Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1916-08-19
WATER POWERS
NOT COLD MINES
Steam Plants Compete Closely
In Electric Production.
BY HERMAN e. WALKER.

IOI9 COuSLCSS COA(CAAAAA6 "AAA~AA ~
much misunderstanding and misinfor-
nation exists as with reference to the
pending water power legislation The
Shields and Myers bills propose terms
under which capital viii be encouraged
to build water power plants. Oppo-
nents of these measures would pass
laws the effect of which would be to
discourage investment in these enter
prises-
Nobody denies the Importance of our
water powers or that it is well to have
them put to work. To be told. however.
as the country has been told. that wa
ter powers are so important and valua-
BILE that a great trust is seeking to |
grab and control them all in order that |
it may dominate all power using indus |
tries in the country. is ridiculous to one |
who knows anything of the question.
In the first place. water power is not |
always cheap power. In many sections |
of the country it Is cheaper to generate |
electricity by steam than to develop the |
local water powers The steam turbine
and other Improvements in machinery
in the last dozen years have brought
about this situation. The average cost
of building water power plant is from
800 to $3.50 per horsepower. Some
very large water powers can be devel-
oped for less, but they are the excep-
tions A big modern steam plant can
be built for $40 or $50 per horsepower.
Counting interest, taxes, depreciation.
obsolescence, etc. on this additional
investment, it often happens that it is
cheaper to build and buy coal for
steam plant. The actual economy in
use of water powers is confined solely
to the saving in coal and labor bills.
Then, too, the question of which kind
of power is cheaper depends very
much upon the use made of the pow
! err. Electric current in large quanti-
| ties cannot be put in storage and kept
| until needed. It must be generated at
the moment OF use. Where electricity
| Is used for chemical, metaIlurgica1 and
| other industries which run day and
night, water power may be cheaper.
even counting larger interest and over
head charges. 1t doesn't cost much
more to run a water power plant con-
! tinuouSly than to run it few hours
| day. The more continuously it is OPP
Grated the less is the cost per kilOwatt
/ of the current generated. Where pow
err Is needed for general utility pur-
! posesEhouse lighting, street cars and
industries that run only eight or ten
| hours day-the water power plant is
/ not ECONOMICAL, because us 1ull CdpdC-
ity, which must be used to make the
power cheap, cannot be utilized, and it
Is often cheaper to generate current In
steam plant which can be shut down
part of the time without so much loss
in overhead charges.
It is like farmer borrowing money
to buy tractor to do his blowing. If
| he has farm big enough to keep the
machine busy most of the time, it is
| good investment and saves him mon
ey. If he has only few acres to pillow,
and the machine stands idle most of
the time. it would be cheaper for him
| to do his small blowing with horse
For the reasons given a big steam
plant is now being built in Buffalo, al
though Niagara Falls, the biggest wa
ter power plant in the world, Is only
few miles away. Buffalo's utilities
and Industries, running only part of
the time. can get power cheaper from
coal, while big chemical plants which
run day and night have located at Nj
agara because for their purposes the
power is the cheapest available.
Where there are water powers that
can be developed and operated advan-
tageously it frequently happens that to
use them to advantage these water
powers have to be supplemented by
steam plants In some cases one
stream will have a low water season
at time when another stream is rum
ming in food. If these two water pow
ers can be united in one system it is
possible to get more constant and
uniform supply of power than If they
are under separate control
Chief Engineer o. c. Merrill, of the
u. 8. Forest Service, explains the adj
vantages of monopoly in the power
business in a recent report to the Unit
ed States Senate, as follows:
Monopolization of the supply in any Civ.
en- territory makes possible through In
, terconnection of stations and through
diversihcation of load. economies of op-
Grafton that would not be possible for iso-
lated independent stations Interruptions
5 to service may be Iessened. the needs OF
r the customer may be better served and
rates may be lower with single power
system than with several No better serv-
: ice is given and no lower rates charged
2 than In California, where, notwithstand-
ing the considerable municipal develop
ment 80 per cent of the total primary
: power is owned by public service cor
r porations or In Montana, where SO pei
v cent is owned by two affiliated corpora
lions.
Water powers are not always gold
q mines by any means The records
: show that something like $4,000, 00C
: Is invested in water power plants In
the Unified States that have been In