The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-06-28
BY WILLIS THORNTON

tional issue to every citizen.
X 4
BY WILLIS THORNTON
Washington, June 28.-(P)-America
and electricity have developed so
closely hand-in-hand that they seem
fated to go forward together.
Though electricity had been known
for hundreds OF years, the first use
full electrical invention was that Of
Benjamin Franklin when he devised
the lightning-rod just 20 years before
our revolution.
Morse, Bell, Edison are great
names in electrical history, and the
development of the arc light, the
dynamo, the electric motor, alternat-
ing current, the transformer, the
storage battery, hydroelectric genera
ton. and popular use Of electricity,
all run close parallel to the develop
ment OF the country. Thus 1t is fit
ting that America should work to
maintain its lead in providing electric
power for all.
While the incandescent lamp was
invented by Edison in 1879, the use of
lighting and power did not become
general until the turn of the CEN
fury. And It was not until the World
War that the modern era of high
power transmission really dawned.
Electricity Is perishable product
1t must be used Immediately on gen.
Grafton, and thus it had, in early
days, to be produced close to the
users. The building up of pressure"
on power line to enable it to flow"
to a great distance without too great
loss, was not at first understood
Even today this is one of the great
problems of the industry, and the
average distance power is transported
is less than 30 miles.
Superpower Is Born
But by 1914 Ontario was sending
100000 volts over a 250-mile line
with success. This revolutionized the
whole conception Of electric power
and brought in the "superpower era"
Now superpower, while intricate in
its technique, Is simple in principle.
Say you have 10 cities within a cir
cular area. each served by small
generating plant. One city has its
peak load' of highest demand for
current at one time, another at an
other. One city has a hydro plant,
and it's power varies with the water
supply. Another generates its pow
err from coal.
Now If you link all these small
systems together, and regulate
through a central switchboard the
amount each city receives at any
time, each city gets better, cheaper,
more reliable power all the time.
Jonesville calls up and says,
There's thunderstorm coming.
Well need 10000 extra kilowatts for
a couple Of hours" A power dis
patcher twists a dial, diverts extra
power from cities which do not then
need it, and sends it to Jonesville.
That Is superpower in simple form.
1nterconnection of systems in this
way does not necessarily mean put
ting them all under one manage
ment. It means cooperating in the
engineering problem, just as neigh
bors borrow eggs and flour over the
back fence. But If proper accounts
be kept, and each unit balances it's
accounts 1.sh the general system,
there need be no merger or forma-
ton of trusts" to get the advan-
tages Of superpower.
Hoover and Superpower
Ten years ago, agitation for SUI
perpower grew strong. and Gen. Guy
E. Trip OF Westinghouse was pro-
posing single superpower system
for the entire North American con-
tinent. Herbert Hoover, then secre-
tary OF commerce, saw possibilities in
it and urged its further DEVELOPMENT.
It is the efficient way, from the
engineers point of view, the newt
able tendency of a highly-organized
age.
But American power systems tend
ed to combine, not only from the en-
cheering standpoint for efficiency,
but from an operating and even more
from a financial standpoint. Like