The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1924-02-07
ELECTRICITY ON THE
FARM
How Maine Rivers viii
Pay Taxes
Letters from DR.. George Otis Smith to
Public Utilities Commission
Oj Maine

Survey. who has Il summer home in
Skowhegan, on the water power ques-
ton, to Chairman Quincy of the Pub
lie Utilities Commission.
Ny dear Chairman Quincy:
Before suggesting what electrih-
cation can do for the people of Maine,
may | remind you that when we speak
of the electrical age we are simply
exploiting a catchy phrase. The out
put OF electricity has been growiAg
from year to year like money at com
pound interest, and the larger part of
the growth comes from the electrif-
cation of machinery, although the
amount of our yearly electric light
bill is fully half a billion dollars.
Electricity is rendering a larger and
more varied service every month.
And this great progress in putting
electric energy at the command OF
man reminds me how thankful the
country should be that Maine never
enacted any law prohibiting the ex-
port OF brain energy across its bor-
ders. The electrification of the
United States and of the world has
been furthered immeasurably by the
service of two great leaders in the
electrical industry, both of them from
Maine. The guiding genius of the
General Electric Company ever since
II was organized has been Charles A.
Coffin, who served as president and
then as chairman of the board of di-
rectors. A younger Maine man, Cen
erai Guy e. Trip, has occupied a
corresponding position as executive
head of the Westinghouse Electric
Company, which shares with the Gen
eral Electric the credit for the great
advance In Harvesting electricity to
new tasks. large and small. 1t
would be hard to pick out two men
to whom Maine and the whole nation
owe more in this sphere of activity
than Coffin and Trip, and fortunate
indeed 1t is that no embargo could
be placed on their genius by the
counties of Somerset and York.
In developed water power, as | said
IN an earlier letter, Maine now stands
fourth among the States, but | fear
she is dropping behind. 1t is true
that Names average wage-earner has
back Of him far more mechanical help
than the wage-earner in any other in
dustrial State, fact explained by the
predominance of paper and pulp mills,
with their relatively larger consump-
tion of power. The establishment of
other industries, the improvement of
transportation, and the increase in
attractiyeness of rural life are all
things to be desired in Maine, and |
take 1t these are the ends sought by
those who advocate holding on to-
Maine 5ivers for Maine use. The
real !. iestion is how to bring about
these results most certainly and most
quickly.
In the Industrial contest Maine has
none too many advantages: we are
far from market and all-rail freights
handicap orr products, though our ex-
cellent harbors give us an advantage
for shipments by waters; we have
little raw material except forest pro-
ducts on which to base manufacturing
industry, and our textile mills ship
In about the same tonnage of raw ma
terials that they ship out of finished
goods. Only in the resources of la
Dor and power can Maine be said to
compete on equal terms with the rest
of the country. Generally, | believe,
the supply of skilled labor In Maine is
far above the average and the supply
of unskilled labor is adequate. The
potential water power is also ade-
quate far beyond the present demand,
yet 1t can not be made available ex-
cept by large expenditure of capital.
The industries OF Maine must have an
abundance of the cheapest power pos
sible to keep the State In the running
While the average power equipment
of labor In the United States is about
3A horsepower per industrial wage
Garner, in Maine it is over horse
power, and If we wish we'll paid labor
and cheap product we must keep up
and even increase that ratio. So the
real question comes down to this:
How can we induce capital to harness
these idle rivers?
| believe that capital will invest in
any large project for the use of Maine
power only as an immediate market
can be seen for the output. Such
market can not be assured unless the
Maine system of power distribution is
made a part of broader system in
which large steam plants are inter-
connected with large water power
plants, serving many diversified Com
munities and interests over a wide
territory, Such system is doubly
economical because 1t means saving
in generation of energy and saving in
consumption of energy. But the cit
izen living in town on the banks of
the Penobscot, the Kennebec, or the
Androscoggn needs to remember the
fact that for electric current at the
same price the energy will preferably
be sold and used near the place of its
generation, simply because more
distant market is handicapped by the
cost of transmission and the actual
loss. of power incident to long-dis-
lance transmission. 1t costs to ship
electricity away from home just as 1t
costs to ship hay or lumber-'the
home buyer will always be preferred
to the full extent of his needs No
Maine statute is needed to make a
seller of anything obey that economic
law.
One phase of electric progress in
this country that Is beginning to at