mB BEE: OMAITA, WEDNESDAY, 'AUGUST 17, 1910.
Public Utilities
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PUBLIC SERVICE ;
COMPANIES GROW
Ecoogniae the Rule to Apply Strict
Business Principles to Their
Business.
REVENUES " AEE - ETCH EASING
Many Times a Great ea They Were
Some Years Ajjo.
UGHT
COMPANY
EXPANDS
More Lights and Large Signs and
i Power Plants.
ELECTRICITY
NECESSITY
gfemrly One Thonand Old Homei
Eanlppe With Electricity Lul
Veu-Moil Nm r Konui
An Bo Provided.
There was a time not so very Ion o
when real public service corporation did
rot exist. There were big oompanles doing
business -under -olty franchises, usiflg the
people's streets, tearing up pavement,
stringing their wires up and down the
principal thoroughfare and making? their
presence felt In many way that were
troublesome,, and ' they did glv to their
patroni for high prtoe a certain ort of
ervlce, but It wu different. They, did
not then connJder It their duty ' to serve
the public aa a pubHo. They were possess
or of franchises and they rave service)
only because that was the way to let
revenue.
Their revenues . In those day wre not
large, however. - Because" they ohoee to
offer their wares with a surly Indifference
to . the Customers" comfort, because they
disdained advertising' and : trade soliciting
through periodicals and publications . the
people who had to buy of them did it
only when it was absolutely necessary.
It was this situation and the seeming
lack of desire on the part of capitalists to
remedy it that led to a great deal of the
lU feeling that .has been engendered
against organized industry-. If the' con
With its
That is furnishing cheap electric power to practically all industries doing a flourishing business, and
has a reserve capacity of groat promise, that is capablo of supplying power for any
and all purposes to all now comers, at a rate that is right.
Omaha Electric
sumer' feels i that the capital lot Is de
pendent upon him and knows that the cap
italist is well aware of his dependence and
is taking it into consideration, the con
sumer will not feel It a grievance to pay a
fair price for the commodity. But In for
mer times the capitalist seemed to have
forgotten his depWHtanoV and. 111 feeling
was a perfectly, natural sentiment for the
consumer. . .
Times Cfcanged. .
Jlut within . the last' decade the most
powerful1 of all motives, self-preservatloa
hit .led to . a change in . the situation,
plain business senes, ; the . Intuition '. that
leads- Those who oontrol largo corporate
Interest to Shift their policies with every
change in business conditions : has , been
awakened and It tins forced the public
utfllty companies to present themselves be
fore their patron in a very different ftdls.
They hav begun to act upon the principle
that a monopoly Can be made more produc
tive by1 the same methods that make any
other business pay high profit rates. They
have begun to serve th customers as If
their desire Was to Satisfy them as thor
oughly a 'possible, and the change of at
titude has been the one force that has so
materially increased the material prosper
ity f ell the organised Industrie :
Nowaday a publto service corporation-
considers it quite as much to Its adv.n-
tage to advertise as doe any business firm.
at Is known that by advertising there Is
brought in, besides the" trade that must
come to any monopoly, the patronage of
those' who are attracted to the wares of
the corporation, not aa a necessity, but as
a convenience. . . . .
The advertising of a public service com
pany is educational. As a result every man,
woman and child in every great tMty is now
made to feel that the corporation have
something to sell i' that they need all the
patronage that they can get and that they
are willing to give courtesy and fair treat
ment as a return for the patronage.
They are beginning to reap their reward
In' better feeling between their representa
tives and the public, in greatly Increased
dividend and in bit th . benefits that fol
low sound business policies, !
. Electrlo Light Company. J
One corporation that has in the last dec
ade changed its whole character in nearly
every American city Is the- electric , light
and power company. As a prominent rep
resentative of the Omaha company re
marked recently: "It used to be the natural
thing for a representative of an electrlo
power company to disdain to talk to a man
who wanted so small a favor as a ten-hprse-jpower.
motor Installed, but 'nowadays
we go after every little piece of business,
and we make-it-a point k to. eethat ;. the
most insignificant Customs is satisfied.'
o
175,00
Tax Rate For All Purposes of li Per. Cent."
