The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-02-12
DANGEROUS STATE
OF STREET WIRES
But Too Much Of Hardship to Make Com
panies Place the Wires
Under Ground, So
Testified.

Largely on recommendation OF F. G.
Sargent, engineer for the state, the Yer
mont public service commission viii not
at present order the electric light and
power and telephone wires in Barre
and Montpelier placed under ground, a.
petitioned for BY states Attorney
Gates; but on the same recommends.
tions and With the approval of the pub
lie service commission the various com.
panies viii repair the parts Of the wir-
ings system which are considered dan
gerous The Consolidated Lighting com
pany and the Vermont Tel. & Tel com
pany started these operations following
the hearing 10 Montpelier yesterday aft
ernoon.
Mr, Sargent said in bis report that
lie considered the underground wiring
in city the size Of Barre or Mont.
pelier necessary or desirable. while ad-
mitting that the overhead system was
IA menace 70 public safety ia q city Of
$4,000 or ever. He said that there were
too many companies operating and that
competition in public utilities like those
under consideration was o dctriment
rather than q benefit 20 the public at
large, He estimated that an under
ground wiring system in a city the size
Of Montpelier would cost each company
about $4,000 for construction, labor
etc, while the same system in Barre
would exceed that amount by about 3d.
GOO He said Chat if the companies
operating in Montpelier and Barre we're
forced 70 place their wires underground
it would work considerable hardship.
when he took the stand as a witness,
ar Sargent agreed to let his repbrt 20
ia as testimony and In answer 10 4 svs-
tions Ne stated that he had never seen
worse conditions in the public utilities
companies ID all his life, some 81 the
Airing Ia sad. iuuo done IA suth =
manner as to endanger the lives Of the
lineneu ne ssh that be would ROT at-
tsnw + rrraiF ssme Of this Hae
air Sargent $50 thought that the
joint use Of poles by telephone and cleo
trle Hight companies would eliminate
most 81 Tho tfonh'e, 81 p Jones, at
tornoy for tie New England Tel q IT,
coMu.nv. stated dat his compsnv weiilt
radiy cooperate with the commission
In an effort 70 bring about better con
4 ions. hut he aid not think the ptG
pie favored PIN ag any mors po'es 10
the state than were actually necessary,
However he believed in separate poles
fer electric Wires md telep ons 4fes,
because the currents on the former in
terfered greatly with the service Of the
later
". II Blood Of Boston. who was for
merly president 0f the National Electrical |
took the opportunity to
state his opinion that there IS too much I
competition u this field bg light and
power companies also telephone com I
panies He came out strongly for a Il
and said that the greatest
trouble Is due to the number Of com
nanies doing business here. He said the
companies were not making enough mon
ay u keep up their lines we'll
Sir. Blood explained in detail the
meaning 81 insulation saying that out
side insulation was bound to deterio.
rate III a short time and maintained that
L was a great deal safer too, as far
ID the linemen We're concerned, to leave
lie wires bare rather than have them
covered with defective insulation, as
ineman. observing the covering, is not
Is cautious when repairing wire as
he naturally would be if be saw moth
ng but The bare wires Wire carrying
high voltage, he said, were always left
1are.
G O. LEM, an expert in underground K
work. was on the stand and said that
% place just the business section Of
ihe city under ground would mean an
ncrease in rates Of approximately so
,er cent not to mention the cost to the
consumer Of having bis place Of business
u reaidenee reMirea.