68 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



In many regions the streams afford facilities 

 for the development of power, which, since the 

 successful inauguration of electrical transmission, 

 is available for local rail lines and offers the best 

 solution of local transportation problems. In 

 many parts of the country, local and interurban 

 lines are providing transportation to farm areas, 

 thereby increasing the facilities for moving crops 

 and adding to the profit and convenience of farm 

 life. Notwithstanding this development, how- 

 ever, there seems to be a very general lack of ap- 

 preciation, on the part of farmers, of the possi- 

 bilities of this water-power resource as a factor 

 in governing transportation costs. 



The streams may also be used as a source of 

 small water power on thousands of farms. This 

 is particularly true of the small streams. Much 

 of the manual labor about the house and barn can 

 be performed from transmission of power from 

 small water-wheels running on the farms them- 

 selves or in the neighborhood. This power could 

 be used for electric lighting and for small manu- 

 facture. It is more important that small power 

 be developed on the farms of the United States 

 than that we harness Niagara. 



