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MAY 27, 1910
The Commoner.
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Water JPotver a heat
Asset
i How much does the average citizen
know or care about water power as
a national asset?
It may be assumed that he does
not care much for he knows very lit
tle. And it is because he knows
little, and, therefore, cares little, that
jthiB great asset already has been
seriously encroached upon by private
interests and is threatened with com-;
plete afoso'rption, without compensa
tion to the people, to whom it belongs.-
The country has awakened to the
importance of developing its water
ways for navigation purposes. In
time there will be a big, comprehen
sive system of inland waterways, sup
plementing the iailroads, furnishing
needed relief from transportation
congestion, bringing cheaper rates
for shippers, making larger profits
to-farmers and other producers, low
ering the cost of living and contrib
uting to a more equitable distribu
tion of wealth. Assuming that this
lively interest in waterways fur
nishes a particularly good illustra
tion, let the water power asset be
stated in the words of Mr. John L.
Mathews in a recent issue of Hamp
ton's Magazine:
If our water power were systemat
ically developed and conservatively
managed it would pay, not once, but
over and over again for all we have
spent on river and harbor improve
ments, and would complete for us
the finest system of freight carrying
channels in the world.
Instead of this development and them many millions
management of the water power re
sources, congress for years has given
'away valuable water power sites
without compensation on the one
hand and wasted millions upon mil
lions in ill-advised river and harbor
appropriations on the other. The ex
penditures on the rivers are better
considered now, but there is still
tremendous pressure broughCto bear
on all susceptible members of con
gress to continue the water power
graft. Right now there are numer
ous bills in congress, all inspired by
the water power monopoly, designed
to perpetuate the system of giving
free, or for wholly inadequate com
pensation, these resourceful agencies
of industrial and transportation
power.
This conspiracy to gain control of
the water power sites of the United
States rivers is continuously active
in spite of the warnings and the ac
tivities of President Roosevelt, of
. Mr. Gifford Pinchot, of the national
conservation association and of other
publjc men and other organizations
pledged to the cause of the square
deal.
It is time that the country should
awaken to the full import of this
comprehensive and selfish design.
A water power site is the land ad
jacent to rapids or falls, where there
is sufficient change in the level of
the stream to furnish power, either
by using the natural fall or by mak
ing a fall by means of an artificial
dam. These sites are limited, but
they are sufficient in number to fur
nish power for the operation of every
industry, every railroad and every
other power-consuming agency in the
country that may be operated by
hydro-electric force.
It is because of the rapidly ex
tending use of electricity, and its al
most certain employment in the near
future for practically every business
lands and its control of alt navigable
streams, has dominion over most of
these water power sites.
If it chose to develop these sites
and sell electricity to the consumers,
it could furnish this power at low
rates, and yet have a surplus profit
great enough to construct and main
tain a vast, comprehensive system
of inland waterways, pay interest on
the -original investment and build a
Sinking fund for the ultimate retire
ment of the bonds.
All this without the cost of one
cent to the people. On the contrary,
it could furnish power at such rates
as to make an appreciable difference
in the cost of transportation and
manufacture and, presumably, in the
cost of manufactures and transporta
tion to the people.
Mr. Mathews, who is a particularly
well informed authority on this sub
ject, makes an effective illustration
of the canal project for which the
state of Illinois voted twenty million
dollars in bonds. This enterprise is
for the enlargement of the Chicago
drainage canal to the proportions of
a navigable stream, as a part of the
proposed lakes to the gulf waterway.
The federal government has no con
trol over this canal. The topography
of the country traversed makes nec
essary several big locks. These locks
furnish water power sites. The canal
power, worth on the market $30 per
horse power per year, a gross earning
of four and a half million dollars
per annum, enough to pay interest
on the bonds and retire them, and
thereafter to give the state an enor
mous revenue from other sources
than general taxes.
