St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-13
ELECTRICITY NO EXCEPTION.
Dangers Attend Its Use Just as in
the Case Of Other Agencies.


Ever since electricity left its expert
mental stage in the laboratory and be-
came a possible source Of energy and
power to man. in advancing the COM
mercial progress of the arts and sci
encess, the questions of the dangers to
life and property have been brought
prominently before the public
Just as the danger attending
the use of steam, of rapid
locomotion on railroads, of illuminating
gas and of dynamite were brought to
the attention of the world, when these
powerful agencies passed through their
infancy and entered into the active serv-
ice of man. In each instance there was
ALWAYS a class who took the partial or
narrow view that if the new agency was
dangerous it should be excluded from
the public, or if admitted, it should be
hampered by such limitations and
exclusions as to render it al
most useless for practical pur-
poses as we'll as to retard its
future progress and advancement.
1t is said that upon the introduction OF
steam in England laws were passed lin
iting the pressure to thirty pounds per
square inch. Passenger trains were al
lowed to run at the "high rate of Speed'
of twelve miles per hour: the suggeS-
ton of thirty miles per hour was con-
sidered ridiculous, Journal of that time
stating that the people would as soon be
shot out of cannon as to travel at such
a "high rate of velocity" it being
considered detrimental to respiration
and the vital parts of the body. Great eX-
citement occurred through the daily
press when dynamite was first intro
duced not long ago. stringent laws be-
ing passed in regard to its storage and
transportation, a result OF attempting
to evade which caused many more risks
and dangers by carrying and Keeping 1t
in everyday and unsuspected places
All mannsr of objections were brought
against the introduction of gas as
an iliuminant, such as explosion.
impurity of air by combus-
ton and suffocation. Nearly
every one remembers, when the arc
lights appeared in New York city, of
the startling account in the papers of
flames Issuing from the body of horse
that had accidentally come in contact
with one of the light wires.
All the old matters, however, have
setaed themselves with the laws of uni
yersal progress and the diffusion of
knowledge, and we now find fewer acci-
dents with steam preSSureS or one 10
two hundred pounds than with thirty
then, and fewer accidents also
with sixty to eighty miles per. hour
passenger travelling, considering the in
crease in the number carried, and fewer
| fires from gas than from candles or oil.
Electricity thinks we may conclude then
that the power or danger OF any new
form of energy should not. and will
not, debar it from universal adoption.
that being only question of
time. Intelligently managed and
controlled, the most powerful
and Otherwise dangerous agency
may be turned into mans best and most
efficient servant. Thus. in dealing with
the problems concerning the genera
| ton and distribution of the electric cur
rent, it should not be restricted by un-
| intelligent legislation, limiting or fix
ing certain voltages. quantities. inSu-
| lation, ETC., but rather the aim should
be to perfect means by which its full
force may be realized. fostering its
growth into higher range OF intensity
and usefulness and thus to increase its
| efficiency.