find that in Bangor they went TO Mr..
Graham with his great power on the
Union River in Ellsworth, and he
could not help them. | find later that
Mr. Shaw of the Knox County Power
Company came to one of the directors
and told him that he had cheap
power to sell in Union. That was the
very thing this man wanted. They
went there and found that there was
nothing there, the horse power was too
small. Mr. Shaw said that ne hal
power there and that he would sell 1t
cheap and this man said to him that
when he was ready to come to them
with power for sale they would buy
the power. but he never came. be-
cause he had no power to deliver: but
he did have 100000 of bonds to float
on a $4,000 property and today there
isn't more than $4,000 in il after the
dam is completed
| know that year ago the directors
of this corporation in Rockland came
to the Central Maine Power Company
with it's headquarters in this city ana
made contract here with the Cen
trail Maine Power Company, with It's
great power sites on the kennebec
and with surplus power to sell, and
they made contract for 5000 horse
power to be delivered to the city of
RockIand for 20 years. 365 days and
s65 nights in year, for 90 years. This
great company has agreed to send
over its copper wires a distance of 40
miles to Rockland this mighty power
of 1900 horse power, and it guarantees
if the water power breaks down 1t
will hitch up Roekland and Knox
county to it's splendid power station
down here in Earmingdale built at ire
mendous cost.
This great line has been built. ard
since the first of March too. and tn.
Central Maine Power Company has
been shooting that current across the
woods and valleys and highways until
ii reaches Rocklan1, 40 miles away.
This line cost them $4,000 to build,
and it cost the Rockland, Thomaston
and Camden Railway 100000 for
transformers in their station, And so
in year TO help the situation over
there in Knox county and 10 help
Roekland and Thomaston and the ou.-
lying towns to obtain cheaper power
these people have spent $3.50
within a year; and before that these
ten men from the time of their first
investment until now have put into the
plant over fourteen hundred thousand
dollars.
| want to urge this thing-I know
these facts, and if they are not facts
they may be contradcted here-but |
do want to say this, and possibly this
may have had some influence on the
action of the committee. My good
friends in Knox county have redress,
and If they cannot get the measure
through this Legislature-and nothing
like this has been asked for Portland,
or for Lewiston. or Watervilie. or for
Augusta, or for any city lin Maine
where these vested rights are. There
is going through this Legislature now.
and sure TO pass 1t. a great public
, utilities measure. There is no OPP
position TO it. They have been trying
/ to get good bill here, and believe
they have got a good bill, That bill
| is going to pass this Legislature in its
present form and with no opposition.
| We are looking to Governor Haines To
appoint three men who may he big
| enough and qualified by their ability
! and experience to sit upon this COM
| mission. as big men as are today upon
! the supreme bench of our State. q
| When this commission is organized,
as | say, the people of Rockland can
leone before it, and the people of Knox
| county can come before it, and if my
| memory serves me right there is a
clause in this bill providing that if
this commission of three men finds
| that public convenience and public
NECESSITY warrants the coming in of
the Knox County Power Company to
4 Rockland and Thomaston, they may
go in regardless of what we may say
/ here; and If ihe commission turns
these men down they Still have re-
course here to another Legislature. I
4 think that is fact. The question of
rates NAV no hrOupht before this