684 



CONSERVATION 



seven months. I estimate, however, 

 that half of the reservoir capacity goes 

 to make up the seven months' rate of 

 10,756 second-feet, leaving 3,800 

 second-feet to be added to the ordi- 

 nary seven months' rate, making 14,556 

 second-feet available for power — a lit- 

 tle more than half of the total run-ofif 

 of the strc-am. 



The fall of the Pend Oreille in its 

 entire course — mostly in a few miles 

 of it — is 750 feet. Reckoning on the 

 basis of eighty per cent of the theo- 

 retical for useful efifect, we get a re- 

 sult of 992,454 horsepower, of which 

 259,090 horsepower goes to the credit 

 of the reservoirs, Flathead, Pend Oreille 

 and Priest lakes. 



A writer in a technical journal a few- 

 years ago stated the cost of steam- 

 power for operating the New England 

 cotton mills, where up-to-date engines 

 were employed, at $36 per horsepower 

 \car. That would make the cost of 

 the above amount of power produced 

 by steam $35,728,344 a year. 



As much power may be had from the 

 surplus water a considerable part of 

 the other five months as it may be 

 found practicable to install plants to 

 utilize. So much for one stream ; a 

 large one, however, known locally as 

 ■'The Mighty Pend Oreille." But there 

 are other streams which, together with 

 the Pend Oreille, have an aggregate ca- 

 ])acity of 2,000,000 horsepower, in an 

 area of 30,000 square miles of the Spo- 

 kane country. The foregoing large 

 figures will indicate the enormous 

 stake the people have to gain or lose 

 in the controversy which is agitating 

 the country. 



There need be no apprehension that 

 there will not be capital for investment 

 in the improvement and utilization of 

 water-power for good profits on the 

 capital actually invested. When there 

 shall be a fair understanding as to what 

 belongs to capital and what belongs to 

 the people, and the people find them- 

 selves in a position to command what 

 belongs to them, there will be a general 

 disposition to be liberal with capital. In 

 fact, the almost universal custom has 

 been to be too liberal. But, as every 



user of water for power is using an 

 element which is not the separate prop- 

 erty of such user — an element which, in 

 fact, does not possess the property na- 

 ture — the Government has the right to 

 know what the actual investment is. 

 But the Government's control must be 

 exercised in a common-sense way, as 

 is suggested, for instance, by the legal 

 maxim that "the law does not concern 

 itself with trifles." 



But if the foregoing reasoning is 

 sound — and I think the more it is con- 

 sidered the more generally it will be 

 approved — it follows that all water- 

 power, improved and unimproved, 

 whether on the public domain or else- 

 where, is subject to the people's equity, 

 for the usufruct doctrine is the an- 

 nouncement of a fundamental principle. 

 The people's equity is inalienable. It 

 would be a serious matter if the Gov- 

 ernment's control related only to water- 

 power hereafter to be improved in the 

 public domain, or on navigable streams. 

 If such were the case, it would be only 

 a question of time when the Govern- 

 ment would have to take over the 

 water-powers and operate them for the 

 common good, for it may as well be 

 understood that the predatory ex- 

 ploitation of the Nation's resources, 

 those resources which are peculiarly 

 Nature's gift, has to cease. The efifect 

 of such exploitation is to create and 

 foster a plutocratic class, whose mil- 

 lions are the result of diverting, not the 

 water, but its usufruct, from the peo- 

 ple to whom it rightfully belongs to 

 themselves. 



Now, holding this usufruct element 

 to be inalienable, there are important 

 reasons for reserving water-power and 

 reservoir sites from the acquisition of 

 private title. One of these is that the 

 Government can maintain its control 

 better by having the title to itself. More 

 important is that if the title to the land 

 is in the Government it cannot be capi- 

 talized to participate in dividends. 



The Government can enable a com- 

 munity to realize its equity by fixing 

 horsepower rates. The power to fix 

 rates was found to be the key to the 

 solution of the railroad-merger prob- 



