The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1939-11-16


rect result of a finding by the re
Gently sabotaged war resource.
board that the weak spot of the
war preparations situation, so fal
as power for war industries is con
cerned. was Philadelphia. This has
not been given any publicity, but
all the utility men knew what the
resources experts thought, feared
resulting publicity, and scrambled
to meet il.
The utilities are also putting con.
siderable emphasis on the fact that
this big new plant is TO be run by
steaml There is a reason for that,
also. The plant would have been
designed to burn coal even if no
other reason than efficiency were
/ being considered, because the pres
ent expert opinion of the industry
is that power can be produced more
cheaply from coal than from water
power.
Public Sold on Falling
Water as a Natural Force
But the utilities realize the public
is not convinced of that. The av-
erage citizen has been thoroughly
sold on the notion that falling wa
ter is natural force, the utiliza-
ton of which certainly must cost
less than TO dig coal from deep
down in the earth, then haul it to a
plant, and then burn it to produce
steam. 1t doesn't seem natural that
current could be produced more eco
nomically that way than by just
putting turbine under falling wa
ter. But when all the costs of
hydro plant are added in (the Nor
ris dam in the IVA system alone
cost $50, 000,000), the accounting
sharks say coal is the cheaper meth
cd.
But this comes at a peculiarly apt
time for propaganda purposes. The
famous Loup and Platte river prof.
ects in George Norris state of Ne
braska ale making sorry showing,
made worse at present by the fact
that there has been such a drouth
that they are obliged to buy steam
produced power.
Poicer Shortage Hampers
Japan's Far activities
The Tennessee Valley authority is
not the only hydroelectric power de-
velopment in the world which is
having trouble. There has been a
bad drouth in Japan, according to
reports to the department of COM
merce.
Japan never has had an adequate
coal supply and. like Italy, has been
spending millions trying to develop
enough water power to cut down
coal importations, and thus protect
its foreign buying power, or rather
permit the use of its foreign buying
power for more vital things-for in
stance scrap iron.
The present drouth is said to be
the worst in Japan's history, but
whether this is an exaggeration or
not, it is certainly the worst drouth
since Nippon's hydroelectric devel-
opments reached their present mag
nitude.
Not only has the power supply to
non-urgent industries been drastical-
~ reduced. but the country's heavy
industries and even its munitions
plants have had to curtail produc-
ton schedules. The power short
age has become so acute that steel
mill operations in the important
Osaka-Kobe district were suspended
temporarily during the early part of
September due to the sudden cessa-
ton of current.
The Japan Electric Power Cen
GRAFTON and Transmission company,
which was recently organized to
control the Japanese electric power
industry, has already received warn
ings from the military authorities
of the grave situation prevailing in
the heavy industries as result of
the power shortage.
According to the japanese press.
a feeling is developing in industrial
circles that bureaucratic manage
ment is to blame for the present
predicament, but this view does not
appear to be warranted.
Couple OF Stories Dragged
In by Fay OF illustration
Just what the bureaucrats are
supposed to have failed to do is
not made clear, in the absence so
far of any satisfactory rain-making
1t reminds some OBJ
servers of the time Will Rogers was
defending the then prince of Wales,
now the duke of Windsor.
Il keep hearing that the prince
of Wales just can't stay on horse, 2 !
Will Wise-cracked when annoyed at
Of the prince. i've been
looking at pictures of his falling off,
and notice. that every time the
horse is down too wish some of
these fellows would explain to me
how a rider is going to stay up
when his horse is down"
But instead of wanting to shoot
the weather man, the Japanese pol
lticians feel that somebody ought to
resign. That seems to be a nor
NAL Japanese proceeding. Wash