Evening journal., 1899-09-06
system demands concentration un.

ochuluS Oul uttl Oul 10 uSuL OeTNtId,
with each captain instructed to sail
his ship where he pleased, and fight il
as seemed good to him?
How much of a load could you haul
with the best four-horse team that ever
wore harness, II each horse had a sep
arate driver?
Thus, the tendency toward indivld-
ual control and consequent RESPONSE
bility, runs through all the various
fields of human effort.
/ owe no stock in the Standard Oil
Company, but l cannot but acknowl-
edge that il is a most shining example
of the benefits resulting from concen-
trated authority. l am a Protestant
by birth and breeding, but / cannot be
blind to the fact that the Roman
Catholic Church, with its control and
direction vested in one head, has kept
in the front rank of all religious or
ganizatiOns of the world.
In our city of Pittsburg, in electrical
matters, we have had concentrated
control and individual responsibility
from the beginning-First, as of course
in all cities, originally came the fire
alarm telegraph. When the police
telegraph was added to the fire alarm
system it was put under the same con-
troll. When the sudden development of
electrical street railways demanded
municipal supervision for the safety of
the public, the execution of the or
dinances insofar as they dealt with the
electrical apparatus, was vested in the
same bureau. When the rapid extern
sion of electric lighting in private
honaau paaHa ~ nrconffo1
should be some oversight of it in the
general public interest, the duties Of
inspection and supervision were added
to the same Office.
When the underground ordinances
were passed, compelling all companies
to place their wires beneath the sur
face Of the earth, the duty of looking
after the overhead dead wires, and see
ing that they were not left a menace
to the innocent public, was delegated
to the same head, to compel their re-
moval peacefully. if it could-force-
fully if it must
Speaking from an experience of more
than twenty years, as the controlling
head of this branch of municipal work
in Pittsburg, I can only say that can
not conceive of doing business success
/ fully under any other system. When
anything goes wrong in oneFbranch of
the operations, we should be able 10
throw the force of all branches of the
same kind of work into the task of
setting il right; if there is a break in
the police wires, we should be able to
call into a helpful action all interest
of the fire alarm, its men and con-
veniences, at any hour of the day or
night, without the "red tape" necessity
Of hunting up a separate department
authority to get permission.
/ If live wires cross each other by acci-
dent, and one of them does damage
there ought not to be two chiefs OF
different bureaus with equal authority
to fix the blame or estimate the loss.
1t seems to me that the additional
safeguards it gives the public, in all
the ways l have indicated, gives this
same public the right to demand, at
the hands of the proper legislative
power, that they grant this highest
safeguard for goodness knows
taxes are usually high enough, and
"the best is none too good" when il
comes to the salvation of life and
property. In fact, ! think the argu-
ment for concentration of authority in
municipal electrical work is so old thai
one cannot hope to say very much
new upon it, and it is plainly apparent
that it stands in front of every intelli
gent person who may stop in the mids
of the whirlwind Of every day expert
ence, and cast a side look about him.
The question of the hour is how t
reform municipalities. 1t seems to ml
that if those in charge of any public
function were so trained or educated
as to be able to take charge of am
or all portions of similar work, or tn,
different branches of the same work
in other words show a thorough com
potency, that much of the clamor foI
municipal reform would be done awal
with.
For instance, in the subject unde,
discussion, a police telegraph superin
tendent should be able to run the fir
alarm system, he should also be abl
to understand all the rules governing
good electric light installation il
. buildings. He should understand, to
great extent, electric light machinery
as well as have a thorough knowledg
4 of motor and power work
Even the smallest OF our cities ar
putting on the municipal airs of tn
[ largest, and to keep up with the times
especially in electrical work, is is o
g the highest Importance work whicl
o SO per cent. of the people are thor
g oughly ignorant of.
: The one who stands between thi
d vast ignorance of these things on III
n part of the people, and the municipal
o ties, are the municipal electricians.
S They must, in the future, more thai
= ever, represent the safety valve of cleo
trical protection. II has been too muc
e the case that a superintendent Of fir
: alarm, or superintendent of police tele
't graph, would each sit by, and let cleo
y trio light matters and the march OF i'm
s. provement, in inspection matters ,hurr
l. past him in their course. While HI
n in the same old way, runs his on
branch without reference to the rest.
. He soon finds himself surrounde
/, with hills Of electrical development
L and waking up suddenly, finds II to
8 late to catch up with the train of pros
I, ress.
u Thus, towns, cities and municipal