The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1914-12-11
POWER MEN FIGHT RULING
W. {. Clark says PRONUNCIATION of Or
der Would Hurt


Mems association relative to the regu-
lations recently submitted to the Idaho |
public utilities commission, governing
all overhead construction of power
and light wires in the state
Sets OF proposed regulations have
been submitted by the American Tele- |
phone Telegraph company, of New
York, the Oregon Short Line, the 0. !
w. r. & N. and the Power & Light |
Mems association. The hearing on
the matter will come up before the
commission in Boise in January, at
which time all of the interested indi-
viduals and corporations will be given
a hearing and will be permitted to
state their objections to the proposed
regulations.
This hearing is sequel to the
one which was held last July" said
Mr.. Clark, "at which time the Ameri-
can Telephone & Telegraph company,
through its subsidiaries in this sec
ton, the Mountain States Telephone
q Telegraph Company, and the Pacific
Telephone & Telegraph company, sub
mitted a proposed order to the COM
mission.
This order would have compelled
the power interests of Idaho to ship
into the state eastern poles, as the
use of the Idaho cedar would have
been prohibited and for this and other
reasons the power people of Idaho OBJ
| jected most strenuously to the pro-
mitigation of the order with the re-
| suit that the commission postponed
| the hearing and instructed the differ
| ent interests to submit regulations for
! consideration which would provide for
| the safety of the employees and the
! public.
| lille the new regulations submitted
| by the American Telephone and Tele-
graphic company do not prohibit the
use of the Idaho cedar, the power
people claim that many of the require
ments are unnecessary for safety and
will increase construction costs SO as
| to make prohibitiye the building of
electric light and power lines into
! sparsely settled communities or to
mining prospects where electric pow
er plays such an important part in
| the development of the mining indus
| try. Press Times, Wallace.
| Let Reason Govern.
| Much of the Immediate develop
| ment and prosperity of Idaho, espe
| cially in the rural communities, hinges
on the nature of an order soon to be
issued by the public utilities commits
sion. This has to do with the rules
to govern the construction of over
| head lines for the transmission and
| light.
| There is grave danger that those
/ rules may be so arbitrary as to make
it impracticable to extend power and
light lines into rural communities,
where there are rapidly growing de-
mands for them, il other interests are
/ permitted to dictate.
1t is proposed by the telephone and
railroad companies to establish rules
of such character as to add heavily to
the cost of construction. The immedi-
ate result of this added expense would
be to bar out power and light COM
panies from vast domain of rich but
undeveloped Idaho territory.
Rules such as are now demanded
would make it impracticable for the
power and light companies to con-
struct rural lines carrying upward
of 5000 volts. The country has grown
away from this anticipated standard
that it is here proposed to set up
This is particularly true of the west
1t has been demonstrated that line
carrying $500 volts is the most prac-
teal and economical line for small
outlying districts, and just as safe
as a line with smaller voltage.
Oregon and Washington have estab-
lished rules permitting the use of volt
age up to 5000 for rural development
and this without requiring any of the
special construction now demanded
by the telephone and railway interests
in Idaho.
These interests demand a type OF
construction at crossings in this state
so expensive and cumbersome as to
make this a grevious burden on the
companies compelled to install the
crossings AS the railroads and tele-
phones are already on the ground, in
most cases, this burden of crossing
! is thrown upon the power and light
> companies alone.
Because of the low cost of line con-
struction and the early demand for
service of this kind, the telephone
companies have large areas of the
state covered with network of wires
And now these telephone companies
propose to make it impracticable for
the power and light companies to
enter much of this territory. They
would make it impossible for the pow
er and light companies to parallel
or cross any telephone line without
first accepting rules laid down by
the telephone company.
If the telephone companies We're to
have their own way in these matters
they would shut the power and light
companies out of the use of all streets
and highways occupied by telephone
Zines unless they kept their linAs
away from the telephones distance
equal to the height of the tallest pole
The effect OF this would be to drive
the power companies off the streets
and highways altogether where they
are narrow It would compel them to
purchase right-of-way over private
property, or to keep out of the terri
tory. This purchase Of right-of-way
is not possible in many places because
of the high cost.
These demands of the telephone and
railroad companies are based on the