176 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



employed in the electrical industries and in manufactures was found 

 in all sections of the United States, the rate of concentration during 

 the period from 1902 to 1912 being highest in the South Atlantic 

 States and the extent of concentration greatest in the Western States. 

 A revised estimate of the potential water-power resources of the 

 United States gave the amount on the minimum basis as 27,943,000 

 horsepower, and on the maximum 53,905,000. The National 

 Forests were stated to contain almost one-third of the total potential 

 resources of the United States and over 40 per cent of the estimated 

 power resources of the Western States, while existing developments 

 which utilize National Forest land have 42 per cent of the total 

 developed water-power of the United States; and an additional 14 

 per cent either occupies public land or is dependent upon reservoirs 

 on such land. 



The preponderance of developed steam power was found in the 

 Eastern States and the rate of increase in water-power development 

 for public service use from 1912 to 1915, approximately three times 

 as great as in steam power. Primary power installation from all 

 sources and for all uses increased from 1902 to 1912 more than two 

 and one-half times as rapidly in the 11 Western States as in the 

 remainder of the United States, while the increase for primary 

 electric power for the same period was 440 per cent for the Western 

 States as against 226 per cent in the other States. The development 

 per capita of the Western States in 1912 was two and one-half times 

 as great as in other parts of the country. 



The report showed a considerable overdevelopment in nearly all 

 the power centers of the Western States, California, Oregon, and Wash- 

 ington in particular showing installations far in excess of maximum 

 demands. 



OTHER SPECIAL USES. 



Permits for the occupancy of National Forest lands for various 

 uses other than water power were issued during the year as follows: 

 Pay permits, 2,672; free, 2,526. At the close of the year 8,420 pay 

 and 10,869 free permits were in force. 



Of these 19,289 permits 4,270 were for pastures and 2,118 for resi- 

 dence sites. These are the leading forms of occupancy in point of 

 numbers and are generally paid for. Through occupancy permits 

 the needs of the public for summer home sites within the Forests now 

 are met adequately, since thelaw gives authority to the Service to issue 

 term leases. Increasing use of the Forests for recreation is bringing a 

 rapid development in the demand for such leases. The control which 

 the Government possesses by virtue of the retention of title to the 

 land itself makes it possible to prevent land speculation and monop- 

 oly of the most desirable localities by a small number of persons, 

 and at the same time to insist on sanitary and other precautions in 

 the interest of all users. The substitution of a system of "summer 

 homesteading," as has been advocated in some quarters and embodied 

 in proposed legislation, would be a disastrous step from the standpoint 

 of the interests of the general public as well as from that of the main- 

 tenance of the integrity of the Forests. 



