East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-07-03

The Oregon Daily Journal says Of
the unjust order of the insurance un-
derwriters' association that Portlands
electric current be changed from di-
rect to alternating necessitating the
installation of at least 500 new mo
tors:
Every owner of an electric motor
for machine or elevator power in
Portland is confronted by the neces-
sity OF buying a new motor If the
Portland Railway, Light & Power
company yields to the demand of the
insurance companies for an imme-
date change of the current used for
power purposes in this CITY,
The change from direct to alter
mating current will, it is said, come
naturally within the course of the
next is months by the placing of the
power wires under ground in the bus
iness district.
1t is charged that the Pacific coast
insurance combine is taking advan-
tage of a technicality and the usual
public hostility against lighting cor
poratins, to raise the insurance rates
in Portland and reap a harvest before
the installation of the underground
system ordered by the city council
and now being planned by the Port
land Railway, Light & Power COM
pany.
Would NeceSsitate Change.
Discussing the sensational increase
of insurance rates put into effect
yesterday by the underwriters COM
bination. President B. E. Josselyn Of
the Portland Railway, Light & Pow
er company, said:
1--WE have had this question up be-
fore and we have declined to make
an immediate change, partly because
we are considering the interests of our
power customers, all of whom would
have to instantly dispose of their mo-
tors and get new motors that could
be operated by the proposed alter
mating current There are about 500
direct current motors now in opera
ton on our lines. Every one would
have to be superseded by an alternat-
ing current motor.
I'm our judgment the advance Of
local insurance rates on the pretext
of danger from the direct current
wires is nothing less than a holdup
by the insurance companies that car
ry policies on the properties in the
4rfn nf faThaV
claim that the rates must be increas-
ed because any great electrical dis
turbance might cause a general con-
flagration. The fact is that there
are no electrical disturbances in
Portland. This climate is peculiarly
free from such disturbances.
No Increase Elsewhere.
eliminating electric disturbances,
the present system is all right. But
in the regular course of events we are
planning to change the downtown
wires to an underground system, and
OF the same time change the current
from direct to alternating, reducing
the voltage from 500 to 220 volts.
The city council has directed that
downtown wires be placed UNDER
ground, and we are making our plans
to carry out this ordinance"
1t is said by electrical engineers
that 80 per cent Of cities Of the Uni
ted States are using direct current
for power purposes, and that they
never change excepting in rebuild |
ing their wiring plants and placing
them underground, according to mod
ern plans.
In the making Of this change the
rule is to reduce the voltage, making |
1t an alternating current instead Of
direct. 1t is said that In some cities
the direct current is not even an insu-
lated system, as in Portland, but that
the power is taken direct from the
trolley wire, and that in these same
cities insurance is carried at regular
rates by the same companies that do
business in and are now raising rates
in Portland
In eastern cities the risk is natural
ly greater by reason of the frequency
of great electrical storms. But Port
land L. free from such storms and
therefore It is argued should be free
from insurance rate advances on such |
pretexts.
Garry Own Insurance.
Under former conditions prevail ;