Adequate Supply of Labor.
Area of 24 Square Miles.
Annual Bank Clearings, $750,000,000.
Annual Grain Receipts, 50,000,000 Bushels.
Annual Live Stock Receipts, 5,000,000 Head.
Annual Packing House Output, $140,000,000.
Annual Factory and Jobbing Output, $400,000,000.
Jt would be very hard to realize what a
modern city would be like without the
services of an electric light and power com
pany. One read vivid descriptions of the
old days when gallants went forth into the
darkness carrying biasing flambeaux before
them and armed with, sharpest steel, ex
pecting any moment to be set upon and
robbed by the marauder that found too
comfortable shelter in every dark corner.
Crime and misery were developed most
easily in the dark. In an unllghted street
the traveler was liable not only to the
danger of discomfort and delay, but he
was base: by the more terrifying danger
Of desperadoes.
(But the lights that we get from the elec
tric light companies make traveling by
night almost as comfortable aa it is by
day. ".
Even . the most modest home can be
brilliantly lighted in a city where elec
tricity is available. Every possible con
venience that lighten the strain on our
eyes is afforded by new development in
these two commodities. The Omaha
Electrlo Light and Power company oper
ate throughout thl city 1,500 miles of
wire. On these wire are etrung 850,000
sixteen candle power equivalent in lamp
and about 12,000 horse power In motors,
Whert the occasion come for the cele
bration of some great event, some annua)
festival Of other special time the down
town street become flooded with bright
ness. Thousands of tiny shining point
festooned back and forth across and along
the crowded pavements, hug area that
cast a radiance almost as bright as th
beam of Sol Himself, and th recently
invented improvement In big lights that
eclipse even the arcs all add to the glow
that make the street at night So beau
tiful and so fascinating.
Lla-bt sv Necessity .
In private home electricity is a con
venience that add so , much to people'
oomfort for a small expenditure! Many
a housewife has learned that by the aid
of modern advantages such as electricity
affords her work Is easily don and not
by any means Interminable,
The Omaha Electrlo Light and Power
company wag organised in 189J from th
Thomson-Houston company, which . had
been doing business here for about nine
years.' , When the Thomson-Houston com
pany started out it had a little plant
that occupied about 1,560 square feet of
floor space and had a capacity of ' 200
horse-power. 1
But in twenty-six year the plant, has
grown to be capable of producing a
much as 20,000 horse-power and occupies
In floor space 123,000 square feet. Thl
growth has teen caused by the cheapness
of electricity, by the recognition by the
company of the value of advertising and
o
Thirteen Lines
0 Popukrtion, Invites
ORllAMA HA
by the recognition by the public that with
electric!, many things sre possible that
are quite impossible without it.
The greater part of th electric force
generated by the plant of th Omaha
company Is, of course, used up In lighting
but nearly as great a quantity 'is given
out In power. Huge factories, that, before
the general use of elertrio power, had
to have immense boilers to run their
engines, now have small motors that set
in motion their whole complicated sys
tems of machinery and the householder
have learned to take advantage of the
same opportunities.
Mr Different Uses, -
The modern . "haus f rau" has in her
kitchen an electric stove, she does her
Ironing with an electrlo iron and she
tuns her hair with an electrlo curling
Iron. She gives her laundress the pleas
ure of having the washing machine and
the wringer run by the motor that can
be moved around from one place to an
other as It may be needed. . 6he cool her
room just as a hotel or an office does,
with electrlo fans, large or small, and If
she is really well-to-do and able to take
advantage of tvery possible, chance of
comfort, she has her own electrically run
refrigerating plant.
Th power1 from the ordinary house-
lighting wire can be made to run a refrig
erating or amonla evaporating plant, and
th plant can be Installed for a cost of
less than 11,200 for an eight-room house.
Th machine, when complete, will far
nlsh a draught of cold air for any Spot
that is too hot, and ioe eream and such
frozen delicacies are prepared in a mo
ment
The factory la more greatly Improved and
benefited by the use of electrioity than the
household. Power from enormous steam en
gtnes I very expensive and every Individual
user has to Install a complete plant capable
of producing as much power a he may
uso only on very rare occasiona A large
Item in his expense under such a system is
th wages of his engineer and firemen.
