Evening star., 1928-01-06

I Cf the District:
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Many changes have taken place in
| WaShinctcu and the rest of the world
/ in the last few decades. which have
been directly reflected in the business
field, Modern way of living. methods
| of transportation and communication,
Of lighting and heating homes. of
| cooking daily meals, even modern
WAYS of finding recreation and amuse,
ment, are vastly different from those
Of a comparatively few years ago.
Electric light and power, telephones.
automobiles. radio and moving pic.
tures-all these things and more are a
matter OF course nowadays, The Won
der they once aroused is worn off.
They enter intimately into the every
day life of the people. Around them
have grown UP great industries.
Much Of the money of the average
ctizcn of today goes into these new
channels.
Autos on Increase.
Tho rcGietr .ion of motor vehicles
IN Washing "a in 1918 showed a total
Of SS.153. Tie latest figure is 129,-
z45. The total number of licenses for
pleasure cars issued i'll 1918 was only
20 5t9, while last year the total was
los. .SS6 for this class of car.
The enormous increase in the num-
her of automobiles has meant that.
even with the increase in the cty's
population. there has been a falling
cff in the number of passengers
carried by the local street railway and
hus lines in the last few years The
total number of pay passengers carried
hy the Capital Traction and Washing.
ton Railway & Electric Companies
in 1915 was 3.a32 .37o. II jumped in
1919 to 1T3,69i,S16. but since then it
has been coming down. 1t was 140,.
SsS,s54 in 1925, while in 1926 the
total number of pay passengers
carried on the street cars and busses
of these two systems was only 139,-
275,7e5. according 10 figures in the
possession of the Public Utilities Com.
mission.
The increasing popularity Of elec.
tricity for general household use in
Washington is attested by the per
capita use of the Potomac Electric
Power Co.'S service from year to year
In 1901 there was just one electric
meter for every 100 of population. In
| 1920 there was one for every 10 in
habitants, and last year there was
one electric meter for almost every
Washington family of four persons.
The company's power plant at Ben.
ming was first placed in service in 1906
with capacity of 10000 kilowatts
This has been increased 15-fold, cul.
minating in the installation of a 80.
goo kilowatt unit during the last year.
which adds 20 per cent to the total
nf nh Er.,,
output TO 14S, 900 kilowatts. The num-
Der OF meters in service has increased
| from 2.953 in 1901 to 1906 Septem.
| Der /, 1897.
The city's growth is shown by the
tremendous increase in the number of
consumers Of gas for lighting, heat.
Ing and cooking purposes. According
to figures compiled by the Washington
| Gas Light Co. there were SO, $50 con
sumers of gas here in 1915 and 1870
| 0oI.S05 cubic feet OF gas were sold.
In 1920 there were S4319 consumers
and 4.474.795.727 cubic feet were sold.
while in The year just closed the mum.
ber OF consumers was il4.425. with
5.4S5.665.s52 cubic feet of gas sold.
Telephone Center"
Washington has had the leading
IsdiA iu tflS usFeioFN1eNt OF the Ieie'
phone. 1t was invented by Wash.
| ingtonian. Prof. Alexander Graham
Bell. II was the wonder OF the world
when. in October. 1877. line was con.
structed from the Office Of the chief
signal officer of the Army in this city
10 Fort WhIppIe. Va. The first teic-
phone exchange in the National Capi.
tai was opened for business in Decem.
ber. 1873. Burnet l.. Nev,us. jr., now
living in Washington, was the first
operator. This exchange had capac-
ity OF Is lines. In so years the system
has grown in this city from a few
struggling lines. which at first had no
means of connection with each other.
20 a modern communication system
which comprised IL central Offices
serving 1875 telephones. on the
first day Of last month.
There is now one telephone for