The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-27

mark The New EngIand ota'es "ets we'll supplied with stations. Massa- chusetts reported the largest huhoe1' then came Maine, Vermont, New Hamp- shire and Connecticut. Among the Southern states Texas led, with Ken lucky, Tennessee and Georgia folfow- ling. Of the Western states, California reported the largest number of sta tions, Colorado, Washington. Oregon land Montana being next in order. Of the 1892 places reported at the Twelfth ICensus as having a population of 2.500 and over. 1,511 had one or more central electric lighting stations. Of the places with a smaller population, 1860 had similar stations. t..t | A number of companies supply areas of many square miles in which are lo-. cated scores of cities. towns, incor- porated villages, and mere hamlets ] all enjoying the benefits of electricity and constituting source of income | for the enterprise. The extreme limit of such work at the time of this report was marked by the long distance pow CT transmission on the Pacific coast, where current from the Sierras was &C., tually delivered for general consump- ] tion in San Francisco and Sausalito | and was also distributed from the | same plants over lines which ramify same plants over lines which ramify into half the coun- l ties of the State of California. The whole aspect of central station current | supply in it's relation to population has | in reality been utterly changed by the development of polyphase power trans mission plants There are at least a | thousand such plants, with lines fre- | quently fifteen or twenty miles long. in | many cases forty or fifty miles, often | sixty or ninety miles, and sometimes | even 150 or 200 miles.
 These transmission enterprises are peculiarly typical of the far Western States. but are by no means concen- trated there, being scattered all over 1 the Union
 | The total capital stock and funded l debt authorized amounted to $743,296,- 266, but the amount issued was consid- erably less being $627,515,s75. Of the total amount authorized. $4s5.17s,372, or 5S.5 per cent, was capital stock and | $30S.117S94, or 41.5 per cent. was funded debt. Of the total authorized | capital stock, s372,951,952, or S5.7 per cent had been issued at the end of the year covered by the report. Of the capital stock issued, $23.s71,671. or per | cent. was preferred stock and $349 0S0,- | 2S1, or 93.6 per cent, was common stock.
 | Private stations expended S4OO50,613 | and municipal plants $1,741,S34 in con- structfon and equipment during the year covered by the report. The total for private stations from their origin until 1902, was $4s2,71s.S79. giving an average outlay of $32s per horsepower | Of dynamo capacity. It is interesting | to compare these figures with those for | municipal stations. which show cost for construction and equipment of s22- | O20,473, and an average of about $145 per horsepower of generating capacity; 1t Is not safe to accept this average as a basis of comparison, on account of l the wide variations revealed in the diff ferent States, which range from $114 in Ohio to $S44 in the State of Washing | ton.
 Although the practice of supplying current for motive power and other uses had grown rapidly. the supplying of current for light was still prepon- deratingly the business of both private and municipal stations Of the total income. $70,13S,147. or SIS per cent
 was directly derivable from lighting.
 The private stations obtained S0.5 per cent and the municipal stations 969
 per cent. of their income from this
 source. This income from sale of cur
 rent for lighting purposes was derived
 from SS5.69S arc lamps and 1S.149,044
 incandescent lamps. The average in-
 come per lamp for arc lights in private
 stations and used for commercial or
 other private lighting was $4S.Ss; used
 for public lighting, $S3.20. In munich
 pal stations. for commercial or other
 private lighting. 1t was $41.46; for pub
 He lighting, $69.Ss The incandescent
 lamps in private stations in commercial
 use earned an average income of $40
 per lamp; in public service, $6 06 In
 municipal stations these lamps earned
 1.92 in commercial service and $5. 93
 in public service. ~-.
 The total expenses for private and
 municipal stations were $SS,oS1.S75. Of
 this, $20646,692 was for salaries and
 wages; $22.915,932 for supplies, mate
 rials and fuel. $11.S95,2Os for rents.
 taxes, insurance and miscellaneous ex-
 penses, and s12,623.545 for interest on
 bonds.
 This subject is considered under the
 three heads: Power and generating
 equipment, line construction, and ser vice line equipment The power plant
 equipment showed 5,930 steam engines with 1,379,941 horsepower, and 1890 water wheels with 43S.472 horsepower; and the generating plant equipment, 5,S2S direct current constant voltage dy-
 namos with 442,446 horsepower; 3,539 direct current constant amperage dy- namos with 195,531 horsepower and | 5,l22 alternating and polyphase cur rent dynamos with 9S7,03 horsepower
 The line construction had l07263 miles of mains and 17.SS0 miles of feeders.
 For the service line equipment, meters | anu lllolOTS are the important items. There were 5S2,6S9 meters, 575,- OO4 Of these were mechanical and 7,6S5 chemical The aggregate of arc lamps of all classes was 3S5,69S, of which | 334,9O3, or S6.S per cent, were operated from private stations and 5O.795, or l3.2 per cent. from municipal stations
 In addition to these 3S5,6 arc lamps connected to the circuits of central sta ] tions, the street railways operating electric lighting stations reported 33,- S63 arcs, making the total for the United States 419561.
 The main function for which a cen tral station exists is the generation of current. for the measurement of which the kilowat hour is the unit now uni rersally accepted. Using this as the unit. the average output of current per day for all stations was 6,960,7 7S3, mak- ing total for the year of 2,507,051,115. l For private stations the output was D. 1 3ll.l46,676 kilowatt hours, and for mu- nicipal stations. 195, 904, ,439. Among the private stations the totals for New York are at the head of the list; among
 the municipal, Illinois.
 Electric lighting, street railway and other analogous corporation derive their charters. which give them the right to exist and which regulate In a general way thair internal government, from the State through the medium of either a general or special statute. Usu- ally further definite authorization Is