Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, May 2, 1909, Page 45

THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: MAY 2, 1909, FEEE MG R R WM MR AR P TR TR R E OOR SWRRN S W = <A o e stalled a great many large plants. : also equipped most of the large elevators in the city with complete power plants. and public buildings. Salesroom of the Standard Electric Co.— Main Floor 319 South 13th Street. 319 South 13th Street. ELECTRICITY IN THE HOME Qost of Electric Light Within Reach of Modest Purses. IMPROVEMENTS IN RECENT YEARS Wesidence Lighting an Branch of the Business—Marked Development Many Western Citles. Important L ““Give a dog a bad name and hang him,"” 2ls.an old saying, and it is exemplified by *ihie fact that inany persons still labor “under the delusion that the cost of electric lighting in the home is 8o high as to be | prohibitive to all except the well-to-do. *Itiis not strange that this is the case, for in'thé early days, and up to say ten years . @go, the ideal llluminant was, indeed, com- i nakatively expensive, and its use for resi- “'dence lighting was urged on the undeniable ground of quality rather than price. ‘People generally do not realize, however, the réally wondertul development in the “srt. of -preducing and marketing electricity Which has been made in the last decade. S The improvement is not only in the design at}electrical machinery, to prevent losses; ndL ofly in betterment of the means of _ttansmitting the current, for the same _purpose; not pnly in the use of high effi- clency lamps and reflectors, which preduce two or three times as much light for the same consumption of current; not only in the remarkable economies effected by mod- ern prime movers (the machines which drive the generators of electricity), such as steam turbines and gas engines; not only in the greatly extended use pf waterpower but more than all these causes, even, the change is due to the education and en- lightenment of the electric-light man him- self. The Electric Hustler, The average manager of a public electric- lighting—plant is mo saint. He is just a “hustling,” hard working American busi- ness man who Is trying to get the best pos- sible return from the property in his charge. But he takes a broader, more seri- ous view of the relation of a public-service corporation to its public than he once did. He strives to please the people, not to an- tagonize them. And In selling electricity be has discovered that it pays best to pro- duce his product In large quantity to se- cure the advantage of low cost of produc- tion; to sell large quantities to attain the heavy load on the station which this policy makes necessary, and to sell at low price to secure the big demand. This may seem to be a self-evident busi- ness proposition, but in the central station industry it is not so simple as it appears. Thero are troublesome questions of factor,” “load interest charge on idle machinery, “maximum demand.” “readiness to serve,” extensions of lines (especially inportant Phones: Wolte Electric Co. 1810 Farnam Street Bell Doug. 1414, Ind. A1414 SEE OUR EXHIBIT AT THE EFLCTRICAL SHOW BOOTHS 45 AND 46 See the Nineteen Hundred Electric Washing Machine in Operation. | trically lighged H. P. KERR, President’ Wolfe Eleciric Co. possibility of using the electric flatiron is a great attractlon toward the electric ser- vice. Where housewives do their own iron- ing, they find the electric flatiron a great labor-saver. It Is significant that in East Dubuque, a small suburban village of workingmen's houses, there is proportion- ately more residential lghting (electrical) than in prosperous Dubugue, river. Residence lighting has always been an important branch of the business of the electric lighting comparny in . Detroit, | which is to be expected, perhaps, in that This business is taken from kerosene competition. Usually the cottage householder who uses eleetric light in Detroit owns his own home. This city has many districts consisting of rows of small houses, called terraces, where each (Continued on Page Five.) across the | city of beautiful homes. The rapid growth of the business, however, dates only ten years back. Now there ure over | 12,000 residence customers of all classes In this city a large number of cottages as well as more pretentious houses are elec- bility of patronizing this Newest Fixture House in Omaha | | A éompletely new and exclusive stock of Gas and Electric fixtures most skillfully selected. We want your fixtures business and make a special bid for it by placing an astonishing low price on every article in stock. it's a Chance for You to Save Money—®@pen Evenings until May 15th Our display rooms are just a few doors north of the Auditorium at 417 South 15th Street. Omaha Lighting _Fixture Co. H. B. ABELSON - - Manager Try The Bee Want Ad Columns ¢ - y ] | 4 | Began in Omaha three years ago a general construction business in electric light, power, etc. During that time the company has in- ' Among these are the Rome hotel, the Henshaw, the Schlitz and the Lincoln hotel. The company | It installed complete electric power equipment for E | Krug brewery, Metz