River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-11-17
ELECTRICITY NO ExCEP TON.

Dangers Attend Its Use just rs in the
Case OF Other Agencies.
Ever since electricity left its expert
me ntal stage in the laboratory and be-
came possible source of energy and
power to man in advancing the com
mercial progress of the arts and sci
ences, the questions OF the dangers to
life and property have been brought
prominently before the pubic Just as
the dangers attending the use of steam,
of rapid loeomotion on railroads, of IL
Eliminating gas and of dynamite We're
brought to the attention of the world,
when these powerful agencies passed
through their infancy and entered into
the active service of man. In each in
stance there was always a class who
took the partial or narrow view that if
the new agency were dangerous it should
be excluded from the public, or if adj
mitted, it should be hampered by such
limitations and exclusions as to render
it almost useless for practical purposes,
as well as TO retard its future progress
and advancement. 1t is said that upon
the introduction of steam in England
laws were passed limiting the pressure
to thirty pounds to the square inch.
Passengers were allowed to run at the
'high rate of speed" of twelve miles per
hour; the suggestion of thirty miles per
hour was considered ridiculous, jour
nal of that time stating that the people
would as soon be shot out of cannon
as to travel at such 'fhigh rate of We
locity," it being considered detrimental
to respiration and the vital parts of the
body. Great excitement occurred
through the daily press when dyna-
mite was first introduced not
long ago, stringent laws being
PASSED in regard to its storage and
transportation, a result of attempting
to ev-de which caused many more risks
and dangers by carrying and keeping it
in everyday and unsupported places.
All manner of objections were brought
against the introduction of gas as an
illuminant, such as explosion, impurity
of air by combustion and suffocation.
Nearly everyone remembers, when the
arc lights appeared in New York city,
of the startling account in the papers of
flames issui-1g from the body of horse
that had accidentally come in contact
with one of the light wires.
All the old matters, however, have
settled themselves with the laws of uni
versal progress and the diffusion of
knowledge, and we now find fewer acci-
dents with steam pressure of one to two
hundred pounds than with thirty then,
and fewer accidents also with sixty to
eighty miles per hour passenger travel
ing, considering the increase in the
number carried, and fewer fires from
gas than from candles or oil. Elec-
tricity 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. Intelli-
gently 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 generation and distribution of the
electric current, it should not be re-
stricted by unintelligent legislation,
limiting or fixing certain voltages,
quantities, insulation, 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.