Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1914-03-26
ELECTRIC TALK
AT CLUB MEETING
ENTHUSIASTIC CROWD AT CON-
MERCIAL CLUB MEETING DIS
CUSS ELECTRIC RATES

terested crowd at the meeting Of the
commercial club held Monday evening
and the topic for the evening was a
white way and rates for power and
cooking. AS the white way subject
had been discussed several times the
talk vered from it to the light, power
and cooking rates. Everyone was
greatly interested in this and anxious
to see rates established that would
tend to materially increase the con-
sumption of electricity. One citizen
remarked that he considered this the
most important question before the
club and one that would, if properly
handled, be a great advertisement for
the city.
With electricity costing US only two
cents per killowatt after passing the
sixty thousand mark the general opin-
ion was that a cooking rate Of four
cents could be easily given. With
such a rate a campaign could be car.
ried on for the installing of electric
stoves and thus greatly increase the
consumption. President Bergman ex-
pressed himself as satisfied that this
would help all around and thus make
q reduction of lights easier. Paul
Leonhardy had a good suggestion
when he spoke of the low rates for
use outside of the city. He thought
il would be a good thing as it would
enable the farmers Of the Muddy VAL
ley to use the power, giving them
some advantages in this line as the
power user in the city.
The possibility of cheap cooking
rate was the subject that appeared to
be given the most attention as it
would be so convenient in the home
and make summer cooking pleasure
rather than a hardship. One of the
members read an article on the use of
electricity for cooking in Jacksonville,
Florida from the St. Paul Rural
Weekly and we quote from this ar
ticle the following:
A Typical Home
Mrs. Thomas Washington's house is
typical of the majority of homes of
this city. 1t is home of neither
wealth nor poverty.
"Every bit of our cooking is done by
electricity" said Mrs. Washington.
"That range is equipped with facili-
ties for doing every sort of cooking:
"When the current is turned on full
it costs 10 cents an hour to run it.
The average time for cooking the
three meals a day is little less than
two and half hours.
No Fires, No Dirt
"But the bigger thing is the free
dom from many of the unpleasant fea-
lures of cooking that make women
dissatisfied with the kitchen. There
are no fires to build no dirt, no stand
ing over hot stoves to burn away ones
temper and complexion, no sickening
heat that makes so many women Won
der whether the career of the home is
worth what happiness it brings.
"In our home, and in many homes
= of my friends, only the cheapness Of
lthe current makes it possible for US
to cook with electricity. If We had to
paw 6 or 10 cents kilowatt hour in
stead of two we would be compelled
to use some other fuel.
Not Nearly So firing
"Kitchen work isn't nearly as tir-
ing" Mrs. WASHINGTON added, as she
= opened the door of an oven. Inside
Awere bread and potatoes baking. In
f1reless cooking vessels near the top
were meat and soup, ready for serv-
ing.
Some interesting statistics were
found at the city hall of dollars saved
and turned over to the treasury, of
years of tax administration, perhaps
but still of steady downward lower
ing of prices of electricity until it is
now available i'm every home for cook
ing purposes and not a luxury to be
affarded only by the rich for chafing
dishes and glistening percolators.
The difference between public own
&rship and private monopoly of elec-
trio lighting is the difference between
living and existing for the most i'm
portant figures Of any household-its
"women folks"
The next meeting of the club will
be held Tuesday evening and citizens
interested in the electric question are
Aasked to attend.