POWER. 131 



same time benefit otherwise their operations by giving an impetus to 

 railway electrification, with attendant gain in freight movements by 

 nature of the greater freight capacity accruing to electrified systems.^ 

 Thus, on every count, the matter resolves itself into an inseparable 

 part of the transportation problem, and from this coalescence there 

 is no escape.^ 



CORRELATION OF WATER POWER AND COAL POWER. 



Bringing together the two issues of water power and coal power, 

 which we have followed thus far in parallel considerations, we find 

 that the causes which have retarded the development of hydro- 

 electricity and prevented the establishment of carboelectric power 

 stations at coal mines are broadly similar. In the case of water 

 power, the failure is traceable to (a) initial cost and (b) a dead- 

 locked issue between public and private interests; while, with coal, 

 the element of initial cost has been almost equally effective, with a 

 lack of interest,^ instead of discordant interests, acting as the con- 

 tributory factor. The provision of suitable transportation will 

 clear up the two retarding influences in both cases. 



In the first place, the establishment of a common-carrier system 

 cf electric transmission lines on a public utility basis will nearly 

 halve the interest rate now demanded of projects having to do with 

 electrical developments. We have for this assurance the example 

 cf the railways themselves, which have long been accustomed to 

 procure capital at rates of 5 to G per cent. The system under view 

 could be given more stability than the railways have formerly en- 



1 The increase in freight capacity that accrues from electrification, with its accessory 

 automatic devices that permit an almost solid stream of freight cars, is startlingly great 

 in view of freight congestions under present arrangements. With proper terminal facili- 

 ties and electrilication. it is safe to say that the freight capacity of a system could lie 

 multiplied by a considerable figure. It has been recently estimated, for example that 

 inland transportation in England attains a capacity efficiency of scarcely 10 per cent. It 

 has frequently been noticed in the United States as to the anomoly of hauling coal 

 halfway across the continent to lift a train across the Continental Divide, when the 

 topography of the divide is ready to provide for this purpose hydroelectric energy, which 

 itself is susceptible to partial recovery on the down slope by means of regenerative 

 braising. In this connection, the pioneer work of the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. I'aul 

 Railway is deserving of the highest commendation for its constructive significance. 



^ It is commonly recognized that one of the weakest features in the industrial develop- 

 ment of the United States is the ovoraccentuated responsibility now falling upon the 

 railways; any measure tending to lighten this weight obviously strikes at the roots of 

 a very fundamental and important Issue. While the consideration may be a gratuitous 

 digression in this place, a plan for adequate inland transportation in this country 

 is conceived to embrace (a) airplane service for special mail and for passengers restricted 

 in time; (b) motor-truck service for short-haul freight and for the service of farming 

 districts in coordination with parcel-post deliveries ; (c) railway service for normal 

 freight and passenger accommodations; (rf) trunk-line, deep waterway haulage for slow- 

 moving and bulky freight; and (e) transmission lines for the delivery of electrical energy 

 from the coal fields and water-power sites. 



^ Such private interests as might have had a concern in the matter (as the railways) 

 were rather inclined to cast their influence on the side of inaction in this respect ; while 

 the public interest, as usual, had no eyes with which to see their concern ; in result, a 

 state of outward apathy surrounded the issue. 



