Omaha daily bee., 1894-02-11

The company now proposes to ask the
legislature of Massachusetts for authority
to add 3O,OOO,0 900 to it's capital stock. This
vast sum is required, the managers say. to
increase the efficiency of the service. Those
familiar with the methods of the company
assert the fund will be used to buy off com
petitors and prevent a rivalry which would
bring about a radical reduction of tele-
phone charges. Opposition companies are
already in the field in Philadelphia, Chicago.
st. Louis and other points. If these secure
a foothold and the Bell people secure the
increased capital, it is likely the country
VIII witness a repetition of the swallowing
process which distinguished the Western
Union in dealing with competitors.
PRIVATE LINES.
But there is a vast field for telephone USE
fulness which cannot be monopolized. Bust
ness houses, factories of all kinds, institu-
lions and colleges will find the new order
or vast benefit. for now all such can have
telephones of their own connecting their
various departments, at a cost that is
practically nothing compared to that which
they would have had to pay to the Bell
company. Railroad companies and great
factories will get the full benefit of the new
condition of affairs. Men of moderate means
and rich folk may now have a telephone
line between their houses and their stables,
and can give their orders to the coachman
without sending for that functionary to the
stables.
Perhaps the new order will be mostly APP
preciated In the country. Every farmer in
a county may have a telephone connecting
his house with that of several of his nearest
neighbors, and the new automatic switch
board may be used when a general confab
is desired or when the doctor is wanted.
Hundreds Of electrical manufacturing con-
Germs scattered in the cities all over the
country are now almost prepared to deliver
instruments exactly like the Bell telephone
practically Bell telephones-to any one
III rnn . tlA.. nh H. lin
the way from $35 to $50, including, of course,
the complete instrument with it's two
counterparts.
NIAGARA FALLS POWER.
The first of the mammoth turbines by
means of which some of Niagara's limitless
power is to be harnessed, was successfully
tested ten days ago. While the power is a
part of the general system now being de-
veloped at a point about two miles above the
rapids, it is designed to operate the huge
paper manufacturing establishment erected
last year. The construction of the power
house, pits and feeder for this paper mill
was started at about the same time the big
pit of the Cataract Construction company
was begun. The pit of the paper mil is
20x40 feet and 1853 in depth, and the water
has a head Of 1876 feet. 1t was sunk under
great difficulty, owing to the presence in
large quantities of water which Flowed
through the seams of the rocks from the
AiNoi oih vas hoAa " NiOihs
1t has taken nearly two years and
has cost several lives, many thousands of
dollars and has employed hundreds of men
and horses. The turbines, resting on per-
pendicular shafts, are encased in huge iron
coverings, and the shafting rises to the
top of the pit, braced at every thirty feet
with iron staging. At the top on these
shafts are the huge cogs which connect with
the shafting and machinery of the mill.
This does away with any need of betting and
any loss Of mower from Suph "a rnusn The
mill has its own, .waterworks plant, its own
fire department, electric light station. and,
in fact, all conveniences necessary for it's
operation. M v
1t is expected shortly that the company
will place three more turbines in the pit of
the mill, which will give 1t 6,600-horse
power. The %penstock for the additional
three is in position below, and with little
work they will be got in readiness.
A BOLD ELECTRICAL PROJECT.
This is the age OF great engineering pro-
jects. The magnificent idea of reviving
English industry by cutting a thirty-six mile
canal and thus milking a seaport of Man
chester has justnbeen successfully carried
out, and the harnesslng OF a portion Of
Niagara Falls for 5the supply Of light and
power to a large section of surrounding
country Will soon be an accomplished fact.
An enterprise that compares faVorably with
these gigantic undertakings In originality
and daring is now on foot. 1t is proposed to
use the tidal currents of the Irish Sea for the
generation Of electricity by Joining Great
Britain and Ireland, and building power
houses on the isthmus, The power houses
would meet all requirements, one for sup
plying the Scotch side. the other for the
Irish side, and a railroad would run along
the isthmus from Cantire TO Antrim, the re-
~spectiye points at which the junction with
the main land would be made. The Gulf
stream flows in a continuous current from
the North sea into the Irish sea in volumes
OF water estimate at many cubic miles
daily, and utilization of as much as would
test the capacity of the two power houses
would enable power and lighting to be sup
piled 10 the districts on both sides OF the
channel for hundreds Of miles around, The
waterway between the headland Of Cantire
in Scotland and Torhead in Ireland. on the
proposed line of junction, is fifteen miles
wihn and IA feet deem At midcurrent. hut