The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-11-17

is the answer to the demand" reads
the report.
1t has been found that electric power
can be successfully carried over wires
two hundred miles. What the govern
ment is after Is a consolidation of the
present power plants in the vast area
covered by its report, and the distri
button Of power "by wire" This is
entirely feasible by the connecting oi
all the large generating plants-both
steam and power, because each ton OF
coal will be used to the best advantage
and u idle rivers will be made TO
turn. wheels, especially in the regions
fartherest removed from the coal fields.
The scheme for the eastern states
covers about twenty-five per cen of
the population Of the country, but it
has only two per cent of the water
power resources of the United States.
The "~superpower survey will serve
among other things to show the posi-
bilities Of development in other parts
of the country.
Southern power companies are Illus
trating what Secretary of the Interior
Fall is aiming at when he discusses
the possibilities Of "superpower." A
few days ago the first Superpower
zone was put into actual operation in
southern states. An emergency existed
in North Carolina due to a drought
which closed down a dozen textile
mills. The news reports tell the story
as follows: while it is as yet i'm
practicable to transmit electric power
direct such a distance rs that from
Alabama to North Carolina in volume
sufficient to operate large industrial
plants, virtually the same end is
achieved by series of 'te-ins' or con-
nections between half a dozen south
ern power systems. The Alabama
Power company transmit power to the
Central Georgia Power company. That
company put upon the lines of the
Columbus Power company a like
amount of its W power. Similarly
the Columbus company transmits
power of it's own generating to the
Georgia Railway & Power company,
which, in turn, through it's tie-in with
the Southern Power company, deliv-
ers to the local company a like guam
tity of current. The Charlotte com.
pany then deliveries to the Carolina
Power & Light company an amount
Of power equivalent to that which it
received from it's Georgia connec-
ton"
AS is usual, statesmen talk, while
private initiative turns the trick, and
we have in the feat described in the
above Associated Press dispatch an
epoch in electric power development
that brings into realization what has
been a dream of engineers and indus
trial leaders for years.
The territory embraced in West Vir-
ginia had an early start in the max
ing of America, because it was in the
original thirteen states, having been
a part of the "Old Dominion" But
early starts, and good starts, do not
insure a good finish. One is reminded
OF this fact every time Europe and
it's retrogression come up for discus
sion. West Virginia appears to have
been in a state Of turmoil over labor
conditions for years, and at the pres
ent moment there are four hundred
federal soldiers stationed in the state
to maintain peace. These soldiers are
the remnant from those sent there a
few weeks ago when thousands of
miners marched in mobs upon Mingo
county.
Several years ago a reign of terror
existed in the coal mining regions of
West Virginia, and a committee OF
the senate likened the condition to
industrial barbarism. 1t all grew out
of the determination of the mine oper-
ators to keep their workingmen in a
state Of subsection that is not accepta-
BILE to wageworkers in the United
States. This condition never has been
remedied, and although the recent
strike" was settled" West Virginia
is a seething hotbed Of industrial un-
rets, and u~ndisputed testimony before
the Kenyon committee of the senate,
investigating the labor troubles, indi-
Gates that the removal of the troops
would lead to further outbreaks.
Mediation and arbitration of the
present Disputes are fatty rejected by
the mine operators, who evidently be-
long to the medieval variety of auto
Gratis who do not propose to let the
unions tell them what to do" Every
method of ~obscuring the issue has
been resorted to. But the kind OF
sentimental tommyrot that is inspired
in the trouble zone Of West Virginia
is not borne out by the investigations
of the present senate committee, or
other official Investigations that have
preceded it. The facts are that West
Virginia has been for a long period
the dumping ground for immigrants,
and as soon as there is any evidence
that they are becoming A~mericanized
a fresh shipload is poured into their
midst. The melting pot" never is