The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-01-04
WATER POWER PROBLEM;
WHY CAPITAL HESlTATES.

| u. WALLET odITS III AoS N.AOA-ASN
/ Register: A recent editorial in the
| REGISTER might well be complete
| basis for a settlement of the problem
OF what to do with the wafer powers
now going to waste In the United
States. 1t is sensibly balanced be-
tween the waste involved in further
delay in development and in the need
for the protection of the public. After
all. that problem is very simple TO
all who have given serious study to
the engineering and economic factors
involved The present impasse is also
| simple and id1otic to- those who have
studied it. The facts of record so
that anybody may read them need
only be collated into a systematic
statement to make the whole subject
clear. They extend back about ten
years Most of what follows Is UNI
disputed by anybody worth while. A
very few engineers and capitalists
may claim lack of crown for their
philanthropy, and Clifford Pinchot,
equally warped on the other side, may
complain because no halo is placed
around his marble brow, but the
truth lies between these extremes OF
self-glorification.
The building Of water power re-
and then long development of its
market for power before returns are
possible. The dam and large part
of the other work must be built for
the use Of the first hundred horse
power exactly as if the whole output
were to be used at once. There is
no possibility of profit for the first
years after completion. The output
has a fixed maximum limit, determ-
ined by the quantity of. water and it's
fall, and the plant can never be en-
larged above this limit. Hence, cost
of construction is vital to the capital
invested. A water power develop
ment costing 100000 and producing
maximum of 200 horse power to be
sold at $40 horse power Year viii
pay gross per cent. cc the invest.
ment when the output, is all sold. The
net profit will be / or per cent, or
perhaps nothing.
But suppose that the company
owning that water power should be
compelled suddenly, on short notice.
and at the behest of one man, any
time in the future that one man
pleases. to spend another 100000 to
build an addition to the works costing
another 100000. The $1,000 gross
ASSCAPlo LIZ poWCA WouAu lACh SPCAA
a deficit annually as loss to the
capital invested. OF course, II this
additional expenditure were known in
advance its effect could be calculated
and capital could accept 1t or not, as
II pleased This last method seems
a very easy factor in the problems Of
water power development
But right there is the reason for
the complete cessation of water pow
er development in the United States
just at this time, when capital is
plentiful and willing to take more
than the former risks.
The antiwater power people, mas
| querading as conservationists, like
Clifford Pinchot and his ilk, insist that
in every water power dam permit
there shall be section providing
that the owning company shall build
lock and other appurtenances, OF
any kind designated at any time in
the future by the secretary of war.
The real conservationists who want
to start rivers to turning turbines in
sist that all the required expenditures
be set out in full in the beginning, SO
| that the initial cost may be known in
advance, at least as an estimate.
Water power. development in the Unit
~ SSItSo 40 okSbpOo W a oCdAiOSh oA
that proposition. so simple that a
child may understand 1t and so easily
solved in good conscience that-but
one must be chary about finding, fault
| with the self-appointed pamphleteers
| who seem unable to be cured of poll
tics and posing.
Of course, there are other points
for argument-real argument-but
these other points may easily be set
tied quickly by agreement or COM
promise. Everybody in these latter
days agrees on government regula-
ton of the price at which the water
power shall be sold, somewhat as
railroad rates are regulated. Some
want the secretary Of war to fix the
rates, and some want it done by a
commission; these factions can easily
get together somewhere. Some want
a permit limited to twenty-five years,
and some want 1t extended to q cen.