1899.] SELLERS — TRANSMISSION OF ENERGY BY ELECTRICITY. 59 



ization of power and its transmission by electricity over the whole 

 territory was feasible ; hence he ordered work stopped until a care- 

 ful examination could be made as to the state of the art of electricity 

 in comparison with other modes of transmission. 



To obtain reliable information on this important subject, the 

 Niagara Falls International Commission was organized in July, 

 1890, with Lord Kelvin as Chairman ; Prof. Wm. C. Unwin, Dean 

 of the South Kensington Technical School, as Secretary; Prof. E. 

 Mascart, of Paris, as representative of France, the birthplace of 

 the modern turbine water-wheel ; Col. T. Turrettini, Mayor of the 

 City of Geneva, an engineer of great note, as representative of 

 Switzerland, and as the engineer of the works at Geneva where 

 power was being transmitted by water under high head ; and I was 

 appointed the representative of the United States and of the com- 

 pany for which the information was to be collected. By and 

 through the work of this Commission, the opinion of engineers 

 and engineering companies was obtained as to tlje best way of 

 developing the power on the land of the company, under condi- 

 tions laid down by the American company, also the utilization by 

 transmission of the power so developed. A sum of money ^vas 

 paid to each competitor to cover the cost of reports, while pre- 

 miums were offered to those who should present feasible schemes 

 that could be immediately made use of for either or both of the 

 two parts of the scheme — first, the generation of power, and, 

 second, its transmission. 



The information so gained represented the accumulated knowl- 

 edge of men who could speak knowingly as to the state of the art 

 on both of these subjects at that time. It was well worth its cost, 

 but no perfect scheme, ready for immediate adoption and worthy 

 of the highest premium, was presented. The Westinghouse Elec- 

 tric and Manufacturing Company, of Pittsburg, already interested 

 in utilizing the alternating-current system for lighting and power 

 purposes, having, previously spent enormous sums of money to 

 develop the alternating-current motors, generally known as the 

 Tesla system, refused to compete on the ground that what would 

 be offered in 1890 and 1891 could not possibly be what they might 

 be able to submit in 1893 ; nor could any one suggest what would 

 meet all the conditions which might arise during the development 

 of the hydraulic part of their enterprise on a scale so much larger 