Thus the great canal enterprise for
which Illinois has received national
credit and deservingly, too will
not cost the people of that state a
dollar. On the contrary, it will save
WHAT
HAS PREVENTED
FURNACE HEATING
EFFICIENCY?
wTkTnc II
THE WOODS "WIND VDltf AIR HEGUUTOl
' PAT akd ron
ORDER ZOt LESS FUEL. fOR NEXT WJTER &
POT JT ON YDUR FURNACE. 'YbUBSELP'.
IT WILL EQUALIZE THE HEAT THROUGH
ALL THE HOUSE, HE0AOTL&63 CT WINM
AUTOMATICALLY VHOIXJrottB COrtroWT.
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SW w&f3&
i SEND Tvj 'U Kov
m I I iuk uwiu.i.1 u ss r,ir.Y s jr
on 1 I artz zc or JdhyAsx
v I air uujrr .zrrlfPFX.iJ X
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rna 'X PmBy
$s$ssSS or yowimoz ox
T8R ova rauutt
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SAVE
rURHACE
attentii
t-vrxYMra
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THE WOODS AIR WTU3ER CO. WABASH AYE
CHICAGO. ILL. OAA.
TRWIDEtfT .SECRETASY TREASURER
E.WW00BA. 0.3 VXlULt 4 3J1HBEK
BMaiKttR 'BCHITCCt 'HjUTtit.n.utisac
HEATlMq -VEMTlLATINa b-NV
"I carried the air Reg
ulator homo. Unablo.to
got a' mechanic, I found
I could put it on myself
I was skeptical, but have
received more bonefitu
than claimed for the In
vention, with leas furnace
attention and very much
less fuel; thorti is a
wholesome air heat In
flating every part of tho
hoUso. Tho former wind
effects are not felt now.
1 am urging Its adoptlo'n
wherever there. Is a pa
tient with lingering ill
ness. I am convinced
that annulling tho-winds
to proportionate air sup
ply solves tho heating
and ventilating pVdblem
at once." r"t .
FERD H. PIRNATVM. D".
What Does Hicks Say
About the Weather?
In which its use is feasible,, that the
control of the sources of power are
. ,sq valuable and are so eagerly sought.
&" The5 federal! government, 'in: its
..'possession q! large areas of public
Now. what a state can do with a
canal of its own digging the federal
government could do with the navi
gable streams that nature has pro
vided for the good of the whole peo
ple. But what the government act
ually haB done and will continue to
do, if its policies are not checked, Is
to give away these incalculably val
uable rights, without compensation,
to the water power monopoly.
But, inasmuch as the federal gov
ernment is not likely to go into the
construction of water power plants
and the selling of power although
it could and should it can, at least,
demand just compensation for such
sites as it shall grant in the future
to private corporations, and retain
such control over the products, of
these sites as to prevent abusive
charges through monopolistic man
agement. Also, as pointed out by
Mr. Mathews, there is nothing to
prevent the government from making
sc charge against the plants already
in operation, for the use of water.
If the very low charge of $5 per
horse power per year were made on
power already given away, the net
income to the government would bo
seven and a half million dollars per
year, a sum large enough to pay 3
per cent interest on government
bonds to the extent of 250 millions
annually. Such an Issue of bonds, if
properly used, would soon develop
the whole system of navigable
streams into a magnificent system of
waterways for the benefit of the peo
ple, and afterward furnish an enor
mous revenue capable of greatly re
ducing federal taxation.
And again, without the cost of a
dollar to the taxpayers! Kansas
City Star.
K
A PULIj DINNER PAITj
"We included our congressman In
the 'grace' we said at the breakfast
table this morning;" '
"Why was that?tf -
"We ate the fr seeds he sent
J us. uieveiano jf imn ijueaier.
That's tho first question ..that suggests Itself when discussing tho
weather. Everybody is interested in the remarkable writings of this re
markable man. Next to Galley's comet the electrical storms, tornadoes,
floods, drouths and earthquakes interest in a practical way all class.CB of J
people. To be well Informed on these subjects as well as on sclentluc
news in general, you should read reg
ularly Rev. Irl It. Hicks' Monthly
Magazine.
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