4/8 SEVEXTII REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



According to Census Bulletin No. 189, issued April 25, 1902, the same figures for 

 New York State in 1900 were: Total capital invested, $1,651,210,220; assessed 

 valuation of real estate, $5,093,02 5, 771 ; and the value of the annual product, 

 $2,175,726,900. 



Comparing the two States by unit areas it is found that the area of New York is 

 nearly six times as great as that of Massachusetts. Hence, for equivalent areas, 

 the value of the annual product in Massachusetts would be over $6,000,000,000, or, 

 roundly, three times as great as that of New York. 



As to wh\- this is so Census Bulletin No. 158 furnishes a decisive answer in the 

 following language: 



" The principal advantage which the State of Massachusetts possesses is its 

 water power. * * * The power of the Connecticut River at Holyoke, and at 

 Turners Falls, in the town of Montague, utilized by means of immense dams of 

 the most permanent construction, and by a system of canals, affords in each place 

 a succession of mill sites along the entire water frontage. The Deerfield, Millers, 

 Chicopee and \\'estfield rivers, tributaries of the Connecticut, are all noteworthy 

 power-producing streams. At Lowell and Lawrence, upon the Merrimac, the 

 ])ossession of similar advantages led to the selection of these places for the instal- 

 lation of the factory system in the manufacture of textiles. At Fall River, the 

 power furnished from Watuppa Pond has been an essential element in the develop- 

 ment of that cotton manufacturing center; while upon the Blackstone River and 

 many lesser streams throughout the State the existence of sites naturally adapted 

 to the erection of mills was influential in the expansion of the woolen and cotton 

 industries in the early part of the century, thus laying the foundation of numerous 

 thriving industrial communities." 



In Massachusetts a liberal policy towards manufacturing has always been exer- 

 cised by the commonwealth. ]\IilI acts have been enacted giving manufacturers an 

 opportunity to develop water power on every stream. The result is that even rela- 

 tively small brooks are, in many cases, fully utilized and are the source of consid- 

 erable wealth to the citizens. 



In New York State, on the contrary, none of these things have been done. We 

 have been so tied up to the single interest of canal navigation that tlie streams of- 

 the greater portion of the State have been reserved for the canals, and the laws, 

 generally, discourage any such development as has taken place in Massachusetts. 

 We need, therefore, a constitutional amendment with the enactment of a mill act, 

 broad enough to permit the development of any stream to its full capacity without 

 any further powers than those granted by the act. It is possible, moreover, that we 

 need b_\' statutory enactment a modification of a long series of court decisions 

 which have grown up on the theory that the State has absolute control of the 

 streams, and may dispose of them without regard to the wants and wishes of the 

 ri]')arian pro]5rietors. 



