Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-19

about the same amount. These three
q ntroll the concern. There has been
expended on the works about $3.50, 900
The dividends thus far have been almost
nil. The running expenses are very
heavy, and the expense OF extending
the system eats up all the earnings. II
a new mast is ordered it costs, with its
trimmings, 81 900. 1t it is far from
another mast, the wire to make the
circuit to and from it costs O good deal
more. Then there is the cost of supply
ing it, which runs the expense to such a
figure that it takes two years income to
defray this outlay. This has been the
history of the concern from its inception.
In discussing the matter yesterday Mr..
Rowland said: ''Los Angeles has a
larger area lighted for less money than
any other city in the land. The citizens
get excellent service for a moderate
cost, and 80 far the stockholders
have been getting nothing. People do
not reflect on the extent OF the city, and
that is all lighted by our system. Then
the people on the outskirts want as much
light as those in the center of the city.
Bovle and Brooklyn Heights comprise
fully one-fourth of the area of the city.
Heretofore there have been only two
lights there. Now one more is ordered.
Three masts for such an area is very
little"
DEFECTS IN THE SYSTEM.
Mr.. Warren said: "There are defects
in the system, or rather in the applica-
ton of it. At the corner of Swain and
Griffin avenue, East Los Angeles, there is
a mast. We put it where we were ordered
TO place it. But it is in the wrong place
1t is in a hole, and only a few houses get
any light from it. That mast ought to
be on hill. There is no system in
placing the masts. Some of them are q
mile apart. They should be so placed
that the light from one mast will blend
with that from all the others around it.
Then the shadows will all be broken up,
and each spot will be we'll lighted. The
masts ought not to be over 1,500 feet
apart. Then the masts should each have
four lamps. There are only three lights to
the mast now, aud they are so placed
that there is an angle of shadow be-
tween each two series of rays. As to the
center of the city, we are trying
~ bLOW AOW thio olOuiA 10 ii6hoOA INV
The swinging lamps at the intersection
of the streets is the only way. When
we began there were few tall buildings
in the city. Nor were the blocks closely
built up all over. There were not SO
many and so dense shadows. Now the
masts cannot shine over all the big
buildings. All the center of the city
should be lighted by swinging lamps at
the intersection of the streets and the
masts should be set on the hills. In the
center Of the city there has not been a
new mast set up in three years. We all
know how the city has grown up in that
time. The buildings used to be all low
affairs. Now they are three, four and
five story affairs, and it is hard to light
over and around them"
Mr.. Warren took out his time card and
showed the reporter how they treat the
city on dark nights. The contract allows
the works to "keep dark" two nights be-
fore the full of the moon, the night of the
full, and two nights after it. AS mat
ter of fact the lights are out only four
nights each moon instead of FIVE. Long
lists of days were pointed out when the
lights were lit full hour before schedule
time.
Having taken up nearly two hours Of
the time of the manager and his assist
ant the reporter returned to
the heart OF the city, thinking
what a good exponent of the
the growth of the city the Electric Light
Works is. 1t began with one engine of
SO horsepower. 1t now uses four,
aggregating $50 horsepower increase
of 1900 per cent. 1t began with one
dynamo and now it has twelve. Nor can
one intelligently review the fine
machinery Of all sorts in the plant and
not feel justifable pride that this
young city should be so we'll equipped in
the matter of lighting apparatus. San
Francisco is the only city in the Union
whose electric lights compare with Los
There is no plant of any sort
in the United States whose machinery
can elipse that in the Electric Light
Works of Los Angeles.