Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-26
URGES ABSORPTION
Of POWER PLANTS
Tracey A. Becker Advises City to
Buy Electrical Distribut-
ing Corporations

"I tell you, gentlemen" said Tracey
A. Becker in his speech before the City
club yesterday afternoon, that one of
your first steps toward making a sue
cess of the proposed power develop
ments of the Owens river aqueduct
must be TO open negotiations with the
present electrical corporations of this
city to absorb their distributing plants,
and thus be in position to distribute
electrical power at profit to the
city,
Becker, who was counsel for several
of the Niagara Falls hydro electric cor
porations for years, pointed out to the
members of the club, who had as
sembled at the weekly luncheon of the
club at the Westminster hotel, that al
most limitless power could be~derived
from the aqueduct, but the commercial
value of the power would be lost in an
attempt TO sell it to the ordinary prl-
Vate consumer; that 1t should be the
city's first move to acquire, either
through negotiations or through con-
demnation proceedings, the electric
lighting and power plants of Los An
geles, now owned by corporations.
Councilmanic Candidate Frederick J.
Whiffen on his entrance to the dining
room was loudly applauded, but wauld
not respond to many calls for speech.
TELLS OF NIAGARA SYSTEM
I'm order to place properly before
you the lessons that may be derived
from the Niagara Falls hydro-electric
operations and applied to your owens
river problem" said Becker in the
course of his speech, Il must give you
a picture of conditions at Niagara.
ITO start with. the Mia CARA is not a
river but a strait. There are no tor
irt fn x1rifh nc
you have in your Owens river aque-
duct. The water power generated at
Niagara is the most remarkable in the
world for the ease and cheapness with
which it can be turned to commercial
use More than 100000, 900 tons of water
an hour goes over the falls, dropping
distance of 40 feet, and through this
can be generated close to 20,000,000-
horse power.
"A problem arose to transfer the
power generated at the falls, and after
much experimentation it was discov-
cred that power at high voltage could
be taken on a 5s-inch copper wire to
Buffalo, twenty-one miles away.
when the Niagara Falls Power COM
pany proposed to bring it's power into
Buffalo the company conducted a series
of experiments to show how much
cheaper hydro o-electric power was as
energy. 1t was found that assuming
coal to cost So a ton it would cost $50
to generate one horse power per an
mum, while the same amount of power
could be generated at the falls for $50.
TORONTO SHARES BENEFIT
Toronto, on the Canadian side,
city of 100000 inhabitants, owes its
name as one of the coming great manu-
fon nft in IF RI
it's ownership of hydro electrical power
plants. Here within your grasp, with
the bare cost of putting up stations and
distributing plants, you have 100000
horse power.
But, unless you find an outlet for
your manufactures through the north,
the east and in the orient, this wealth
of power would be waste to you, for
you could not sell over 15,000-horse
power for manufacturing purposes to-
day.
'You must have another channel in
which to sell your power. You must
take over the lighting system. and, per-
haps, eventually, the street car sys-
TENS. Either threaten to put in plant
to compete with the lighting company
and carry the work far enough along to
make them come to an agreement to
dispose of their property at a reason
demnation proceedings to acquire their
property.
Let me warn you against one thing.
Do not take their word to buy power
from you. but let your contract have a
clause that after a certain number of
years you may take over their plant at
a condemnation value.
II am opposed to city opening an
Independent plant, and thus forcing the
interests to the wall. We
must be just to corporation interests.
But a law should be put through our
legislature similar to the one in France
and in some of the eastern states of the
United States, that after certain time
a city supplying power to privately
owned distributing system has the
right to purchase that system at fair
figure.
''You have a wonderful heritage in
this owens river aqueduct and the
power that will come from it. Without
it your city's growth would stop Your
cheap power will open up a new field
that, perhaps, you have not thought of.
The desert, so close by, is wonderfully
rich in minerals, and cheap power will
make electro-chemica works spring up.
"a last word--look before you leap.
Try to acquire distributing systems for
your power. Purchase them at rea-
sonable rate, and If that is not pos
sible have a law put through your
legislature whereby they may be ac-