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It is to be hoped in the public interests that it will continue, especially for heating and cooking purposes.

Cheap power and economic success go hand-in-hand. According to the official Commerce Year Book of the United States, concurrently with the rapid increase in the use of electrical power, the production of electrical machinery in that country has expanded, as follows: ELECTRICAL MACHINERY PRODUCED.

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It is only natural that the vast expansion in the use of electrical power should have been accompanied by a similar expansion in the production of electrical machinery. It has, however, also been accompanied by a similar expansion in the production of high-class machinery of every kind, and by an extraordinary increase in the exportation of high-class manufactured goods-among them machinery, both electrical and nonelectrical, as the following figures show:

AMERICAN MACHINERY EXPORTS.

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ELECTRIFICATION AND ELECTRICITY ACT 87

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Washing machines

In the past England supplied all the nations of the world with machinery. The extraordinary growth of American machinery exports, both electrical and nonelectrical, during a period of stagnation in the exportation of British machinery brings to light the seriousness of the position for us. England is gravely handicapped by her backwardness in the use of electrical power, and, unfortunately, she is backward, not only in comparison with the United States, but also in comparison with many other countries.

Until the outbreak of war, Germany was our most dangerous industrial competitor. Germany has temporarily lost the struggle; but apparently she means to regain in the field of industry all that she lost in battle. The German Government and German business men have developed electrical power with the utmost energy during the last few years. The British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association recently published an exceedingly valuable report on 'The Electrical Industry in Germany,' in which it has shown that between 1913 and 1925 the following changes took place in our country:

1913
1925

No. of
Stations.

4040

3262

Output in millions of units.

4061

11,521

It will be noticed that the number of stations has been drastically reduced; while during the same period the output of electricity has been practically trebled. It follows that output per station has been approximately quadrupled; partly by the enlargement of stations, and the consequent cheapening of output;

partly by the inter-connexion of the stations which make the production of electricity cheaper and more efficient. Commenting on these figures, the report states:

'The intensive development of brown coal and of waterpower resources to make good the loss of the Saar and Upper Silesian coal could only be effected through large-scale production of electrical power; this meant the creation of large supply companies, the co-ordination of generation and distribution, and the extension of existing companies to link up isolated brown coal areas. By the end of 1923 the principle of the large supply undertaking was victorious almost everywhere in Germany, and it was possible to foresee the creation of power zones in Germany within a few years. Five power zones, in various stages of development, can now be traced in Germany: the Central German, including Berlin; the Thuringian, destined to be absorbed into the Central German; the Rhineland-Westphalian, Baden and Wurtemberg; the Saxon; and the Silesian.

'It is to the creation and the development of such zones that we can attribute the rapid growth of output of electrical energy in Germany since the conclusion of the war. Industry as a whole, in spite of re-equipment on a large scale, is producing on a lower scale than in 1913, and the industrial power station has not yet begun to yield ground in the basic industries, such as coal-mining, iron and steel and chemicals, although engineering and textiles are now taking an increasing supply from the public company. Germany as a whole, from agriculture onwards, is being electrified; it is a levelling-up process, the territorial expansion of power supply rather than the extensive development of any one area or group of areas.'

The vigour with which Germany exploits exceedingly cheap brown coal-as well as her water-power-may be seen by the following comparisons relating to her electrical power supply in kilowatts:

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In Germany brown coal production is rapidly outstripping the production of black coal. The soft brown coal of Germany (lignite) is quarried and excavated from open workings with gigantic automatic machinery. The resulting fuel costs only a trifle. It will be noticed that

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whereas electricity output from hard coal increased by only 50 per cent. during the period under consideration, production from brown coal increased by about 350 per cent., and from water-power by nearly 300 per cent.

Industrial competition on the part of Germany has merely begun. She is still crippled by her war losses and the result of the most reckless inflation of paper currency known to history. Her electrical industries are powerful and well-organised; her general industries are highly efficient. During the last few years the mechanical outfit of Germany has been renewed with lavishness, and her industries possess striking advantages over the industries of this country. German labour is willing and cheap. There is little ca' canny. German workers are ready to work eight, nine, and even ten hours per day, at a much lower remuneration than that given over here for a much shorter working day. Again, in consequence of inflation, the huge fixed-interest debt of the German industries has been wiped out, whereas British industries have to pay interest, in the form of taxation, on a large capital. Figures are available which show the advantages that inflation, and the consequent ease of repayment of standard debts, has given to German industries, while it happened to be ruining the investors. German industry enjoys another important advantage, in the fact that her industries are pursued on a large scale and that cut-throat competition has been eliminated by the formation of nation-wide trusts, cartells, etc. Moreover, there is an ominous movement on foot for creating a community of interests between highly-efficient America and highly-efficient Germany. The great Teutonic combines and the great combines in the United States seem desirous to work together. Before long the Continental Steel Combine created by Germany may enter into working arrangements with the great American organisations.

If we look towards France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Japan, the Scandinavian countries, etc., we find developments similar to those which have taken place in the United States and in Germany. Electricity is being applied to industry with the utmost energy, and Britain stands in danger of being left far behind in the race. The noteworthy part about foreign electrical development

is this: that whereas electricity is developed in this country principally by a large number of independent small undertakings which necessarily are more or less inefficient, electrical supply abroad is everywhere organised on the most comprehensive—and, therefore, the most efficient-lines. Dr Eccles stated in the illuminating address already alluded to:

'The outstanding feature of the electric supply of the world is its tendency to concentrate into big units of management and production. This tendency was clearly visible in America before the war; in Europe it was forced on by the war and the economic consequences of the war. France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia have been the busiest regions. Italy, Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden were compelled, by the cost of fuel and freightage, to develop their water-power resources energetically. France, Germany, and Belgium were compelled, by the loss of many of their hard coal areas, to press forward with both the utilisation of water-power and the most efficient utilisation of fuel. Moreover, in all these countries, electrification was pushed forward on a national scale not only because of economic pressure but also because the building of power stations and transmission lines, the wiring of factories, and the manufacture of industrial plant and locomotives, provided employment of the highest type. But in addition to these immediate and visible forces there was impulsion due to the instinctive feeling that modernisation of the basic industries was impossible without previous electrification on a national scale.'

While in other countries electricity has been organised on broad national lines, parochialism has prevailed with us. London is at present served by dozens of small stations to the disadvantage of industry and of the general body of consumers. Mr Hugh Quigley rightly drew the following comparisons in his afore-mentioned book:

'In 1921-22, 85 authorised undertakers supplied the needs of the London region from 82 stations with plant of a total capacity of 570,692 kilowatts, or an average of 7000 kilowatts per station. . .

'If comparison is made with Paris, where the growth in electrical power over the period 1918 to 1922 has been of the order of 200 per cent., the position in London leaves little room for self-congratulation; over the same period the increase in London has been 100 per cent., and such an increase

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