EDITORIAL 



433 



conservatively estimated at 600,000 

 H. P. Each hydro-electric H. P. is 

 estimated to equal about twelve tons 

 of coal per year ; the total, therefore, 

 equaling- 7,200,000 tons of coal per 

 annum. 



Of this water-power, the commercial 

 value is suggested by such facts and 

 figures as these: The bare location of 

 one power site, with franchise, was sold 

 for $10 per H. P., while another loca- 

 tion is quoted at $9 per H. P. per 

 annum. 



In the paper and pulp hearing before 

 Congress, on pages 1108 to 11 12, Mr. 

 Safiford, engineer for the International 

 Paper Company, said:' 'Tn New Eng- 

 land, for the last twenty-five years, 

 when power has been taken away from 

 the owner by municipalities or by other 

 companies, a fair price is about $1,000 

 per H. P. for the amount taken away. 

 The average of thirty or forty sales of 

 H. P. that I know of personally, most 

 of which I have reported on, has been 

 $300 per H. P." This power was con- 

 ceded to be undeveloped. 



On page 894 of the same hearing, 

 Mr. Cowles testified that the paper mills 

 at the Androscoggin River could sell 

 their power at $40 per H. P. per annum. 



On page 1030 of the same report, the 

 official statement of the International 

 Paper Company shows that they place 

 a value of $50 per H. P. upon their 

 undeveloped water-powers. 



Obviously, in the light of such facts 

 and figures, water-power is not a thing 

 like air and sunshine, to be given away. 



Furthermore, as Senator Gaylord 

 points out, even such estimates of value 

 may be slight in comparison with the 

 value that these water-powers will as- 

 sume in future years when wood and 

 coal have largely failed and popula- 

 tion, with its manifold needs, is vastly 

 increased. In exactly the same way as 

 city lands multiply in value with the 

 multiplication of population, so these 

 water-powers will probably multiply in 

 value under the influences indicated. 



In the light of these facts, we are not 

 surprised that private companies are 

 reaching out for such water-powers. 



At the present session of the Wisconsin 

 state legislature nearly thirty bills were 

 introduced asking for franchises for 

 dams, while lobbyists thronged the cor- 

 ridors and committee-rooms pressing 

 for these valuable privileges. An ag- 

 gressive fight resulted, the end of which 

 is not yet. 



Senators who have opposed giving 

 away the people's water-power prop- 

 erties point out, first, that the private 

 companies do not adequately develop 

 their water-powers, thirteen of the 

 thirty franchises asked for having been 

 covered by previous grants of the leg- 

 islature but not developed ; and second, 

 that private development, as compared 

 with public, is uneconomical. For 

 example, in the case of the High Falls 

 and Johnson Falls combination, the 

 digging of a canal two and one-half 

 miles long would give a combined head 

 of no feet. The company, however, 

 could not secure the riparian rights be- 

 tween these two points ; the heads were, 

 therefore, developed separately, with a 

 waste of ten feet. The state, however, 

 could secure the riparian rights and 

 would avoid this waste. 



In a paper before the American So- 

 ciety of Civil Engineers, in November, 

 1908, Mr. H. M. Chittenden, C.E., said : 

 "When a power is planned or a reser- 

 voir built, it should be so planned from 

 the start as to bring out its full possi- 

 bilities. A private company can rarely 

 do this. Generally its scheme does not 

 require this, nor its resources permit ; 

 but a site once occupied by an infe- 

 rior work may be perpetually barred 

 from complete development. * * * 

 Furthermore, the Government is build- 

 ing for all time, while the individual 

 builds only for the immediate and near 

 future. The case is similar to that of 

 the landlord and tenant." 



Like President Roosevelt, in speak- 

 ing of the Desplaines River case (see 

 Conservation for March, page 170). 

 and like President Taft in his letter to 

 Mr. Shaw (see page 426, of this issue), 

 Senator Gaylord takes his stand against 

 donating these water-powers to cor- 

 porations. His language is: "These 



