The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-09
U. $. ON BORDER
 OF GREAT EPOCH,
 MERRILL STATES
Session Of Electrical En- gineers' Convention Held
 x. At Phillips School

America is on the threshold of an in dHstrial epoch that will be marked by "a general distribution and availabil. ity of electric power hitherto unknown o. c. Merrill, executive secretary of the federal power commission, declared in an address Tuesday night before a general session of the American Insti- tute of Electrical Engineers. The meet ing was held in Phillips high school auditorium, so that the public might be invited.
 Mir. Merrill sketched the rapid deyel- opment of hydro-electric projects dur ing the last 17 years, during which the output of all central electric sta tion has increased from six billion kilo- kiiowatt hours which will be attained watt hours to an estimated sixty billion next year. He told how the rapid de- pletion of the nations fuel resources, an dthe difficulties attendant upon sup ply and demand had led to the de- yelopment of water powers, principally on the Pacific coast and in the south ern states.
 Our fuel oil reserves were fast dis appearing, and even if we could as- sume that our ultimate coal resources could be measured in centuries of sup ply, they were in depth beneath the ground, in~distance from point of use, in cost of production and in difficulty of transportation, becoming constantly less accessible" said Mir. Merrill. ..The railroads alone were using one-fourth of our total coal output and one-seventh of our petroleum production. Fifty mil lion tons of coal and one-third of the freight equipment of the railroads was used for hauling coal. Transportation was frequently placed upon them. Some. thing was needed not only to save fuel but to save the burden of it's trans l portation.
 l Water Is Developed Meantime in the western part oi the United States where fuel was scarce it had been necessary to develop water powers, notwithstanding their location far from the center of population This necessity brought about rapid development in the long distance trans mission of electric energy. The strides which have been made in design ana practice in the last decade, not only ir the. west but elsewhere, bid fair to in augurate new era in the development and use of our sources of power-par ticuhrly of our water power-in a greatly increased economy of use, in the gradual substitution of electric en ergy for other forms both in industry and transportation, and in a general distribution and availability of electric power hitherto unknown"
 Mir. Merrill then discussed the super power systems which the government hopes to see intercOnnected in ma tionwide web of transmission lines. Su perpower distribution, he said, will pro vide improved electrical service, will make practicable a much greater ust of our water powers, with consequent saving of fuel and reduction of rates and, finally, the decentralization of in dustry. ~
 Government Control
 Referring to public relations betweef I the utilities and the state and nation
 Mir. Merrill described til estate reguia | ton to which they are subject, ant also the government regulation, under the terms of the federal water power act.
 The government today, is exercising control over some -S5 per cent of al the water power resources of the coun try, he said, a step in conservation thai was taken in time, unlike the history of the exploitation of other public re sources.
 This control is being exercised fol two primary purposes" he Said, ''tC guard against improvident use of pub lie resource and to retain these re sources in public ownership that they may not be capitalized for purposes ol rate making or of sale.
 "In the handling of our natural re sources in timber, coal, oil and gas the practice has been all too prevalent of taking only the most accessible and most cheaply developed, and of leaving the remainder in such condition that il could not be economically utilized. Sucl practice with respect to water powers is forbidden by the act.
 Fundamental Principle That water powers are a natural resource, and that whenever owned oI controlled by public agencies that ownership and control should be per manentlYF retained, is a fundamental principle of the federal policy. The resources and privileges over which federal control is thus retained are pub lie property and public rights. If trans ferred to private ownership they would become private property, and as such would be subject to enhancement ir value; and through precedents estab lisbed by judicial decisions, this value not the cost of the utility. would be come the basis upon which rates fol service would be exacted.
 "srhe wisdom of this policy is to be measured by it's results. It has been in force less than four years, and in that time projects involving an installa. tion of 2,400,000 horsepower have been or are being built under the provisions of the federal water power act-ap' proximately one-third of the total horse. power developed in the United States when the act was passed. Permits and licenses for an additional 5000 900 horsepower have been issued"