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Show IFTCUTTWG COST of LIVING 1 j Woman Burns Only 19M Cents jww Worth of Current in Cooking and BfH Ironing With Electricity One MUbX I Week tor Family of I A few months ago Mrs. L. C. Pen- I Wngcr. 935 Haskell avenue. Kansas I J City, Kan., picked up a pencil and I paper and began to figure Like I I every other good American house- I wife, Mrs. Pensinger was trying to I I, figure, down the high cost of living. I It nas impossible to cut the gro- I H eery and meat bill. There are five Lfl members of the Pensinger family I and nil had to eat. It was im- I possible to cut the clothing bill. I j The little Pensingera were cham- I I pions at wearing out clothes. She I fitrured on one item of expense and I I another until she came to heat for I ' . cooklnp. I j Suddenly she announced the an- I i swer. She was going to save on the I fuel bill. She bought electrical I i equipment and did her cooking with I the new style pots and kettles. The I first week she reported she had paid I j only 19 cents for electricity. I j, Mrs. C W. Green, wife of the I J Mayor of Kansas City, Kan., tried I the same method of cooking. In I her home, 1515 Ruby avenue, she I watched the meter while cooking I H three full dinners for three persons, j The cylinder in the meter clicked I merrily as the food was being pre- pared. When she had f.nlshod cook- l lng she counted the revolutions and I fbund the three dinners had cost ii her exactly S cents. I Mrs Arthur Armitase. TOO Quln-daro Quln-daro boulevard, Kansas City. Kan., j m.'ide a more detailed experiment. I She baked biscuits with electricity . H -p for 1 cent. She baked six potatoes I for 1 cent. She baked a two-pound I 1 loaf of cornbread and It cost her 1 j I cent, I Besides the economy in fuel these ' I three women didn't have to bother I . I j with cutting kindling or shoveling "-' ' coal. It was as simple as looking ''..'., 1 at the clock. They did not even ! have to strike a match, as In Ught- 1 lng gas They Just turned on a H switch and the current did the I I ' cooking The heat was easy of reg- H H ulatlon. More current made more 'j'f$Lx' heat and les current made less v-''1i heat. There was no worrying about 'iVSiv the drafts or dampers. &V'M Now these three women had $if,t friends across the river in Kansas y-fC-l Cltf. Mo. These friends tried the feri& "Vll I same stunt and found it cost them mJEje three and one-third times as much aPSvfj to tno sarne cooking. Electricity ilJ eotst them 10 ents a kilowatt, Bsfefyi while in Kansas City. Kan., it costs pg3M only 3 cents a kilowatt. ffif&$M l.VKN GOVERNMENT ggJ INVESTMENT WINS. &SHfia The whole secret is that Kansaa PjKjtH City i Kan., r,wTi.- Ita own electric gWtMJ; light plant and Kansas City, Mo, Sf'll ) does not. I J This is not an argument for mu- fflpa&fevfl! nlclpal ownership, There are some HK5ww klndd of municipal ownership that 5KrF i aren't worth a nickel. The munlcl- 9H4 pal ownership la a fine thing when waEua; tho right man gets the Job of run- $jjr-jf nlng the town plant. It is a rotten Hfefyl thing when politicians run the plant tSSSfah' and lrarte iba toT votes. In Kansas NBtj City, Kan., they didn't do that way. SrajgeySj Before Investing In an electric light aaflKgare plant the town Invested in clean (kHRwi government. MHKjUy In most towns they elect men to HEBbJ. 4 office because they .happen to be-ngHSfyl be-ngHSfyl c Jleve in a certain kind of currency HflH9l a" and have certain opinions on the HHe9 tariff. In Kansas City, Kan., they HHBfij don't do that way They hire a HfHra, man to be Mayor Just the same way BBq the head of a big public utilities jHHffil corporation, privately owned, hires HjEn a man to be foreman of the plant. HHBg When a man gets before the people HH2 la Kansas City, Kan., and asks to be commissioner of streets or water works, he has to do it Just like a man would do If he was going to ask for a Job as street car motor-man motor-man or clerk behind the ribbon counter. If the man starts talking about how he believes In Independence for the Philippine Islands and for Intervention Inter-vention in Mexico, and If he gets eloquent about how hid great-grandfather fought for the grand old flag under Wintleld Scott at Lundy's Lane, tho crowd gets mad and begins be-gins to