The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-09-20
Local News.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 20, 1899.
In Defense Of the Electric flights.

in your last issue rejecting very ST.
riously on the Electric Light Company.
We ordinarily would not notice one,
hut as this one is simply series OF
nisstatements, we thought it better to
correct them. It seems that a man
must want news very badly when ne
publishes alocal calculated to damage
a Company, without finding out the
facts in the case. He starts out by
saving, he doesn't know who is respon-
sible for the very insufficient service
given the city by this Company. He
must indeed be an ignoramus ii he
does not know that the President OF
Company is responsible for its manage
ment.
Second: :J"That as to the point OF
brilliance and constancy we have the
poorest lights in the State" We are
fllsinc the Helios lamp. 1900 candle
power. There were more OF this par
ticularl lamp muse in the United States,
when purchased, than of any other
make in the world. Each lamps taken
to the station and taken to pieces and
cleaned perfectly every twenty-one
4 DAYS, and we are informed that there
is not another city in South Carolina
that cleans their lamps oftener than
every six weeks.
That another cause Of the spoor
Lights is that they are not elevated
enough, &c. This Company had moth
ing to do with the height OF the lamp;
that was decided by q former City
Council. and was very correctly de-
cided, for if the lights had, been d6ore
the trees, the streets would have been
almost totally dark; the heavens would
have been lighted well, but as your
reporters tare probably not going IN
that direction we don't see why they
should kick.
As to -rfie many dead lights one
finds ii.;l lttl.stroll any night" that
, is another .'littlc mistake" as he could
have. fouud out by asking to examine
the daily reports Of our trimmer, OF
inspector, OF the Chief of Police. The
last report showed that the Company
had furnished 9sl per cent light out OF
a possible 100. There is no record in
this State OF in any other that can beat
it. For the past year the lights have
done exceptionally fine and have given
satisfaction to the City Council and we
think the public, and although we have
expended over. 500 more on them dur
ing the past year, we have never
sskicked, . but were laboring under the
fond delusion that the public were
satisfied.
He further complains ''of the arbi-
trary shutting off of the lights upon the,
approach of any little cloud It's q
lamentable fact that electricians all
over stheworld have never been able
Ito absolutely protect machines against
the lightning. There are several light
ming protectors on the market, the
& most prominent and popular being
J the Stanley, the Westinghouse and the
General Electric Co.'s, and while none
s Of these will guarantee protection, yet
they are the best made. We have Oh
!. our circuits all three of these makes, and
besides this, have had made for us
specially designed choke coils for our
further protection, and in spite of all
this, have lost by lightning in the past
& two years five tho usand dollars worth
of electric machinery. This fact is
/, enough to make us careful about light
ming storms, and while we have run
right through storms enough IN past
two months to burn ont $3.50 worth
of machinery, yet we have shut down
on several occasions. How ofte2 have
the city lights been shut Oft for the
months OF July, August and to date!
: In July they were shut off on 18th,
from 7:4O to $40 o'clock, just 30 min-
utes, no other time. In August they
were shut off not u single time that the
city contracted for lights. In Septem-
ber they were shut off on Sd from 7:30
to $40 O'Clock, so minutes. On Sth, for
one hour and fifty minutes, the same
terrible storm that blew the roof Oft OF
Whites house near Portman Shoals,
{see your last issue giving account OF
it,. So dnring the past, three months
when we have had a great dea! OF
electricity in the atmosphere we have
shut the City lights out three times, and
yet your reporter would have the pub
lie believe that they have been shut OFT
on the approach of every little cloud.
"The time is now quite ripe for the
city to pay more for better service or
obtain control Of her lighting fran
chises.n If your reporter had ex-
;,mined the records for himself instead
of listening to some Smart Alec gas
awhile, he would have found out the
facts already quoted in this article,
that more efficient service could not
have been obtained. Now, us for the
city obtaining control Of the lighting
franchises. We don't think there will
be any trouble about that, for we think
the Directors of this Company would
not only surrender them, but would
g;ve. the city 81 900 to be relieved of