46 FouKTH Annual Report of the 



WHY COMMISSIONER McCABE DIFFERS FROM HIS 



COLLEAGUES 



It isn't pleasant for me to differ from my colleagues in the 

 Conservation Commission on the hydro power question, but I do 

 not believe that any good can come out of a public situation 

 which is encouraged in order that harmony may prevail. On the 

 contrary, I believe that the only hope of perfecting this condi- 

 tion, or lifting it out of the rut in which it is, is more likely to be 

 brought about by a broad, intelligent discussion of our differences. 



There is nothing quite so baneful in unsettled public affairs as 

 harmony, and harmony in this situation would be purchased at 

 the price of my honest convictions, and this, I know, would not 

 meet with the approbation of my fellow Commissioners, who 

 are always solicitously seeking the truth in all public questions. 



The time that I have been able to give to this water power 

 question since I have taken office as Conservation Commissioner 

 has been altogether too limited to make a thorough examination 

 of the matter. However, it seems to me the State is entitled to 

 know the result of my observations and reading, even though my 

 deductions be wrong. 



Of the many problems in this department the most mooted 

 and, at the same time, the most vexatious one, and the one in 

 which the least progress has been made, is the solution of the 

 water power question. The literature on the subject, so far as 

 I have been able to ascertain, consists principally of the reports 

 of two sets of engineers who have made a sort of public shuttle- 

 cock of the question, one side contending that certain conditions 

 were true, and lugging in column after column of figures to aid 

 or prove their contention, while the opposing forces massed as 

 many, if not more, figures to confirm the correctness of their 

 position, and both sides were ostensibly satisfied so long as noth- 

 ing was done. 



Germany and Canada seem to be much quoted as to the suc- 

 cess and failure of governmental operation of public utilities by 

 hydro power in these countries. It is difiScult to understand the 

 quoting of conditions in foreign countries to prove the possibili- 

 ties of a situation here. There is an element of politics in all 



