Evening star., 1902-08-16

pace with 1t. In 1897 the aggregate capital
employed in electrical industries was about
$500, 100000, and this has now increased to
almost $500 100000.
There are am told about 500 different
electrical enterprises in the united kingdom
and these during the year 1900 paid an
average dividend of ~ per cent. Great
Britain and America together have 21,00O
miles of electric car tracks, and of these
only 300 belong to Great Britain. Still this
country has almost as many large towns as
we have. Its people live in towns and the
most of them in towns large enough to
have electric cars. The towns are situated
close together and in the future the whole
country will be covered with network of
electric lines as though by a spiders web.
The field of electric lighting is also great.
Very little of 1t is found in private houses,
and the municipalities will eventually sup
ply electric lights to their citizens at
moderate profit. Fifteen million dollars
worth of loans were sanctioned by parlia-
ment for such lights in 1900, and in the two
years preceding the total loans authorized
amounted to more than so0,000000.
Manipulated by Yankees.
So far the chief establishments for max
Ing electrical supplies here have originated
in or have been backed by the United
States. All the companies are under Brit
tsh names, and they to large extent
British employees, although more or less
Americans are connected with all of them.
The British Thomson Houston Company is
closely associated with the General Eiec-
trio Company .of New York. 1t has just
finished building large electric works at
Rugby at a cost of more than 81 100000.
The Dick Kerr & Company makes cleo
trcal supplies at Preston, near Liverpool.
1t has bought the Walker patents and has
Prof. Sidney Short, who was manager of
the Walker combination in the United
States, as its head. In addition to these,
there are many smaller electrical com
panies which are entirely British. but the
bulk of the electrical machinery used here
in the future will be made in the works
originated by the Americans. The people
here want American machinery, and even
the engineers of the municipalities frequent
ly stipulate in their contracts that their
engines, cars and dynamos shall be of
American make.
They Deal in Millions.
OF all the electrical works, however, the
British Westinghouse Company has by far
the greatest 1t has put more money into
its business and is doing everything on the
largest scale. Its capital is ten million dol
lars and 1T is already paying per cent div
idends it's preferred stock. I get this
from statement made by Mr. George
Westinghouse at a meeting OF the share
holders in London not long ago. In his
speech he referred first to the wonderful
prosperity of the PittSburg works, which
had paid per cent dividends right along
on capital of twenty million dollars and
at the same time accumulated a surplus
He said that the British company during
the past year had made enough to give the
preferred stockholders 6 per cent and in ad-
dltion surplus of ninety thousand dollars
This had been done although all the orders
had to be executed in America, and now
that the works in Great Britain were in
operation the profits should be much larger
In this speech Mr.. Westinghouse spoke Of
the gas engines which were being made in
the United States and which will be also
turned out here in Manchester. He be-
neVes that gas rather than steam Is to be
the future motive power, and is making
simple gas engines at Pittsburg which will
furnish as high as $500 horse power
am told that the works here are already
loaded With contracts, among which are
some of the largest contracts ever issued
one Is the transformation of tie Mersey
tunnel railway at Liverpool from steam to
electricity, and others are the power houses
and equipment of the enormous railroad
system Of underground London The Me-
tropolitan roads, which are headed by Mr.
1erkes will have sixty-nine miles of double
lines and the District railway, which runs
outside these will have thirteen miles of
double line. the cars Of both companies run
ming to certain extent over TIE tracks of
the other. FRANK G. CARpE,N,rEp