Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1915-12-03
WATER w QUESTIONS.

great responsibility in deciding the
question presented in the application
for an incorporation to develop a great
water power on the Middlebury river.
On general principles they must favor
industrial development and the addition
of some 10, 900 horse power for the bust
ness of the State would seem to be a
public benefit. But every such proposal
must be considered on its merits, and
before the Commission can grant a
charter which confers the right of emf
nent domain, certain questions must we
carefully weighed.
Among such questions are these: Are
the promoters men of ability, financial
and otherwise, to put the project
through? Is there real need of the
service they propose to render? Will
the construction be safe, so as not to
endanger lives and property by the
possibility of a flood? Have the pro-
motors sufficient lands and rights to
justify them in such an application?
Are there other public interests which
would be damaged by the proposed con-
struction beyond the power of any f.
%nancial consideration to compensate?
Will the project further the general
good of the State or merely some partic-
ular locality, perhaps at the expense of
other regions which have a higher
natural claim to such benefits?
Several OF these questions have an
important bearing on this petition.
What have the people of East Middle
bury and the farms lower on the river
to say of a dam 200 feet high impound-
ing 200, ZOO, 900 cubic feet of water in
the gorge above their homes? What
does Ripton think of abandoning a mile
and a half of the best of their road
down the mountain, that immediately
below their village, and returning to the
old road on the mountain, with it's al
most impossible grades? Is not Bread
Loaf Inn entitled to some consideration,
upon which Joseph Battell spent SO
much money and by which he attracted
so many distinguished visitors to Yer
mont? And how about Mr.. Battell's
specific prescription that the gorge
should be preserved forever as one of
the beauty spots of Vermont for the
benefit of the people of the State and
the visitors to her borders? Is a COM
mercial company to be given the right
to defeat such a noble, generous our
pose for the sake of their own profit?
The right of eminent domain is a verv
serious matter and should be granted
only when large public interests unques-
tionably demand it. 1t is a question
whether it should ever be accorded for
a water power project, in which the
purpose is to sell energy to private con-
sumers. There may be cases where the
owners of a large fraction of the ri
parian rights necessary for a power
may justly call in the right of condem-
nation against the owner of a small
fraction of such rights, but TO ropos
its use in favor of a small owner against
those who control a much greater por-
ton of the stream is against fundamen-
tai principles of equity and reason.
A very large and important social
question is involved in this local prob
lem. The ease and comparative low
cost of conveying electrical power long
distances is tending to concentrate in
dustry and population in large centers.
There is nothing in the law to prevent
the transmission of all the energy of
Vermont's white coal to a half dozen
central points. But there can be no
question that in the long run the inter-
ests of Vermont will be served, not by
a few large and flo%urishing centers, but
by hundreds of small, thriving villages,
scattered in and out among the noun
tains from n end of the State to the
other. Such hamlets furnish the best
markets for surrounding farms and en-
courage an ever agricultural prosperity
throughout the State. Schools and
churches are encouraged and every
moral and social interest is furthered.
A town that is blessed with water
power and lets it go for a temporary
advantage to build up industry forty
miles away has sold its future and
placed a terrible handicap on unborn
generations. Middlebury may once
more thank its good friend Joseph
Battell that he has placed in the hands
of those who revere his memory the
means that are likely to be able to pre-
vent such disaster in its case.