252 RURAL MIC III a AN 



To wliat extent farmers have availed themselves of 

 the opportunity all'orded to ohtain electric power for 

 farm use is not apparent, although there are in- 

 stances of their having done so, for example, at 

 IMarquette and Iron Eiver. The Consumers Power 

 Company, the largest private electric power corpora- 

 tion in the State, serving a wide territory in the 

 southern peninsula, reports considerable rural serv- 

 ice where power lines have been extended from cities 

 and villages into the rural districts adjoining them. 

 Eural consumers are also served from certain trans- 

 mission lines where the voltage does not exceed 10,000 

 volts. This company also has consumers at many 

 resorts in the Lower Peninsula. For rural exten- 

 sion the regular city rate is charged by this company, 

 except for resort business, where there is a minimum 

 charge of $13 a year, which is deposited before the 

 current is turned on and which permits consumers 

 to receive current at the regular city rate. Both for 

 public and private lines, the problem of rural service 

 is of high overhead cost in relation to the amount 

 of power furnished. It seems necessary to arrange 

 with consumers for the construction of the trans- 

 mission lines into their territory, with a surcharge 

 to cover depreciation and taxes on the extension. 

 If Michigan were an "Old World" country, her 

 products would be going forward to market by 

 water, quite as much as by rail ; but, while the State 

 possesses a magnificent system of water communi- 

 cations adjacent to her borders, little effort has been 

 made to develop internal avenues of transportation 



