Excerpt from The Public Utility of Water Powers and Their Governmental Regulation This paper is published to show how the French and the Swiss Republics and the Kingdom of Italy are treating a grave problem in their political economy - the problem of water power. The people of the United States are facing the same problem, although, except in a few notable localities, they have not begun to apply any method of serious treatment. The problem has grown well-nigh to maturity within ten years, and few have been aware. Had the country foreseen what has come to pass its treatment would have been easy. In its early years the issue might have been easily guided; now it will dominate a great controversy. The final result is not in question, but in the contest that must take place it will be wise to observe the nature and the drift of measures adopted by older countries and to learn all that may be helpful of their methods and acts. In this contest the following paper by M. Rene Tavernier, the distinguished chief engineer of the department of public works (ponts et chaussees) of the Republic of France, must be of value to the American people. As the delegate of his country to the Sixteenth National Irrigation Congress, convened at Albuquerque, N. Mex., in August, 1908, he presented a discussion of the subject of hydraulic power and irrigation which revealed so broad a conception of fundamental principles, and especially of the relation of the subject to national economy, that he was urged to increase the scope of his discussion to cover the subject-matter herein. One of the striking features of the French discussion here and elsewhere is the apparent appreciation by all who have participated in public discussion of the fact that the problem has two sides. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.