Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-04-16

mission. We cannot issue or sell a
share of stock unless there is a prop
erty valuation used and disable in our
business dollar for dollar for each
share of stock issued. And finally
should our profits become too great
or unreasonable your public utilities
commission would Immediately cut
down our rates for service. 1t would
seem, therefore, that 1t would be
to every citizens interest to aid and
help their power companies to be
prosperous and to improve their
business relations since this prosper
ity is returned to themselves, in bet
ter service, lower rates and finally
in having a successful corporation
in their midst that can do more
than almost any other influence to
build up their communities. I say,
therefore, that the gaining popular
ity of power and light companies
and more especially the greater de-
gree of confidence that Maine peo-
pie are placing in their own public
utilities are justified"
Briefly Col. Farnum described how
the value of Names water power
; to the rest of New England had
been greatly over estimated. He
said that the little state of Rhode
Island alone is using today more
than half the total primary power
available in Maine.
Names Industries
He next outlined how the growth
of Names industries depended pref
ty largely upon a new kind of in
dustry. Names principal manu-
featuring industries are cotton,
| wool, shoes and paper" declared
Col. Farnum. 1.-The three first have
actually stood still or shrunk. The
reasons are economic with which we
are familiar. These are industries
in which the power bill of the fin
ished product is small part of the
production cost from percent to
percent. Low power rates do not
| mean much to these industries"
But emphasized the speaker,
there are many Industries in our
country whose power bill is a large
/ part of the cost of the finished prod
uct-Sqo to 200. These are the indus
tries that Maine can draw for they
! are seeking sites near constant and
dependable low-cost electricity. They
include pottery. fertilizer, cement and
| all of the eiectro-chemical products.
| These industries are the kind that
| have settled around Niagara Falls
| during the past 10 years; the kind
that are seeking sites up on the
| Sagueney river in Quebec today-sites
| much farther removed from their
! markets than are sites in Maine near
her water power. And yet Maine has
! some power sites which can be de-
veloped and can sell power nearby at
prices very favorable with Niagara
| prices.
"But how can we get these big de-
velopments under existing laws
| questioned Col. Farnum. Cheap power
can be produced only from big devel-
| opments-developme of the largest
| sites and with every horsepower that
| physically and economically can be
| obtained from them; sites that will
| produce power at costs of one-halt
our biggest Maine developments either
built or now being built
Before any man would put his
| money into such a development he
would want to be assured that should
there be any surplus power this coul6
be sold outside the State If necessary
because his taxes, interest and depre.
citation would be based on the entire
plant and yet only part of it might
be in use for the first few years after
it was completed under the present
| law"
Col. Farnum pointed out that it was
not an idle dream that ultimately the
entire output would be consumed right
near the development and then Their,
would be no surplus power to go out
side. He cited Niagara Falls and the