The log cabin Democrat., 1916-05-03

Df the new year the bureau of stand ards of the department of commerce has been deluged with inquiries from all corners of the country concerning standards of everything from electric and gaslight brilliance to the strength of water pipe. And most of these re- quests are pouring In from public serv- ice corporations and their old enemies. the public utilities commissions.
 Primarily the bureau of standards was charged with the duty of testing and determining standards of exact measurements of every kind and na- ture. A steel yardstick which may be a yard long in June will be something less than yard in cold December, and 1t is the bureaus task to find out what constitutes real yard under all con- ditions. Naturally, in pursuing this chase for elusive constants, the bureau branched off, more or less, into meas urlng things other than yardsticks, and among other details 1t became inter- ested in learning what amount of cleo trlc1ty should go into an electric light. AS this was only step from learning what constitutes a real gaslight candle power, the bureau learned that also.
 Several years ago, it appears, those who planned for the future of the bu- reau anticipated that eventually they would be called upon to referee the constant clashes between public serv- ice corporations and those state and mllnjCina1 icq annnintnd regulate the corporations. They felt that the day would come when the word of the bureau of standards must settle such controversies, and they set to work to rig up their administrative plant to provide for It.
 And just as they planned the need arose. and they were prepared. For a while the public utility experiments and decisions of the bureau were car rfed along as a rather unclassified DOT tion of it's administrative burden. but as the demand for information in- creased along public utility lines it was finally decided to set aside & cer- tain part of the bureaus force into separate quarters and put them to the sooh OA VI oi hiIS ouL tHo oCSliHy OA those corporations which serve the public.
 Some knotty Problems.
 Electric light and gas companies and street railways furnish most of the knotty problems the bureau is called upon to solve in the public utilities field, and perhaps no problem has giv- .en the bureau more study and trouble than the process of electrolysis of un- derground pipes in cities where the streets are honeycombed by pipes of all sorts.
 Most of the street railways are op- erated on the single, overhead trolley plan, with the electric current passing through the car into the track, via the wheels, after it has passed through the car motors. Most of the current is properly conducted back to the gene rating stations, but some of it escapes and menaces gas and water pipes in the vicinity. These stray currents produce what is known as electrolysis, which eats away the pipes. This leads to constant wrangling between the street railway companies and the cor porations whose pipes have been in jured While 1t has so far been almost impossible to completely prevent the corroding of pipes thus exposed, the bureau has been able to advise public utilities commissions how to compel the various corporations involved to mitigate this current wastage and the consequent evil effects.
 As a result of tests made during the past year at St. Louis, Springfield, Mass. and Springfield, O., the bureau has been enabled to lay down some definite rules which will prevent a great deal of damage from this agency Bonding of the joints of rails to give greater conductivity to the rails, was one plan. Another was embodied in radical roadbed changes, to lessen the connections between the earth and the rails. At present the bureau Is con. ducting tests to show the extent of and this Is expected to throw addi- tional light on the question.
 The bureau gets every assistance from the gas and electric companies and from municipalities. while the street railway companies usually give but scant attention to the matter. The reason is obvious, as the results of the work tend to increase the cost to the railway companies through the neces- sary installation of safeguards, where as railways themselves are not con. .cerned in the matter of damaged pipes owned by other parties, unless a law suit results, and the courts have been able to get very little action here.
 Gas Service Standards.
 Determining service standards of gas, both for heating and Illuminating, Is another factor in the work of the bureau. Most city and state utility commissions rule rather uniformly on the matter of meters, meter testing, heating value and candle power of the