The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-02-21

S nitric acid for consumption for tn
r most part in the United States. An
+ other large and beneficial use of pow
. Err Is that of pumping water for large
: irrigation projects in the west. There
Y are hundreds of thousands of acre!
7 of land now valuless which will, i
: cheap power can be secured. be made
productive and valuable. Many othel
) similar instances could be noted i
t space permitted
Hydroelectric engineering is a new
science, and it has had to be learned
in the usual expensive though very in
structive school of experience. The
art is less than thirty years old, and
i the first twenty-five or twenty-three
I years had to be spent In education
and as a result lot OF investors, no,
only in the United States. but all over
the world, were bitterly disappointed
In the United States alone poor engt
; reering and undue optimism caused
from 1900 to 1910, twelve water pow
ers to go into liquidation; more than
100000 horse power of development
and $120,000,000 worth Of disappointed
capital went On the black list with in
vestors. This unfortunate stage OF
engineering has now happily passed;
but about the time that engineers had
learned their lesson and were able
conservatively to design and estimate
water power plants, and about the
time the optimists and commercial
men had learned that it IS necessary
to sell hydroelectric power for about
sixty-fve per cent of the cost OF
steam power. along came a wall all
over the United States because it
was said, so-called water power trust
was robbing the people, and then be-
gan a campaign in government circles
end in magazines that reduced the
water power industry to its present
state Of innocuous desuetude. Much
! literature was distributed all over the
country for the purpose Of acquainting
the American people with the alleged
wonderful and deplorable discovery
that the water powers of the country
were being grabbed by so-called
water power trust which was making
undue and tremendous profits out OF
| this natural resource. AS only one
side of the question was presented,
the story was believed and water pow
er companies have been looked upon
with suspicion ever since. Whatever
the object Of this unwarranted attack,
the average citizen who has given no
extended thought to this question fs
possessed with the idea that the water
power industry has been very profit
able one and that there exists water
power trust which is engaged in grab
hing everything in sight. Any intel
ligent truth seeker who has honestly
investigated the subject has found
that no water power trust exists now
or ever has existed, and furthermore
80 CT
competition which no aggregation OF
capital could possibly control; that no
banker is seeking investment in new
banker who has ever made an invest
ment Of this class for his clients will
recite hard luck story Of disaD-
pointed expectations and hopes; that
the market has been flooded with
prospectuses and reports on projects
which no substantial investment in
terest will take up because Of the
present general unpopularity Of water
Iower securities.
The popular theory that water pow
ers provide an easy road to wealth
is not shared by any one Of experience
in the industry. The uninitiated are
naturally not aware of the many haz-
ards connected with most water power
developments. Without going into
details, will merely suggest that a
little thought upon the subject will
convince any intelligent person that
the hazards attached to both the con-
struction and operation of hydro
electric plants are greater than those
attached to almost any other class of
business that can be mentioned.
1t is a great pity that prior to the
rigors Of the government restrictive
action an intelligent official investiga-
ton OF the subject was not made. II
such investigation had been made, it
is certain that the action would not
have ensued, and from that time until
now about two million horse power
now going to waste would have been
developed with its attending blessings
to the public, including the conserva-
ton of a coal and labor cost of more
than one hundred million dollars. In
1907 Governor Hughes was the only
governor out Of twenty-seven COVER
nors in the United States who recog-
nized that Justice first was a fund
amental principle always working for
the greatest good to the greatest num-
Der. He alone of twenty-seven gov
ernors in other states whose leglsla-
lures had PASSED similar laws vetoed
two-cent railway fare law passed
by the New York legislature. on the
ground that it was the duty Of the
legislature first to ascertain what was
just rate, and then establish it. The
action of Governor Hughes showed an
intelligence that some day will be de-
nanded by the people Of all their rep
resentatives: and when Justice first
10 tho dQSRc nj a majority nf
Legislators. then, and not before, the
water power question and q. lot OF
other questions will get the best solu
ton in the public interest.
AS result of the campaign above
noted and the absence Of any investi
cation disclosing water power facts
and conditions, laws were passed
that have practically stopped devel-
opment all over the United States on
navigable rivers and public lands, and
the federal laws DaSsed governing