The Washington herald., 1907-07-28
BY DEXTER MARSHALL.

was taken. in 1900, there were q 203, ,9Oi
horses and 3,4SS,5 ,523 mules. including colts
less than 100000 beasts of burden in the
country all told. Allowing for a generous
increase in the seven years, there cannot
be more than 30.0OOOOO horses and mules
in the country to-day Of which not more
than 20.00o,000 at the outside car be avail
able for work AT any one time.
According TO T. Commerford Martin, the
well-known expert writer on electrical
topics. the dynamos Of the country today
are developing more than SO00.008 effective
horsepower regularly. This estimate prob
ably is within the limit In 1902 when the
United States Census Bulletin on electric
power was issued. the returns showed that
l624,9So horsepower was then being de-
veioped for the operation Of public electric
hghtinS and miscellaneous power, while
ll5S,a2 horsepower was being used in the
operation Of street and other electric rail-
roads. In the five years since then the in
creased development of public electric
light and power stations is estimated AT
" PEI cent; of electric railroad power, 20
per cent. Thus the present development
FOR electric light and miscellaneous pur-
poses is now 3.2o9.2 .225 horsepower, and of
electric railroads. 1852 6l2 horsepower.
Private Plants Not Included.
These figures do not include private
plants i'm the country, Of which there are
about $1,000, developing as much power, in
the aggregate, Mr.. Martin thinks, as the
public light and power stations. or nearly
three and quarter million horsepower.
In all, TO approximate exactness. the
electrical development may he estimated
at S,l52.C00 horsepower at the beginning of
this year
Horses can be worked effectively only
about eight hours day FIVE or six DAYS
a week. and must be turned out to grass
q month or two every year. Barring acci-
dents the electric dynamo can be
operated-and in the railroad and general
electric lighting and power-house service, I
often Is opeTated-frOm sixteen TO twenty
four hours in the day. almost always six
and sometimes seven days in the week
continuously. Thus it viii be seen that the
dynamos are doing quite as much of the
country s Work to-day as the horses Ten
years from now. probably, they Will be
doing twice as much. The development /
of electric power IS going on more rapidly 1
this year than ever, and is limited only
by the capacity OF the establishments that
bgid dyHamos ana their accessories to /
produce them.
The great bulk Of the country's electric /
Development has taken place in the last
twenty years; practically all of It in 4
twenty-five, since the first working Edi- /
son electric power-house for lighting pur- 4
poses on a commercial scale was built In 1
lSS3 Both Edison and Brush had been I
experimenting some years before that. /
however. and Brush showed his first arc
light from a roof in Cleveland late in the /
5y's. it frightened the horses in an
evening military parade so badly that he ]
was arrested FOR disorderly conduct and /
forced TO stop the exhibitions Of his new
light
First Edison station.
The first commercial Edison station was
set to work. not in one Of the great East /
ern ceaters Of population, but in Apple 1
ton, Wis. 1t was a little shanty-likc
structure, not over fifteen by twenty feet /
III size. its walls being made Of uprieht |
stuff, hattened 1t contained littlo dy- 4
namo that could furnish current for 30 1
lamps Of l9-candlepower. 1t was operated
by little water wheel
To-day the Watcrslde Power Station /
No, !, of the New York Edison COMPANY
largest in the world. develops enough /
power 10 light 2,7J000O 1O-candle lamps /
although 1G-candlcpowcr lamps are now
the standard
y single one Of its SOOO-horsepower
steam-clectric units takes up more space
than the entire space occupied by the lit /
Tie Appleton station, and develops about
go times as much power Yet the Annie /
ton station and its water power plant-in- |
Guiding dam and pOnd-must have coy 4
cred as much space as the gigantic New
York station or more since II occupies
but one New York city block trfeo
more than an acre Of ground. Inside the
siS-story red brick station building which /
stands, on this block the force OF I25 600
steam horsepower is turned into electric |
energy regularly.
If the work done in this one pover-
house were donc by horses it would take
Io.to acres 10 pasture them. were tha,-
all turned out ut one time-aImost six and ,
q hai townships and 1900 acres more
than ChicaSo's area-allowing an aero for
each horse. As a matter OF fact. II would
require twice or three times I25, 600 horses
10 do the work done In this station WbUe
horse can do more work than the worl,
OF one steam horsepower for n short
period, IL could not begin TO do so much
lor eight hours every day whereas nearI,
al the energy developed in this station is
used during a large percentage of every
tWenty-1ouc hours. excepting on Sunday.
not to speak Of the overload.
When the peak OF ;he load" is "op,, ~
night. good deal more than 125 900 actuoI
horsepower IS developed az Waterside
Number /. and a big percentage Of If All
day, on the clearest summer dav a
huge percentage OF New YorB's machinery
gets its power from this power house an,
begins its work by the time the electric
lamps 2re put out in the morning.
Big Power Plants.
In this country private electrical plaut,
are operated in the conduct OF every con.
ceivable sort Of business. Some of the
largest of them are run by the big steel
works and some Of them are comparable
only 10 the great public power stations
Most great machine shops. like the Cen
eral Electric shops, have their own cleo
tric plants. It's plant is Of 25.OO0 horse
power. l0.e0O produced by water wheels at
Spier Falls. forty miles away, on the
Upper Hudson, and 1900 by steam en-
gines at Schenectady.
New York is the greatest electrical cen
ter in this country-in the whole world
for the matter Of that It has not only the
biggest single power house, but several
others which are unmatched elsewhere.
For instance. the station ut Fifty-rlnth 4
street and the Hudson River, which fur
af-f1 "a IN EtrT.,. L.