holler, " Get the Hook." That kind of stuff goes in a presidential pres-idential campaign or when a man is running for Congress, but when It cornea to the business of, running the town the townsfolks won't stand for It. When Kansas City, Kan., got ready to hire a man to run an electric light plant they put him up before the people and the people asked If he knew anything about electricity He had to show them he did know before they would give him a vote. They elected him to the job on a nonpartisan ticket. Everybody In office there was elected on a nonpartisan ticket, from Mayor C. V. Green on down L H. ''hapmari is commissioner in charge of the electric light and power plaut nnd the city water works. GETS WOMEN TO USE JUICE IN DAYTIME. When Chapman took hold of that electric plant he found this condition, condi-tion, which an ordinary politician in such a place would never have seen, or even if he had seen, wouldn't have cared to remedy The chief energy of the plant was given to producing electricity for lighting, and, as lights burn mostly at night, the engines and dynamos, and all the power worked hardest at night. Throughout the day, when few lights were burned, the plant did little. But mark this, it coat about as much to keep the plant running In the daylime aa at night; Just a little more for fuel at night, that was all. And the equipment of the plant was capable of producing a great deal more electrical current than it was producing, with very little additional addi-tional cost to make It. Now, If a demand could b crm. What Three Women Did. Mrs. L. C. Pensinger, 9 35 Haskell avenue, cooked all thp meals for ono week for a family of fivo in an electric fireless cooker and did tho family iron- ' lng besides, at a total cost of 1 9 'i cents for the electricity. Mrs. C. W. Groen. wife of the mayor. 1513 Ruby avenue, cooked three full dinners for i three In iho family on an electric elec-tric fireless cooker, at a cost of 8 cents for electricity. Mrs, Arthur Armltage, Seventh Sev-enth street and Qulndaro boulevard, baked biscuits in an j electrical oven for one cent, baked six potatoes for one cent, , cooked a 2-pouni meat roast for two cents, baked a 2-pound meat roost for two cents, baked a 2-pound loaf of corn bread for one cent of electricity. elec-tricity. ated for more current, and especially especial-ly for as much current in tho day as at night, that much more money would come In, without much Increase In-crease in producing cost, and the result re-sult would be that the prlco of electricity elec-tricity could be lowered to everybody. every-body. Practically no one was cooking with electricity on the Kansas side, and yet people were doing it elsewhere, else-where, and with success. If enough persons could be induced to cofk with electricity It would keep the plant at work throughout the day and the Increased Income would lower tho price of electricity all around. COMPARISON MADE WITH OTHER FUEL. But first it must be found out what appliances were best, and most economical for electrical cooklnjr, how much it cost as compared with gas. coal and other fuels, and, If It proved practical and economical, there r.main task of lntroduc- - -r i ." jj. i - - - InK it into the homes and teaching the housewives how to use it. Chapman sent away and got several sev-eral different cooking appliances and then he appointed F. K. Williams, Wil-liams, an electrical engineer, to place them In certain homes as an experiment, and make careful tests of how they worked The experiment Is not yet finished. But it has gone far enough for some valuable conclusions to be drawn from it. Two official types of electrical fireless cookers have been tried. One of these la In the home of Mrs, L. C. genslnger, 933 Haskell avenue. This Is a square, stove-like appliance appli-ance that stands on short legs. Its outside skin Is sheet steel. Between it and the Inside wall Is a dead air space lined with asbestos to retain the Heat In the cooker. In the bottom bot-tom Is a disc plate that generates tho heat. Two pans with tight covers fit in. one above the other, and a lid fits so closely over the whole that It Is airtight. This cooker costs $1'-'. It will bako bread, boll, stew, roast, cook pies. The things to be cooked are put in the pans, the covers cov-ers closed, the lid shut