164 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



Gas, 1569.7 x 10» therms. 

 Electricity, 801.6 xlO« therms. 

 This will probably not be considered to be an unfair proportion of sub- 

 division as between the gas and electrical undertakings. 



The quantity of electrical units equivalent to the 801.6x10" therms 

 apportioned to electrical undertakings is 23,500,000,000. This figure, to 

 which must be added the present electrical output for lighting and heating, 

 assists in confirming the estimated total output of 20,000,000,000 referred 

 to in previous paragraphs. 



Unfortunately we have no idea at the moment of the total h.p. of 

 machinery employed in the many industrial trades of the country. The 

 last Census of Production dates back to 1907, and is obviously completely 

 out of date. Details are known, however, of the total machinery installed 

 in some of the industrial districts, which reveal the fact that the proportion 

 of private electrical generating plant to public utility plant in those districts 

 is 14 : 9 ; that is to say, that there is in those districts 55 per cent, more 

 electrical plant privately owned. This survey, moreover, does not account 

 for steam or other machinery unconnected with electric generators. In 

 the Interim Report of Lord Haldane's Coal Conservation Sub-Committee, 

 . published in 1917 (Cd. 8880), an interesting table was taken from the 

 Census of Production showing the average net output per employee in 

 relation to the mechanical power employed in the factory. The table 

 showed that when the net output per employee was between £50 and £75 

 per annum the h.p. employed (per 100 persons) was 67. The net output 

 was increased to £125-£150 when the power used was 269 h.p., or £175 

 to £200 with 221 h.p. per hundred persons employed, according to the 

 class of industry. Speaking generally, this may be expressed as an 

 increase of earning capacity proportionate to the increased use of 

 mechanical power. It is well known that in the U.S.A. the amount of 

 power used is much greater per employee than in this country, and it was 

 pointed out in the report referred to that in the U.S.A. the standard rates 

 of wages were higher and the living conditions were better. Mr. John W. 

 Lieb, the vice-president of the New York Edison Company, stated at 

 last year's Conference on World Power, when discussing the social aspects 

 of the greater development of power in industry, that the power used in 

 productive industries in the U.S.A. increased from 2.14 h.p. to 3.24 h.p. 

 per worker between 1899 and 1919. ' Taking forty-two industries, it is 

 estimated that the actual value, measured in quantity of production added 

 per worker to manufactured products, was increased by about 23 per cent., 

 and in terms of money about two and a half times, despite shorter hours 

 and less heavy labour. Increasing electrification is adding to the national 

 prosperity and improving the conditions of the worker.' Mr. F. S. 

 Low, the president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, also 

 said : ' The workers are commencing to grasp another economic fact, that 

 the more power there is used per workman the greater the workman's 

 wages ; and that in various districts, and in other countries, the rates of 

 pay are in substantial proportion to the amount of power available to each 

 productive hand.' In fact, Lord Haldane's sub-committee summed up 

 the situation in the following words : ' The solution of the workman's 

 problem, and also that of his employer, is the same, viz. the greatest 



