214 rosa: regulation of natural monopolies 



greatly to reduce the volume of the currents flowing thru the earth 

 without unreasonable expense, and that will enable the public 

 service commissions to deal more intelligently with the question. 

 The problem is becoming each year more acute since the volume 

 of electric current used is each year increasing as the traffic 

 increases, and the damage produced is therefore increasing at an 

 increasing rate. Many law suits have arisen because of this 

 damage, and such litigation is expensive because of the large 

 amount of conflicting expert testimony adduced and the long time 

 consumed in the trials. Money expended intelligently in solv- 

 ing the problem generally yields better returns than money spent 

 in litigation. 



In England and some continental countries, there have been 

 rules on this subject which have served as a guide to the electric 

 railways in building their roadways, and hence, they have been 

 saved very largely from the evil effects of electrolysis, altho at 

 a somewhat increased first cost. In this country, the subject 

 was neglected for years. In the absence of public service com- 

 missions or similar bodies to establish regulations, and no govern- 

 ment agency to take the lead in the investigation, the matter has 

 been entirely neglected in many cases until the serious damage 

 resulting has made the question a very acute one. 



Life hazard in electrical work. Another question affecting pub- 

 lic utility companies is the life hazard in electrical work. There 

 are altogether too many preventable fatalities due to high poten- 

 tial electrical circuits not only to employees of the electrical com- 

 panies but also to the public. In many cases such accidents could 

 have been avoided if the companies had taken greater precau- 

 tions, either by instructing their employees more carefully, or 

 providing them with rubber gloves and other protective devices, 

 or having repairs made only on dead lines, or using more substan- 

 tial and more expensive construction, or running the high poten- 

 tial transmission lines on private rights of way instead of on the 

 highway, or keeping the dangerous wires away from telephone 

 wires and on separate pole lines, or taking still other precautions 

 which experience shows are necessary. The long distance trans- 

 mission of power is being resorted to more and more, and higher 