and then the electricity If turned on for thirty minutes to heat up and start the cooking, and then it Is switched off and the food allowed to stand in tho tightly cloied cooker for two hours. In that time the food is gently cooking cook-ing from the retained heat. CURRENT COSTS 3 CENTS A KILOWATT. So economically has tho electric plant been operated that the maximum maxi-mum prlco of current Is only 6 cents lighting. If sufficient current is used the price may be as low as 3 cents a kilowatt. It may be re- JJ MRS. C. W. GREEN, center. cen-ter. Mayor C. W. Green of Kansas City, Kan., upper middle. L. H. Chap- man, lower middle. Upper left, entrance to exhibit of municipal power plant. Upper Up-per right, view of the plant. Lower left and lower right, using the electrical cooker. Bonds for an electric light plant were voted at spring election held April 10, 1911, to the extent of $300,-000. $300,-000. Engineers wore appointed the summer of 1911, and plans were immediately started and specifications specifica-tions written. Construction of the plant started latter part of 1911. V The first pole was set for a dls- A trlbutlon line April 18, 1912. k A series of tests covering a period I of two weeks were made under tho direction of Williams. It was found that the enclosed cookor was the most economical for most cooking. Following are a few of the tests made with an enclosed cooker. In this type of cooker a group of articles or material are placed In the different compartments at one time. Ono quart of beans, 2 quarts mush, i pound round steak, .8K.W. Hr or JO. 02 4 Five and one-half pounds chicken (roasted), 12 me- I mil BMM! 3Km f duced to 1 cent If sufficient cur- dium potatoes, used heat-rent heat-rent Is used. The object of cutting lng slowest to toast bread. the price to large consumers of 1 K.W. Hr., or 03 current is to induce them to use A dinner 4 -pound roast, 6 much current large potatoes, 1 quart tea, 5 K.W. Hr., or 015 A boiled dinner 1 small head cabbage, 2 pounds ham, boiling piece. 12 medium potatoes, 5 K.W. Hr.. or... .015 Six pieces bacon, 2 K.W. Hr., or 006 Six pieces bacon and 4 eggs, 2 K.W. Hr., or 006 One and one-half pounds pork, 6 potatoes, 5 K.W. Hr., or 015 Two-pound steak, 1 quart spaghetti, 12 potatoes, 9 K.W. Hr , or 027 Four-pound roast, 1 quart scalloped potatoes, pound fruit pudding, 9 K.W. Hr.. or 027 Three-pound pork roast, 6 largo sweet potatoes, can corn, warmed 1-pound Crult pudding, 9 K.W. Hr., or... .027 TESTS MADE FROM PRACTICAL. STANDPOINT. The following statement in regard re-gard to the tests was issued after the tests were made: These tests were not mado from a scientific standpoint, but from a practical one 1. e., by placing the device in the average homes to get actual results as to their operation and cost under the average condition. con-dition. We have not had as long 3 period of time to run the tests as we would like to hae had, but long enough, we believe, to enablo us to tell a possible consumer the monthly cost to close approximation, approxi-mation, which we believe Is what tho public wishes to know. "We wish It to be understood that the tests were not carried on with the intention of cutting the cost of cooking, and we do not take gas or any other fuel as a basis; we only give the public tho cost of cooking by the use of electricity and by the week, the day and the meal. "Wo have not tried to obtain experienced ex-perienced operators to do this cooking. cook-ing. We have picked out here and thee a family doing their own cooking, which probably Is an average aver-age American family. Also we have not confined our results to the best ones made, but taken them for ono week, or two or more meals In regular order, so the public will not bo deceived as to the results. "Could we be any fairer In our determination to get actual results? re-sults? "In using electricity for any use. the best results aro obtained by careful and economical uses, of learning to use the apparatus so as V to use the best current and not leave It connected when not In use, the same as Is true of electric lights. "Now the only question arising as to tho use or not of electrical energy is: 'How much can I afford each month to Invest in cooking. Including the convenience and cleanliness?' that Is for the consumer con-sumer to assume." |