Norwich bulletin., 1922-04-06

Service at the monday luncheon of | the Norwich Rotary club on Wednes- | day. MT. TagGart, while not explain i ing much about the department itself or the plant at GreeneviIle, spoke principally on the amount of work and the service rendered the people. He also spoke on the apportion7nent of the $1'25o'O00 in the plant and it. lustrated this talk with a chart. He ] said in part:
 | Lots of people are today grunbling about the trend of the times and are | forever looking back to the good old days of our ancestors" To be sure there is much in this modern age that l might be improved and yet the old life ! was not bed of roses either So take your choice between:
 Present-Trolley cars. modern plumb ing railroads, gas range. telephone, cleo ! tric lights. music from the air. Past--OX team, shank's mare. tin 1 basin, stage coach. old-fashioned bake ovens, post rider tallow candles, the 1 old family organ.
 | I could go on with comparisons but this will be enough to start one think l ing that we rae not so bad off after | all.
 want light.
 Will some one press tha: button on | the wall? And there Is light" If it had been power warted-a sim liar throwing of the switch would have produced the same response. If one ] customer of the department pressed the 1 button or if all of the 5,200 threw their switches simultaneously, each and all | would have been instantly served in just | exactly the measure-little or large | that each wanted. It is as if there l stood behind the wall servants on | tiptoe to spring forth at your summons | always ready, without rest, vacation, | or sleep tireless, day and night; rain | or shine, snow or sleet. Sundays or hol- | idays, every hour of every day of every year, waiting to do your bidding.
 But there isn't anybody or anything behind the wall to answer your signal | There isn't any wire full of current con- | cealed in that portion or any tank full of electricity stored in the cellar or the garret that you drew from. When you 1 showed that button you did bring cleo | tric energy to your aid, but you made it | come from the generating stations at 1 Scotland or Greeneville. And 1t came to you with the speed of the suns light at the rate of 11.16G.00o miles per 1 minute-making its tourney in less than | 1-20, 900 of a second.
 I hope that you don't think that be- I the lamp glow yourself, or that you have so exaggerated an idea of your power as to imagine your spirit called forth | these spirits or service.
 l Indeed, I don't want you to imagine l that there is anything magic or mystic l ahaut it. You are able to get this ser vice because of the genius, initiative, courage and effort of men and the in- vestment to provide the physical facili-
 ties required and the constant atten-
 ton and work of numerous human
 brains and hands to direct control and
 apply them.
 | You got the service because some
 body provided and maintained the ca
 pacity for it, starting from the lamp or
 the wall, through the house wiring tc
 the customers transformer, through the
 net work in the streets, to the power
 house. Throughout the whole system
 of works and organization capacity had
 to be provided and maintained. Il
 there had been a weakness of facilities 1 anywhere on the whole route, of if any
 one in the organization had made slip
 you would have pushed your hand off
 and cussed till you were hoarse, ant
 darkness would still be your portion.
 Want Service Always Ready. Service of this kind to be tolerable must be good. If you want light O , heat or power you want it when yov
 want it and you want 1t in the quan } tlty and of the quality to serve tn , need you have in hand. You can wal
 a week for a railroad train to talk 3 you thousand miles. but can't wait tel . minutes for the light to glow. If tn l light doesn't come when you press tn
 button, the occasion for the light . 1 gone. If the gas doesn't flame to you match you go hungry to your work. throwing the switch doesn't make tn 5 machinery hum your days work Is loss.
 You can wait for nearly all other ser $ vice, and when they finally come to you
 command they answer the purpose al most just as well, and your vexatio at the Gelay is forgotten when the dee
 is done. But if you can't get you
 breakfast, if your business is lost be e cause your factory stands ilde, yo ' never never forget it, and 1t isn't i ], you to make any allowance for tn u servant.
 So if you are to be served the ser
 vice must be kept good. The facil
 ties must always be adequate. l doesn't answer that they were suff
 cent in the beginning. Nor becaue a they were sufficient in the Nginning n will they be sufficient always.
 Demands Keep Growing. ." More Nnd more customers get on tn v electric circuits. The circuits get over ;. loaded. The turbines and generator z won't carry the increased burdens. Nc ' only, therefore, is there not capacit ,' in generator aNd in distribution systel '' 10 serve the new consumers but tf
 service to the old becomes halting an faulty and intermittent Constant ever year additional facilitieS must .e provided. It is of far greater impor 'a ance to the users of the service, then ~ selves that these needs shall be met tha J that the rate they pay for the serviC
 shall be kept so low as to make it in
 possible to raise the additional capit; . necessary to meet the needs for zoe
 service.
 That the cost of energy for publ
 ervire has greatly increased since pr
 var days is fact unpleasantly faInilis 10 public utility men. That the
 have to meet the situation without nal ' ing it an excurse for profteering Is } fact that ought to be familiar to Il
 consumer. Few persons, however realil
 the extent to which rising prices ha1
 affected costs of construction and prt $ duction as compared with the small il
 creases in rates.
 You purchase a suit of clothes.
 is something tangible; 1t has lengt
 breadth and thickness You see 1t, fe Iit. possmes 1t and keep it. Not so vii
 inc service or the work. You do nt y seem to be able to look behind and s' le the cost of the food, the clothing, Il le shelter and the incidentals nor the CO e the raising of the life and the edl r ot+or and ira irin1 Of the man in O