Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-10-13
NEWSPAPER MEN
 TAKE SEE TRIP
 TO VIEW SYSTEM
Travel Over Three Counties to Inspect Electric De-
 velOpment

What electricity IS doing for indus try in this section was impressed upon a party of Little Rock and Pinei Bluff newspaper men, who Monday motored thru some of the country in Pulaski, Jefferson, Arkansas and Lonoke counties served by the high voltage lines of the Arkansas Light and Power Company.
 Appreciation was voiced of theI bread vision of H. C. Couch, presi- dent of the light and power company who conceived and carried out plan for serving the rice section with cleo ating mills after others had consider ed and decided against such invest ment. The immense cost of system and power plant Of sufficient capaci- ty to serve the rice country during a few months of year and the pro- ject looked like unprofitable one. as rates would have been prohibitive MT. Couch and his associates say that by developing business in the cotton country, there would be demand m the fall and winter for the capacity required by the rice territory in sum- lner and vice versa. On this plan Ohe big power plant here and hundreds of miles of transmission lines were built.
 The newspaper men saw a big oil mill in North Little Rock operating with electricity from the Pine Bluff plant. Then they drove along the line to England, and on to Pine Bluff seeing cotton gins, stores, homes and towns too small to maintain power plant being supplied with this mod ern need through this system. They were guests at the Dr. J. D. Niven home at Tucker-,an electrically equipped home The Niven home is not only illuminated by electricity but is equipped with an electric range water works and other appliances The range, Dr. Niven says, is a great 1 invention and his folks would not be l without one. The cost of operation l is less than coal would cost at this 1 time-averaging about SIP month. MORE
 1 After inspecting the local power house. where dutch" luncheon was served, the writers looked over the only electric plant in Arkansas, and one of the few west of the Mississip- pi river-that of the Standard Brake Shoe and Foundry Company. They saw, how, by using electricity in volume rather than high voltage, the steel is turned into liquid and work ed into a special product of high quality.
 I From here the party sped to l Humphrey, passing through Altheim- Ter, Wabbaseka and other communi- ties served by electricity from Pine i Bluff Mayor Arthur w. Hickey had arranged for an excellent dinner for the bunch at Humphrey and full jus tice was paid to the repast, while Mir. Hickey told something of the plans of the Massy Harris people for building an immense lumber mill to turn into merchantable lumber the timber on 27,000 acres of land the company recently acquired.
 | Visit Rice Fields
 Irrigation of rice by electrical bumps; the sub-stations where $40,- coo worth of transformers and cleo trical equipmnet are used to reduce the voltage for the farms and for the city of Stuttgart were inspected by the newspaper men, as we'll as the water plant at Stuttgart, where the convenience and ease of operating a centrifugal pump with an electric motor was demonstrated. The party
 had been joined at Humphrey by w.. l.. Remedy and J. F. Drummond, edi- tors of the Stuttgart papers, who en- tertained the visitors at the Kennedy home before the return trip was
 started The party divided at Stutt- gart, one automobile returning to
 Pine Bluff, and the other taking the Little Rock men to the capitol by the way of Hazen, where supper was served
 Those in the party were H. c.
 Couch, president of the Arkansas Light and Power company; Paul Gra- biel, Arkansas Democrat; L. V. Ven- ard, Little Rock News; J. s. Wiley,
 Pine Bluff Commercial; H. A. Allegro,
 Pine Bluff Graphic; J. F. Drummond
 Stuttgart Daily Arkansawyer; w. l.,
 Kennedy, Stuttgart News; and F. M. Wilkes, P. C. Couch, w. s. Stovall