New Britain herald., 1926-05-18
SMITH AND POWER FROM ST. LAWRENCE

FROM SI. LA" hGNIL
 Power, super-power and super politics are destined to be the prin- cipal issues in New York state, and they have aroused Governor smith sufficiently to induce him to forget his earlier talk about retiring from the political arena. The governor. late news from the Albany front discloses, will remain at the head of embattled Democracy In the Em- pire state until the plan of the Aluminium company Of America, the du Pont de Nemours company and the General Electric company to lease vast St Lawrence river power sites Is frustrated. These companies, so 1t is disclosed, own the Frontier Corporation of Ameri- ca, the concern which Is willing to spend s2oo, 100000 upon power de- velopment along the St. Lawrence if licenses are granted by the state,
 The attitude Of the state power commission Is peculiar. In spite of the known opposition of the gov ernor and large blocks of citizens against nasty action in granting H. censes at this time, it wishes to go right ahead and favor the plan Of private development. Governor Smith favors public development of these power resources. a plan that hts opponents dub as "socialistic;" to which Smith replies 1t is no more "socialistic" than municipal operation of waterworks, state operation of water aqueducts and water supply, state operation of canals and other state enterprises.
 Perhaps Governor Smith Is right; A state can operate anything in which there is no likelihood of profit and it is not deemed "so- cialistic" by the Wall Street Jour nal; but as soon as the state be- gins operating something in which there is profit the inherent privi- leges of private exploitation are in- volved.
 Immediately after the licenses are granted Governor Al" intends to start his campaign to defeat ul- innate consummation of the plan, which has to be ratified at Albany He will remain in politics to poster the Republicans in order to defeat the water power grab" as his friends dub il. The plan provides an immediate issue for the Smith campaign.
 Irrespective of what one thinks of the merits of private vs. public exploitation Of St. Lawrence water power possibilities. there can be no disagreement about the advantages 10 be derived either way, the only point at issue being which plan would best serve the public inter- ests. Talk of utilizing the St, Law renee for the manufacture of power has been in the air for twenty years or more. Sufficient power would be provided from the pro- jects 10 displace 4O,o00,00O tons of coal year in New York state. But it is the very vastness of the scheme that has counselled caution in per hitting private interests 10 gain control of such an enormous re- source without adequate public consideration, If the sites had been leased 10 private companies % years ago - or perhaps even 10 years ago--It no doubt would have resulted in alright and practically perpetual leases, with the public interests quite uniformly disre- garded. We are more particular about such things nowadays es- pecially in New York state, where leaders like Governor Smith have educated the public 10 the hazards of improper exploitation of public resources, and where the ex- periences at Niagara Falls serve as preCedents.