power: its significance and needs. 
40 
wide scope serving a community interest must be of a common- 
carrier order subject to public oversight — such has been the lesson 
of the railways; (2) that in the realm of production, which has to 
do with the advance elimination of superfluous weight, competition 
is desirable and should be as unhampered as possible; and (3) that 
in the field of manufacture and consumption the attainment of full 
utilization stands in need of constructive help, that here competi- 
tion unaided is incapable of employing to full effect the principle 
of multiple production. Applying these conceptions to power we 
find that the situation is at fault, because (1) there is no common- 
carrier system for the transmission of energy, although the develop- 
ment of electricity permits the power materials to be freed of weight 
at the source and enables the energy of water power to be utilized ; 
(2) the presence of the railways, in the absence of special facilities 
for electric transmission, has prevented competition from becoming 
effective in the direction of the advance elimination of weight; and 
(3) the failure of this country to recognize the principle of multiple 
production and vitalize its latent force has held private initiative 
impotent to use fully the energy materials provided. 
The righting of the power situation requires (1) the establishment 
of a comprehensive system of electric transmission lines to be ad- 
ministered as a common-carrier system like the railways. (2) The 
provision of such a system will necessitate the coordinated growth 
of central power stations in coal fields and at water-power sites, and 
in doing so will open to business enterprise a tremendous field of op- 
portunity hitherto closed off from entry, and thus lead to the bal- 
anced development of the two major energy resources. (3) The 
principle of multiple production, recognized and incorporated in 
national policy, will supplement the additional service gained 
through the organized employment of the electrical principle; ap- 
plied to the production of coal-generated electricity, and, through the 
medium of municipal public utility plants, to the distributive employ- 
ment of coal, this principle will effectively correlate the recovery of 
the commodity and energy values, so as ultimately to effect a full 
saving of the former and an increased gain of the latter, thus per- 
mitting a further relative diminution of the amount of fuel calling 
for transportation in bulky form. The first two points reduce them- 
selves to a single issue, which is purely a business proposition to be 
handled by a business organization ; the third item is more intangible 
and it is matter of policy, which, therefore, can not be delegated or 
otherwise handled in objective fashion. 
The provision of a common-carrier system of transmission lines, 
in brief, is the key to the whole problem. Its establishment will re- 
move the retarding influence of high interest rates and antagonistic 
69298°— Bull. 102—18 -4 
