Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-10-06
JOURNAL WANT ADS PAY GENERAL PERSHTNC
ELECTRIC SERVICE TALK NO. 1
Knowledge Begets C0nfidenCe'

You will all agree that the above quotation is as true as the one Ignorance Breeds
Suspicion"
Knowing that the supplying of electric light and power service is a semi-pubic
function and that the public IS equally interested with US in he oneration md that If
entitled to be fully informed them matter it has occurred to us that in line with
the quotation at the head of this article it would be good idea fr us to provide the
public with as much knowledge" Of our business as We can in order that we in turn
may enjoy their Confidence" in a corresponding degree.
The Electric Service business is SO different from ordinary businesses such as
Those Of clothing, food Or building material, that it is only natural that MANY people
who are quite well posted in such lines should have but a meager idea OF nSconcep-
Ihn Of the Electric Service Business. 1t will therefore be our purpose in a semes Of
to explain sone OF the ms AM ous'o of the business N a way that a person unfamiliar
with it will understand. If we fail to explain certain parts clearly we will welcome
any questions that anyone may ask u.s. either verbally or in writing, and will be
pleased to answer anne promptly.
Since large sums of money are required to build and operate electric plants and as
there is a large degree of financial risk attached to the business very few individuals
have sufficient money to go into the business alone, OF do not care to "pu all of their
eggs in one basket" and particularly ont that is considered so risky by investors.
Therefore several men generally join together and from a company and then each
one buys as much stock as he cares to invest in the business and the money thus OBJ
taineds spent in the construction and operation of the plant.
At the beginning of the business several years ago. almost each Individual plant
was owned and operated by a separate group of men, but there were many failures
due to the fact that the owners new so little about the business, which is vey tech
meal and requires special engineering training to understand thoroughly
Lack of knowledge of a business by the owners is almost always disastrous II the
business in the end. Furthermore many of them found tina. large sums of money
We're continually being required for additional poles wires generators dams steam
plants etc, because the communities that they were serving were continually orou-
ing and demanding extensions of the system. The owners also found that the rev
enuesw were lot sufficient pay the operating expenses and also "a for these addi-
ton TO the plant Ihey them tried to MORROW money, but Wereo only partially success
full because people who had money to loan were afraid to loan money N a business
that was not OF a good paying basis. The result was that the plant wasa allowed to run
later the cost Of repairs of this cheap equipment took all of the surplus revenue above
operating expenses and even more, and the result was a failure.
The final outcome was that large cOmpaieS we're formed with large amounts #
money at their disposal and oe Of these large companies would purchase several
great saving in the investment required for generating plants and great savings in
operating COSTS
Next week we will explain how the large companies were able to effect tbosa laro,
savings and thereby operate the plants successfully where the small ompanies had
failed
PORTLAND RAILWAY, LIGHT & POWER co.