Electricity Save Waste.
The waste of energy in a steam power
system is enormous. The energy must be
carried from the central generating plant
to every part of the building. This involves
shafts or belts and the -friction and dis
tance us up most of the power that the
manufacturer pays for.
But with the aid of electricity th factory
can be run with greater efficiency and less
expense. -The energy -can be transferred
to all parts of th building with compara
tively little- waste, and only very simple
machinery i needed. The engineer la praotl
cally dispensed with in a factory run by
electricity- and the maintaining expanse
are reduced to a minimum.' 1 1
1 There is el way plenty of power on hand
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New Industries and Offers to all New Comers
Cheap Industrial Electric Power.
of Railway Covering 21,700 Miles.
A
Light
for the new factories that want to come
into this territory or for the manufacturers
who want to change their power systems.
The electrlo light company has mad it
a business rule to' be always ready to make
any addition in the amount of energy that
It dispenses.
New factories are encouraged to come
here and the efforts of th power company,
and its assurance that there will never
be any dearth of "Juice' are a part of
the influence that brings new industries to
locate in this section of the country. The
big grain elevators, big Inplement factories
and dozens of other big factories have
been installed In Omaha through the ef
fort and substantial promises of the com
pany that furnishes them with power.
: For the small consumer power Is about
as cheap In Oinaha as it is In the average
big city, but for the man who uses a great
deal it is cheaper.. Probably the companies
around Buffalo that gather their power
fr6m the gJgantla flow of Niagara Pall
are the only concerns In the country that
.can furnish the big consumer k with the
power to drive his machinery more cheaply
than It can be done right here In thl city.
Coat of Service.
Th reason ' why small consumer are un-
V
TERMINAL
I
Organized 1880
"We Have Grown Up
With Omaha.
o
fa the r eat Gateway o
Nine National Banks,
Sixty-one Grade Schools and Two Universities.
The Largest Freight Depot in the World.
The Greatest Butter Factory in the World.
The Second Largest Corn Market.
The Third Largest Packing Center.
(.'
Central Power Station.
and
able to get as much for their money tie In
the manner In which electrlo current costs
are figured, in setting out to render Its
consumers a service the company flg
ues that It Is giving them something to
use and not that it Is offering something
for sale as a commodity. To furnish them
with- the- service that will give them elea
trlclty the company must undertake two
burdens, one of them Is th readiness to
give the eervtce and the other Is to deliver
the current to the lamps and motors. This
readiness costs the company a great deal
for machinery and equipment
One of th most recent use to which
electricity ha been put I in lighting the
huge ' Street signs that hav become so
numerous. When they were first put In
the merchants were very slow about under
taking to keep them because the outlay was
great and they-seemed of doubtful necessity.-
Th eteetrto light companies in Omaha
(and In moat cities) saw an opportunity and
went after it They offered to merchants
wh6 wanted signs to undertake the Initial
cost tor them and to al!o the merchant
to pay for the sign In Installments as a
part of the rent for the light. This put the
burden .Upon "the company; and the
merchant were not'' required to undergo
NDUSTRIAL LOCATIONS H
RACKAGE
REAL
Mc CAGUE JJJVEETMENT CO.
o
Deposits $60,000,000.
Power
any initial expenditure.'' The electrlo light
company owns all of the big signs In
Omaha except one or two of the larger one
that were put up by corporations and it
furnishes the light for all of them. Tha
billllaot appearance of Oinaha street at
night, la hot altogether due to the 1.06T
aro lamps that are put there for that pur
pose. The huge signs with their thousand
of Incandescent and their flashing and
weird effect add the finishing touch to
the scene.
Baslness Is Growing;.
The need of all these things that tha
company our) supply to the people and,
the dealre on the part of the company to
please everybody has resulted In tha
growth of the business to Its present proi
portions. Last year 938 old houses - were
wired, houses that had formerly had only
gas, and the city electrician issued ' per-,
mite for S.7 different Job of wiring. Thl
year the company has already spent S350,
000 for Improvements and extensions, and
most of this -money haa been paid out for
labor and materials.';
The company, for its own good and for
the good of the city, works up whole die-
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