conditions
as they are in Europe we may expect a still greater push to make use of
water power to turn the industrial wheels of peace. It must be so
likewise here.

And it is likely that the long-pending power bill which will make
available the dam and reservoir sites on withdrawn public lands and
make feasible the financing of many projects on both navigable and
unnavigable streams will soon have become law. We shall then have an
opportunity that never before has been given us to develop the
hydroelectric possibilities of the country. And this raises the question
as to their extent.

The theoretical maximum quantity of hydroelectric power that can be
produced in the United States has recently been estimated by Dr.
Steinmetz, who calculates that if every stream could be fully utilized
throughout its length at all seasons, the power obtained would be
230,000,000 kilowatts (320,000,000 horsepower). It is clear that only a
fraction of this absolute maximum can ever be made available. The
Geological Survey estimates that the water power in this country that is
available for ultimate development amounts to 54,000,000 continuous
horsepower.

The census of 1912 showed that the country's developed water power was
4,870,000 horsepower, about 9 per cent of the maximum power available
for economic development and less than 2 per cent of the total that may
be supplied by the streams as estimated by Dr. Steinmetz. According to
the census, stationary prime movers representing a capacity of more than
30,000,000 horsepower, furnished by water, steam, and gas, were in
operation in the United States in 1912. (This amount does not, of
course, include power generated by locomotives, marine engines,
automobiles, and similar mobile apparatus.) The average power furnished
by these stationary prime movers was probably not more than 20 per cent
of their installed capacity, so that the power produced in 1912 was
equivalent to probably not more than 6,000,000 continuous horsepower.

As the estimated available water power given above represents continuous
power the country evidently possesses much more water power than it now
requires, so that there would be an ample surplus for many years if the
power were so distributed geographically that it could be economically
supplied to the industries that need it. But as a matter of fact the
water-power resources of the country are by no means evenly distributed.
Over 70 per cent of the available wat