Page 495

CONTROL AND USE OF WATER-POWERS
power has been given away and not less than one million six hundred
thousand is now going to waste over Government dams. A clearer
idea of this waste may be gained by the statement that at eleven
tons of coal per horse-power per annum, it would require seventeen
million six hundred thousand tons of coal a year to produce its equiva-
lent in energy. Coal, it must be remembered, does not reproduce
itself, while the permanency of water-power is dependent only on
rainfall and the preservation of the forests.
   This monopoly of water-power affects every individual in the
territory where it exists. Heat, light and power,-particularly the
two latter,-are practically controlled by such a monopoly. Prices
are not based on a fair return from the amount invested but are so
regulated as to fall slightly below the cost of furnishing the same
character of service through the agency of steam. Where fuel is
cheap, the price of electric power is correspondingly so. In New
York, power is supplied from hydro-electric plants at twent dollars
per horse-power per year for twenty-four hour service. In tle Caro-
linas, the average charge is fifteen dollars. In California, as much
as ninety-eight dollars is charged to small consumers and fifty-eight
dollars is the lowest rate in force. It is safe to say that from twenty-
two to twenty-five dollars per horse-power would represent a fair
average price for all localities.
ITH         the advantage of electrical transmission, water-power
        is fast usurping the place occupied by steam-power. In
        hundreds of towns of America steam engines have been
almost entirely-if not quite-displaced by electrically transmitted
and distributed water-power. In scores of cities, large steam plants
may be seen standing idle. The economy is available to all kinds
of industries that require mechanical power in large or small units.
No loads are too great to be operated by electrically transmitted
water-power, nor are any too small to be economically included in the
field of its application. The enormous machinery of rolling mills,
or the sewing machines of the shirt factory may be o erated through
this agency, not only with saving in expense, but also with greater
safety and less detriment to the health of the laborers.
   Gas, like steam, is falling behind in the competition with water-
power. This is true in the fields of light, heat and power, and evi-
dence of it may be found in the cities that have the cheapest gas.
Buffalo, for example, not only has illuminating gas at one dollar
per thousand cubic feet, but also natural gas at thirty cents per thou-
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