brewery and the Jetter brewery of South Omaha. The company has also wired a number of fine residences, churches | Mr. Schurig, president, treasurer and general manager of the company, has installed in the past a complete 3 lighting plant for furnishing all street lights of the city of Lincoln, as well as installing the city plants of Geneva and Sidney. ‘ l { They installed the lighting systems for Ft. Omaha and Ft. DesMoines, Iowa. The - decorative lighting of the grounds surrounding the pest office square in Lincoln was | [ done by this company. It furnished ornamental iron poles, each having four 100 watt | § Tungsten lamps, the equipment being similar to that now contemplated by the “500” block boosters for Omaha for proper illumination. I This company is equipped to do any kind and all kinds of electric light and power construction. A year ago the Standard Electric Co. found itself in a position to branch out in another line of business—that of furnishing electric and gas combination | g fixtures. And within the past year it has grown so that the company is forced to enlarge. | ‘ | It is now occupying three floors at 319 South 13th street. The first floor is devoted exclu- | sively as a show room of electric and gas fixtures. The third floor is used as a fixture I : workshop, where all classes of medium and high priced:fixtures are manufactured. The L Standard Electric Co. is not only jobbers of fixtures, but manufacturers, as they are s | equipped to make fixtures of any design. The fixture show room which is just com- ! plete is one of the prettiest in Omaha. The room has been repainted, renovated and | appointed specially for a show room. The decoraton is in green with black trimmings. } Suspended from the ceiling, and projecting from he walls, and setting upon tables throughout the floor are modern lighting fixtures. The stock embracesa special line of art domes, a special selection of rich cut glass and fixtures of every description. The stock is new and modern. Nothing has been carried over, or worked over. Those persons contemplating the purchase of fixtures are cordially invited to inspect this stock. i The Standard Electric Co. has equipped itself with special salesmen who are not only = pleased to show the stock, but are experts in matters of electric lighting, and will be I glad to furnish any suggestions by which the beauty of buildings may be enhanced. The Standard Electric Co. prides itself upon its classy goods now arrayed in fine fashion on the main floor. I i [ % anaar eciric O ’ Edwin F. Schurig, Pres. l BN SRR IRER TR REEE NN T S TET NN U N R PR T O TR EOhR RO%E 0 BRN NN IR N R NER S —x where only underground construction is |decreased. Another is that the labor and permitted), cost of customers’ meters, cost | inconvenlence of keeping up the pil supply of house wiring, etc,, which cannot be gone | and filling and cleaning the lamps is to ¢ i into here, and these make the fixing up | be added to the cost of the ol equitable electric lighting rates a perplex- | Four rather haphazard examples of what | ing problem indeed. But the general tend- | is actually being done in s\mplyl_ng elec- ency, as the men and methods in the elec- | tricity to the homes of people of scanty or tric lighting business improve, is toward | moderate means under commercial condi- cheaper prices. In Chicago, for instance, | tions in towns and cities in the middle west the rates for electriclty are now only about | may be given. It is to be noted that in 40 per cent what they were ten years ago. | every case the current sold is generated less th a" h alt a bl uc k DR pariaine WA Oas, b"; m:m:uf.w";u h., th tral stati At 10 cents a kilowatt-hour electricity is | 10 Cadillac, Mich., the central station company has 300 customers on its books ok R North from \ i :‘;::':: ':’_“:;‘ ':’;u:':'!’":'“'g'(;'l"“‘““‘::; ceed more than §2 a day. These working- s a primary rate higher than the figure men can afford electric light and the com- given and a secondary rate considerable | PATY can afford to sell it to them, or of lower, and the cottage or small-apartment coptme it wouldn't-do it The' company Will be #1ad to.expiain to him for 1t en. | . Am Bdueational Campal ables the company to make a better use ybugye, imi . an upeto-dste, slectrio of its facilities and to stand ready to serve | | htIn€ management, and here a carefully g 7 e more customers. Sensible co-operation be- prepared educational campaign has been b be Yy moderate means that electricity is not to In many small towns there are no gas | ° Fe¥arded as a luxury for the rich. Dur- = plants, and here the electric light com- ;:;z::m’\f’:‘m:l:';u:zr;h:,;::‘,"“';ml‘:::‘ i o0, In workingmen's homes In Iarger cities | AUFInE any previous period of scveral times H - 4 . / Biectrieity has proved (ll;‘l( able to mpf;“hn' duradion, - Bare:it. i8:70upd that. the this challenge. and in households where | every cent counts. One reason for this is that of late years kerosene oil has con- stantly risen In price, while electricity has - 1 where experienced courteous salesmen will glad- ly demonstrate to your satisfaction the advisi- i