The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-09-21
Means Boon to
Prosperity OF
the Nation
By FRANKIN X. LANE, Secretary
of the Interior

trial nations life. Today we produce
most Of the commodities which make
for this preparedness. To produce the
others is very largely a matter Of de-
yeloping those resources we have neg
lected, and in the forefront Of these
neglected are our water pow
erS.
Such development will open to the
West an industrial era Of such POSSIBLE
tiles as have been almost undreamed
of. The fuels available include natural
gas, Oil, Ignite and coal. The coal, re-
duced to coke, offers raw material for
the production, by electric smelling
processes, of the carbide extensively
used for Illuminating purposes. Here
at hand are great deposits of limestone
that will furnish the lime required to
form calcium carbide used in the fixa,
ton Of nitrogen and the production Of
ammonia. At hand, also, are noun
tains Of phosphate rock awaiting the in
stallation of appliances to free its con
tent Of phosphoric acid and combine it
with ammonia as a fertiliZing agency
at less cost than any now known.
Sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate
and sodium chloride are here, the lat
ter offering material for electro-chemi-
cal production Of soaps, bleaching pow.
der, etc, In time Of peace and for the
making in wartime of the deadly chic
rine gas now devastating the trenches
of European battle fields.
Abundant Iron Deposits.
Iron deposits are here in abundance,
which, with fluXing and reducing mate
rails at hand and cheap hydro-electric
power as the agency for reduction, may
make the Pacific Coast a competitor
with the Ohio Valley in the production
of special grades Of pig iron and the
manufacture in electrical furnaces Of
high grade steelS. Also at hand are
the materials for the manufacture Of
such steel alloys as ferromanganese,
ferrochrOme, ferrOsilicOn, ferrOtung-
stem, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and others.
Here are rare metals-barium in the
form Of sulphate and carbonate, zinc
and copper. gold and silver-all await
ing the magical touch of the cheap
electrical potentiality in our wasted
stream flow to make their utilization
the basis Of new settlement, new
towns and cities, new centers OF civil
cation and new sources Of activity and
wealth.
AS a ~by-prOduct. and not an unim-
portant one, of the atmospheric nitro
gen plants, we can produce cyanide,
giving new life and impetus to the
mining and production of precious
metals from low grade ores. In fact,
this material either as by-product or
from metallic sodium produced with
the cheap power available, should
make the Pacific Coast the logical dis
tributing center for cyanide Used In
gold extraction. Our Alaskan copper,
now shipped as far away as New Jer-
sey for smelling, may be cheaply and
probably reduced and manufactured
by electrical processes on the Pacific
Coast, and the same hydro-electric
power which will bring these indus
tries into existence will afford the en-
ergy for cheapened transportation of
their products over electrified railways.
Security Of Investment Needed.
We must depend upon private enter
prise and capital to secure this develop
ment. To enlist private enterprise and
money In the work. our legislation
must offer to investors, to promoters
and builders, the security Of invest
ment and hope of reasonable reward or
return which will induce them to put
their money and brains into these en-
terprises. The door must be securely
locked against exploitation Of the pub
lie need and speculation In future val
ues Of these power sites, but there
must be no improper barriers or handi,
caps to enterprise and development.
Production of cheap power depends
as largely upon the securing Of invest
ment at low rates Of interest as upon
economy Of physical operation. II the
legislative conditions are such as force
capital to earn large returns 1t neces-
sarily means higher priced power and
eliminates many Of the desirable uses
to which cheap power could be put. II
1t is economical to combine more thar
one water power under a single Operat-
Ing control or with one distributing
system which will increase the per-
centage Of generating capacity utiliz
ed and so reduce the unit cost, neither
mere prejudice nor political timidity
should be allowed to prevent such eco
nOmical operation.
The big things which should not be
lost to sight are that use constitutes
the highest form Of conservation Of
water power, that power not used to.
day is wasted. and that power used to.
day does not diminish the potential
value Of the same power for use In the
future, while every kilowatt. of elec-
trical energ. produced by water con.
serves human labor or adds to its
productivity and is the equivalent of a
fuel saving which closely affects not
only present day industrial and social
conditions, but future cost of living MS
well.