EEPORT OF THE FORESTER. 



175 



Applications for permits were received during the year as shown in 

 Table 11. 



Table 11. 



On February 13, 1915, the Senate passed a resolution calling upon 

 the Secretary of Agriculture for information as to "the ownership 

 and control of the water-power sites in the United States, showing 

 what proportion of such water-power sites is in private ownership and 

 by what companies and corporations such sites in private ownership 

 are owned and controlled, what horsepower has been developed, and 

 what proportion of it is owned and controlled by private companies 

 and corporations, and any facts bearing upon the question as to the 

 existence of a monopoly in the ownership and control of hydroelectric 

 power in the United States." 



The preparation of this material was assigned to the Forest Service. 

 The report was prepared from data in the files of the Chief Engineer 

 and his assistants, but a large amount of work was involved in 

 gathering together, studying, and rearranging the pertinent informa- 

 tion and in assuring its correctness through supplementary investiga- 

 tions and correspondence with power company officials. 



The report was submitted in three parts; of which Part I contained 

 the text of the report; Part II, the plates and tables concerning 

 primary power, power generated, and financial statistics, detailed 

 data of power developments in 1915, summary tables showing the 

 concentration in control of this power, and maps of 14 of the public- 

 land States showing the location of all power plants, main trans- 

 mission systems, and National Forest areas; and Part III, data con- 

 cerning the interrelations between public-service holding com- 

 panies and the relation of these companies to certain banking cor- 

 E orations, diagrams showing the successive steps by which certain 

 olding companies have established their control over operating 

 companies, and charts indicating the relation through directors or 

 principal officials of certain public utility holding companies with 

 each other. 



The report presented in far greater detail than has ever been 

 attempted before an exhaustive analysis of the general power situa- 

 tion. It showed a marked concentration of definite and complete 

 control of a large percentage of developed water power by a very few 

 companies. Data presented regarding interrelationships through 

 common directors and principal officers indicated a marked tendency 

 toward association or community of interests, particularly between 

 the principal holding companies. The movement toward con- 

 centration in commercial central stations of all the primary power 



