Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-18
THE CITY'S MENACE,
The City Electrician of Chicago Believes
That all Wires Should be Underground
The Trolley People Are Trying to
Inntct Their Deadly Wires On
the Windy City.

Mr.. John p. Barrett. the city electrician
OF Chicago. who is in the city for a few
days and is stopping at the Shoreham, Is
an outspoken and earnest advocate of the
system Of placing all electrical wires used
al city beneath the ground. He has reach
ed this conclusion from professional as well
as practical reasons. In talking with a
representative of The Star he said that the
greatest danger which now menaces a city
Is that which comes from the overhead wire.
There is no good reason. he thinks, why
life and property should be endangered from
such source except the purely selfish one
which is based on the expense incurred by
various corporations in making the change
from the overhead to the underground sys-
TEN. He has been in charge of the electrical
department of the city government of Chi
cago for a good many years and during the
fair he was in charge of the electrical works
in operation there.
Some ten years ago the effort was begun
In the city of Chicago which has resulted in
freeing an area some five miles in diameter
In the center of the city from overhead
wires. The story of how this came about is
an interesting one. He had occasion to ex-
tend the wires of the fire alarm system
through a section Of the city which was
built up largely with the residences of rich
men, The wires were strung on poles, and
one morning the property owners were dis
mayed to ind these disfiguring features of
city life planted in front Of their residences.
"A committee of indignant property holders
at once called on the mayor and demanded
reoress. Mr.. Barrett, who was summoned,
explained to them that it was necessary
that the wires should go along that street.
but II they objected to the poles he would
agree that II they would furnish him with
money sumcient to meet the extra ex-
nla oil fhx
foreground. This proposition was eagerly
accepted and the wires were placed under
ground. This little incident occurred some
ten years ago and since that time the pro-
gress has been steady in doing away with
overhead wires. The plan adopted is that
when the city government places the wires
on certain streets underground, the tele-
graph. telephone. electric light and other
companies having overhead wires make a
change in the systems within the same area
The business Center Free.
Strange to say, the overhead trolley for
street railways has not yet penetrated the
business center of Chicago, as all the street
railroads are operated either by cable OF
by horses. Now, however, an effort is Il
be made to have the trolley brought into
this section of the city. Under the laws Of
Illinois the consent of the property owners
has to be obtained as well as the passage
by the city council of an ordinance allow.
ing the railroads to make such a change
in their motive power. The corporations
are now securing the consent OF property
owners, and while they do not openly
claim that they intend to use the trolley
the permission allows them to use cleo
tricity. Mr.. Barrett proposes to fight the
overhead trolley. One object OF his visit
here was to inspect the underground cleo
trio railroad which Is In operation in this
city. There is a small section of a road
worked by the same system in Chicago.
but as ii is controlled by a company that
Is interested In the trolley the system
proves to be failure whenever IL is to
the interest Of the trolley people to have IL
So Mr.. Barrett has offered. when the as
sertion has been made that this system Is
impracticable. to run the road himself,
but his offer has never been accepted.
He says that there IL no longer any cleo
trical problem connected with the practical
use Of electricity motive power along
underground wires Ii is simply a mechan-
ical problem He believes that the under
ground wire furnishes better insulation
and does better work than the overhead
wire. He is entirely satisfied with the
practical operations of the underground
wire road in this city, and intends to cite
the system in operation here to the council
of Chicago when he makes his argument
against their allowing the overhead trolley
to be used In the city.