The Bismarck tribune., 1922-05-22

Mature and man joined forces years
ago to make the province Of Ontario.
Canada, the worlds most highly elec-
trified commonwealth. The effort was
successful. But the residents of On
tario were not content. They took
thought and then took action.
Their achievement has just become
q fact. In consists merely in max
ing Niagara Falls, the mightiest OF
Natures vast possessions, twice as
mighty as 1t was before.
Nature gave to- the province Of On
tariO half interest in this great In
dustrial potentiality. Far-seeing, en-
ergetic Canadians seized upon 1t for
development. e,s47
The result has been the literal cleo
trification Of the province It is 2
province peopled, by the way. with
residents Of the same stock and habit
of life Us Kansas, Nebraska, Indiana,
WESTERN New York, or any other rur-
al community in the United States
which has mot been inundated by the
immigrant swarms of recent years.
But while agricultural sections Of
the United States still live in the dim
flickerngs of the kerosene lamp age,
Ontario from end to end, in farm and
city alike. Is agleam with electricity.
better than one family of every
three in Ontario uses electricity. One
|of every 10 persons in the province Is
q paying consumer OF electricity fur
nished by the Hydro Electric Power
Commission. Eleven complete power
systems are operated by the public
alone. Electrically speaking, the On
tariO kilOwat per capita is the high
est In the world.
People have long since given up the
attempt to marvel at developments Of
science and invention. Once upon
a time, long ago, there was interval
enough between the inventions of the
printing press, the steam engine, the
telegraph, the telephone and the sew
ing machine, for the human race to
pause. to wonder, to gasp. to applaud,
and even to build monuments to the
perssons credited with the great ac-
But during these re-
cent decades, inventions and scien-
tific achievements, automatOns which
do in an hour or so mans lifelong
work, have appeared too frequently
for man to do more than inquire the
price. The ramifications Of electric
possibilities have become too many for
consideration.
In Ontario, on a vast scale, elec-
tficity operates railroads; it also
churns, bakes and does the family
washing for Mrs. Hiram Smith, Of
Tilsonbourg. Huge factories, employ
ing thousands of men, owe their ex-
istence to the utilization of the water
power; besides, Farmer Henry Jones,
at. Brownsville, saves time to cult
Yates his corn because electricity fills
his silos and milks his cows.
But it is not in the variety of ways
in which the, power may be made USE
full that the average observer obtains
his idea of electricity. Rather, it is
the evidence which forces itself upon
the senses. Therefore, it is Ontario
as we'll lighted commonwealth that
appeals to public Imagination.
Ride through the province at night
va lu0 SAoAu VI OSCA 0OeOAAOOAC AVssOos
and your thoughts must dwell upon
lighting. Everywhere the conviction
is impelling that the province is years
ahead of the rest of the world in de-
velopment of its power possibilities.
Little hamlets. which in another ter
ritory would be dark, are as we'll
lighted as some of the great American
cities. Street lights every 100 or 200
feet are not unusual.
Ontario is almost devoid Of coal
supply. That fact was largely instru-
mental in giving impetus to the move
ment for development of the water
power, abundantly available in the
great waterfall Of Niagara. It is true
that early development on the Ameri-
can side of the Falls was great. But
the coal supply from the Pennsylvania
fields was easy of access, and the
need for water power was, therefore,
not SO pressing. The American de-
velopment, too, met the usual hand
leap Of excessive financial exploita-
ton. A New York state legislative
committee as late as 1918 reported
that there was generating company,
q transmitting company and a dis