348 LOUIS BELL 



Starting with the condition that wide distribution of 

 industries is desirable in order to render more simple and 

 efficient the mechanism of commerce, there are two promi- 

 nent factors in the problem at hand. The first is improve- 

 ment in the organization of transportation so that needless 

 work can be in part eliminated. The second is such an 

 equalization of the industrial conditions that bear upon 

 manufacture as shall minimize the legitimate need for trans- 

 portation. For economical manufacturing, one must have 

 moderate costs of raw material, labor, and power. The two 

 former are strongly affected by transportation conditions, 

 as is also the last named when its source is fuel. 



The importance of electric power distribution from this 

 standpoint is already great and will become greater. If one 

 takes a map showing the distribution of the coal in the United 

 States, it is at once apparent that by far the greater part of 

 the territory either has no fuel at all, or little, and that of 

 poor quality. Wood has been practically eliminated from 

 the question by the rapacious wastefulness of the last quarter 

 of a century. Hence as regards the country at large there is a 

 heavy transportation charge on power. Within the past ten 

 years we have learned to utilize the water powers of the 

 country (which, by the way, are as a whole in regions having 

 least fuel) and cheap electric power has already done much 

 to open new fields to manufacture, especially in the south, 

 which is the natural field for cotton manufacture. In one 

 particular the present working of hydraulic power is very 

 faulty, and to this defect I wish to direct especial attention. 

 In spite of the great growth of electric power transmission, 

 its effect on the consumption of fuel has thus far been very 

 small, owing to the fact that the great mass of hydraulic 

 power, which is in small units, has practically not been 

 touched at all. 



Of our total water power, probably four fifths is in falls 

 below 1,000 horsepower in capacity, and at the present time 

 money can rarely be found for the development of small 

 enterprises of this kind. Bankers as a rule have not the 

 slightest interest in these small permanent investments. 

 They will lend moderate amounts upon quick assets, but 



