32 Fourth Annual Report of the 



The part which investigation could plav in this drama has 

 been played. All phases of the problem have been exhaus- 

 tively investigated. Once that stage is reached, investigation 

 means inaction and discussion means delay. The servant who 

 buried his talent in the ground probably appointed a joint com- 

 mittee to investigate and report on the best way to utilize talents. 



Precisely as the way to resume specie payment " was to re- 

 sume," just so the way to stop wasting an energy equal to the 

 annual consumption of 15,000,000 tons of coal is — to stop wast- 

 ing it. 



The time has come to act, and for good or ill, for years to come 

 if not for all time, these great questions must now be answered. 



Authority to control and regulate the material resources pro- 

 \ided by nature is a necessary attribute of State sovereignty. The 

 State should own and regulate the disposal of all additional water 

 power it may create. It should make such utilization and disposal 

 thereof as will promote the public health and public welfare, yield 

 a public revenue, stimulate commerce and industry and cheapen 

 the cost of light, heat and power. 



New York's Water Power Eesources 



In the year 1907 the State Water Supply Commission was au- 

 thorized and directed by the Legislature to devise a plan for the 

 progressive development of the water powers of the State under 

 State ownership, control and maintenance for the public use and 

 benefit and for the increase of the public revenue. The same 

 act directed the Commission to ascertain and report the water 

 storage capacity of reservoirs created for the purpose of stream 

 regulation, the record of rainfall, the average flow of the stream, 

 and to estimate as nearly as practicable the water power capacity 

 of proposed developments throughout the State. 



Pursuant to this direction the State Water Supply Commission 

 inaugurated an investigation of the power capacity and possibil- 

 ities of the more important inland streams of the State. This 

 work has been continued bv its successor, the Conservation Com- 



