POWER. 127 



water-power site especially favored by natural advantage is sus- 

 ceptible to development under these conditions in competition with 

 the prevailing cost of steam power. These favored examples also 

 frequently provide a bone of contention over which conflicting in- 

 terests raise a great to do, tending to create the impression that the 

 water-power resources of the country constitute a tremendous asset 

 whose possibilities are being arbitrarily withheld from their normal 

 course of unfoldment. Nothing could be much further from the 

 truth. With the exception of the few conspicuous instances that 

 serve as a stimulus in keeping the question alive, no particular sig- 

 nificance attaches to the country's undeveloped water power under 

 existing conditions of finance, or will, until either these conditions 

 have been lived down or steps have been taken to better them. The 

 former represents a tendency which left to itself is not likely to yield 

 anything of consequence for years to come. Nor is there any room for 

 hope in technological advance. The issue of cost is a matter which, 

 like the legal and sentimental obstacles just outlined, must be over- 

 come, and the only way in sight lies through arrangements which 

 will impart a degree of stability to water-power securities such that 

 they will receive the benefit of a reduced rate of interest. This 

 phase of the subject will receive further attention later on. 



Thus the influences holding back water-power development are of 

 a threefold order. These do not operate separately, but in conjunc- 

 tion with one another. Water-power development stands in need 

 of special consideration; instead, it meets with special opposition. 

 There is none to work in its behalf except those with special objects 

 in view, and the recognition of this quality in their efforts has gone 

 to establish opposition. The contention in this wise has grown to be 

 organized on both sides, with each alike oblivious to the real com- 

 munity of interests involved and legislative action caught fast in 

 an entanglement of compromise. In all three respects the situation 

 is in a deadlock and the likeliest chance of a break toward progress 

 lies in the entry of a new standard in the field, a standard under 

 which the rights and best interests of all concerned can have the 

 assurance of fitting recognition. 



The carboelectric issue, on the other hand, is far less advanced 

 and correspondingly less complicated. It has scarcely progressed 

 beyond the general setting of inertia which characterizes the failure 

 to locate power stations at the source of fuel supply and still de- 

 termines their establishment distributirely at the points of use. 

 There have been no special interests involved to stimulate any par- 

 ticular activity otherwise; there has in consequence arisen no basis 

 for the provocation of organized opposition or legal byplay. The 

 hydroelectric issue has been seen to stand in need of a new stand- 

 ard; the issue of carboelectricity has not even been popularly recog- 



