The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-01-09
st. Louis Situation.

osition.
ST. Louis Situation.
i Explaining the st. Louis situation,
Mr.. Edgar said that the North Amer
lean company had the contract at SIS
per horse power per year. the income
to the water power company being
s1,0S0,000 per year from st. Louis.
j This did not includs the cost OF trans
mission or any other expense, he said.
The North American company at St.
Louis had expended million and a
half in installing distributing plant
and was now selling the. power to
other companies at SIS per horse
power, he said
Mr.. Edgar went on to say that the
acutal money expended in building
the Keokuk dam and in acquiring the
transmission line and overflow rights
amounted to s24.O00,000 In actual
cash.
As illustration of the fact that it
was much cheaper to use power from
the dam than to continue the use of
power supplied by coal, Mr.. Ddgar
said that the big cement plant near
Hannibal had spent over 100000 in
equipping one of its mills for the use
OF the electricity from Keokuk.
Would they spend all that money, he
said, if they were being held up on
the price?
i The power was ito be transmitted
4 to Burlington, Fort Madison. was be-
ing used in Keokuk and Dallas City,
Hannibal and other places within
the power zone, as well as in Quincy,
where a commercial agent has been
at work for year interesting local
manufacturers in the cheap power.
anG, doing some good work. A com
pany had been formed to take some
Of the power from the station at
state and then to the southern part
Of the state. But thu Mississippi Riy-
er Power company did not have one
cents interest in any corporation thai
sells power and he wanted that d s.
tinctly understood.
Not Buying Up Railways.
The Stone & Webster people were
not buying up railways, light plants,
or anything of the sort, in order to
control the power situation, said Mr.
Edgar. as had been charged by Con-
gresham Rainey. And to make the
statements of the congressman all tn.
more absurd. he said that all the
firms that were buying power had
shut down their own steam plants in
from the dam. This indicated quite
plainly that the power company has
not been holding up its customs, or
charging them more than the old
style power had cost
His company was very much inter
ested in establishing industries along
the Mississippi river. It was necss
| sary TO have these plants or the com
pany would make failure of the
business. The business that it Ii ID al
ready obtained would not pay a fair
rate OF interest on ths investment SO
It was necessary to bring users OF
power to this part of the country
they must get more business if they
expected it to pay. Small manufac
turers wer- what We neeoed out this
way. he said, as they are what help
! to build up city.
In order that the people might I'M
: derstand more about it, 1t was e1
planned that by the terms of the con
tract with St. Louis that II it becam
necessary the water power company
could call on ST. Louis for as much
OF that 10000 horsepower as wa:
necessary, should the occa sion arise
: when this would be necessary be
cause OF condition which might arts
: later. The ST. Louis company WIS re
qui:ed under the contract to have a
!, steam reserve plant in working order
all the time, so that they would no,
be put out of commiss on should they
4 havs to temporarily give UP thei.
power from keokuk
Don't Interfere with Navigation.
The statement that the wlter above
the dam interferes with navigation i.
untrue, says Mr.. Edgar There hac
baen mistakes made OF course. a
first, because OF lack OF experience OF
the part of those operating the powe
. plant. There had been times, hi
= said, when boat would tie up a
!. thu wharf at Keokuk and few hour
later find itself h gh and dry Blu
:. this was not due to the water powe
!, company holding back the flow of tn,
: water, simply due to mist lkes wnicl
had been discovered and rectified. H.
knew, and the government engineer
:, knew, that the dam was an aid t.
navigation, not an imped.ment, ant
by this time Il Ext yea every rive
:. man in the country will be pr sin
the power company for what it Is do
: ing instead of condemning it as ha