The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-04-09
ToPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. y. c.
PRICES AND POWER.
Washington. d. c

new metHO0 Tor reducing the H. y. Oh
L. may be added to the thousand or
mere that have already been suggest
eL Govern tent sci. rtists now say
that the price of all manufactured
commodities. from breakf. t foods to
battleships, will come down when the
United States leans how to make
economical use of it's power resources.
And not only waite. power. We all
know that millions of horsepower are
being wasted in our streams. and con-
gross is at work, mere or less, on the
waste power problem. But now
drive il being started to encourage the
development of electrical pow ! at the
coal mines, thereby saving the bill
lions it costs us to haul coal about the
country by rail-
The United States is rich in the
natural resources which produce
power, and as a result, the develop
ment of power has proceeded in
however, the nation came perilously
near a power shortage The govern
ment grew worried and ordered
series of power inve stigations, the re-
suits of whiclA-show tat a tremen-
dous amount of power is going to
waste in this country.
The water-power bill, providing for
the develo. ment of water power under
federal control, is the first step to
remedy this situation. The next step
will be the generation 60 electricity at
the coal mines instead of generating it
in hundreds of individual steam plans.
Both of these propositions have been
considered by mining engineers and
scientists for many years, but it took
the war to impress the need for them
upon the nation.
Increased power means increased
production. and the only way to lower
prices is to produce more goods. A
man must produce more goods before
he gets a larger share of them. One
of the greatest mistakes that organ
lied labor has ever made. according
to government officials, is to oppose
the introduction of power and thereby
of machinery. This it has stubbornly
done on the grounds that the intro
duction of machinery decreased the
number of jobs. It is true, of course.
that it does decrease the number of
unskilled jobs. but it increases the
number of skilled jobs. paying higher
wages. 1t is to the advantage of the
unskilled workman to become skilled
workman just as soon as he can, for
brain always commands higher price
than muscle. His producing capacity
is raised, and he is able to command
higher wage. The American workman
produces more goods than the Euro
pean workman, and his staI.dard of
living is correspondingly higher.
age of power in this country would
halt it's Industrial progress which con-
sists of this gradual rise of machinery
and of growth in the skill of the
workmen.- Any great expansion in
our industries can take place only thru
the increased development of power.
Secretary Lane of the interior, who is
one of the strongest advocates of the
water-poWer bill, declares that there
must be a large increase in power
production during the next few years
if the United States is to survive inter-
national competition.
"Only by increased economy in the
production and distribution of power
will it be possible for our manufac-
turers to decrease their PRODUCTION ex-
penses and compete successfully in the
worlds markets." he says, maintain
ing at the same time the American
standard of wages and living"
Coal is the source of most OF the
power generated in this country, and
it is one of the best examples of in
dustrial extravaganza for which the
consumer ultimately pays.
One-third of the work OF our rail-
roads is hauling coal from mine to
market. In the markets, as much as
one-fourth of this coal is used to gen.
crate electricity Electricity Is the
only commodity in everyday use which
is not shipped in its refined state. Sup
pose, instead of concentrating gold at
the mine, it was shipped as ore to the
market centers? Or, suppose the
farmer, instead of reducing his corn
to the smallest weight and size,
shipped it on the Cob? You can see
what q huge, unnecessary burden
would be placed upon the railroads.
THE only difference between these
commodities and electricity is that
electricity cannot be Grated and sent
~, frnf ho fn q
special kind of carrier.
Because this special kind of car
rier did not exist, our industries have
followed the line of least resistance
and have continued to import their
electricity in the form of coal. I'm
der the new policy of power economy
this practice cannot go on. For the
economical thing to do is to make the
electricity right at the coal mine and
send it to adjacent cities by wire
The system has been tried out in re-
cent years in various places and found
to be practicable. At present the
maximum distance at which electricity
may be successfully transported to the
market from the mine is ESQ miles,
which IS about the distance from New
York to Washington.
A couple of years ago, two large
electric power plants were supplying
the city OF oungStoWn, o.. and ad-
jacent small cities extending into
Pennsylvania, with power. They saw
that great waste could be eliminat-
ed if the two plants combined into
one power plant at the coal mine.
Such plant has now been built at
the mouth of a coal mine near Wheel
ing, on the Ohio river, and is operat-
ing at greatly reduced costs. Elec-
tricity is being generated there and
sent to several nearby cities by. a sys-
\ tenn OF wires. Another plant of this
type is in operation at coal mine
in Alabama in the Birmingham dis
trict. 1t has been found that in ad-
uition to saving the transportation
charges of shipping coal by freight a
great saving in coal at the mines has
been effected. For large quantity
of inferior coal can be used to gem
crate electricity at the mine, which
would not shave been shipped, but