The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-05-22
ELECTRIC POWER

We have on our exchange table a
copy of the Baltimore Manufacturers
Record, a publication which is max
ing strenuous efforts to have the star
of empire take her course in this di-
rection. 1t believes that this can be
done by the proper exploitation and
development of our wonderful re-
sources.
Every week the Record gives ac-
counts of the utilization of some wa
ter power and it believes that our wa
ter power is our greatest asset.
The last number of the Record de-
votes two full pages to a description
of the developments being made by
the Alabama Power Company, on the
Coosa river. The Record says that
when the series of power houses of
this company are completed it will
have it it's disposal approximately one
million horsepower of electric energy
at it's disposal 1t is already furnish
ing this subtle current to many cities
and manufacturing establishments as
far away as Gadsden.
Let us make a quotation:
"It means cheap, clean and always
available power for every kind of in
dustrial operation, large or small, with
the consequent development of manu-
70 0tr1riDc hnr0 cao1n nfh nrJyiS q
out of the question. 1t also means the
introduction of large users of power
which are not found here, and which
would not come unless power in large
units and at cheap rates could be OBJ
tanned. It means that Birmingham is
about to enter an entirely new era,
the era of refined manufacture. of con-
verting pig-iron and steel billets into
finished products, and it means also
the vast expansion of the cotton in
dustry in all this section Of the south
lit means in addition the introduction
of all sorts of electro-chemical indus
tries, electrical furnaces for smelling
iron and making steel, and for all the
other electro chemical processes in
use in Germany and European coun-
tries today"
This correspondent of the Record
writes from Birmingham, which is To-
Gated in the very heart of the coal re-
gion. The manufacturers there can
buy coal for one dollar and
quarter per ton, and yet they find it
cheaper to buy their electricity from
the Alabama Power Company than to
manufacture it themselves, when the
coal is theirs almost for the digging.
The same coal would cost us four
dollars and half per ton, and yet it
is argued that we can pay this price
for coal and manufacture our own
electricity cheaper than two cents-a
cheaper price, Mr.. Kyle says, than
Gadsden, Alabama, is paying for her
electricity at the present moment.
We hove no other interest in the
matter save as citizen looking to-
wards the best interests of the city,
and we would hate to sleep over our
rights, and let other cities appropri-
ate what rightly belongs to us.
What Mr.. MacKay said concerning
the Ocala Iron Works ought to open
our eyes and put us to thinking.
We are perhaps losing the oppor-
tunity of life time.
1t would be well for us to remem-
Der what the gifted and long sighted
Shakespeare said:
There is tide in the affairs OF men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to
fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage Of their life
Is found in shadows and in miseries."
The words of this savant applies to
cities the same as to individuals.