The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1921 Mysteries Of Municipal Power Plant Unfolded: Termed By Officials "Real Vitals of Village" By Interviewer My friends, the village manager, and the chief engineer met me in the outer office. 'Hello, old man", they chorused. "Come to pay your long threatened visit at last, eh? Pretty dismal af- ternoon to tour a power station, isn't it?" "I'm here", 1 laughed, "game to see what mysteries you can unfold. Lead on!" They led me down a passageway and opened a door. I halted, stunned. Something almost solid struck me. It was solid. It was solid sound. But I gritted my teeth and strode forward, and the chief engineer shut the door after us. Pre-Historic Monsters We stood in a large room, vaulted like a church. On the floor of the room in the place of the congregation and choir, crouched three quivering, roaring steel beasts. Dinosaurs--pre- historic monsters--that was the image that flashed into my mind. Dino- saurs seemed a particularly apt name. To be strictly accurate, only one of the dinosaurs was dinning. Two were silent. "Our machines," - 'the manager yelled, casually. "Two three hundred kilowatt and one seven hundred and fifty, brand new this year, cost $30,000." "Machines?" I yelled back, puzzled. "That end," he pointed to the larg- est dinosaur, "is the turbine, Steam from the boiler spins it. This end is the generator. It makes the juice." | "But what makes the racket?" ! "Both", he yelled in answer, "The! noiseless turbo-generator hasn't been invented yet." The Mystic Numbers One end of the room jutted out in a little, overhanging balcony, walled' with switchboards as big as school blackboards. Moving into this bal- cony and after gazing down into the dinosaur-den I noted for the first time the illuminated number "450" on a dial above my head. Even as I looked it changed to "500". "Our output", explained the C. E. "The load begins to climb slowly from this time in the afternoon on. Of] course, we don't usually get such al peak this time of year as we do oA] Christmas FEve. But today is Tues- day and the good wives of Winnetka are hurrying up the family ironing. We don't need a calendar down here | to tell us when Monday and Tuesday | have arrived. The demand caused ov washing machines and electric ironers tells us that. Besides, on a dark stormy day like this, the lighting load from the stores and homes comes on early and we must be ready to carry them both." "I suppose your dinosaurs down there just naturally smell the de- mand for power, and din, din a little faster without being told," I remark- ed, irreverently. "Well, not quite", he laughed. "They need more food to make 'em din fas- ter--more steam, that is. We've got something else that does the smelling, old man, out there." He pointed to the unexplored re- gions beyond. Then he stood star- ing at that "500" which by this time become "550". "Five hundred and fifty kilowatts," the manager muttered. "By Jove, I'd have been dumfounded if I'd seen 'that figure there at this time of year two years ago. Then, we thought four hundred was a big peak. Now we carry seven hundred every once in so often. And yet, old man, do you realize that this power station is ex- actly the same size as it was two years ago, and that we are burning no more coal than we did then?" . "I'll bite", I answered, "What's the dark secret?" Got Religion "You see, with the bluff on one side and the lake on the other, we couldn't grow any bigger, no matter how much we might want to," he ex- plained, as we walked down the steps and on towards one end of the di- nosaur-den, "So we got religion. We kicked an old reciprocating engine out of this room and put that seven hundred and fifty dinosaur, as you call it, in its place. Takes up no more room and delivers about five times as much power with half as much steam per kilowatt." Then his gaze swept over the vil- lage, with lights twinkling in the mur- ky twilight. "I often wonder how realize that this little, red-tile roofed building down here by old Lake Michigan, that many of them have never glanced at, is the real vitals of their town", he mused. stop, the town would stop, the water supply would be nil, no irons or other household appliances could operate ice machines and Nokol heaters would be useless and every light would go out!" He nalted, staring at the darkening November sky, where, ordinarily, at few people 'this time of day the sun was still shining. "Whew!" 1 ejaculated, glancing again at the dial on the switchboard "She's coming up fast! This some more rustling for you I guess". means fellows, A Tense Moment "Oh, we'll handle it easy enough." The chief engineer stepped to the door nearby and gave a brief order and then turned back to us. We stared at the illuminated figures on the dial. 600 -- 650 675 -- "Biggest load we've ever carried," the manager shouted. "And it all came on us in half an hour!" 700 -- 710 -- "Look, she's going higher! But we'll carry it!" 720 -- 725, and there the figures | hung. "You're bitterly disappointed, I see", I chuckled the chief engineer, "that this little affair hasnt moved us out of our habitual daily calm. But, come on, come on into the boiler room, the unexplored regions. That's the place that's getting the real brunt of this. Come on and see some real excite- ment!" I followed, wondering, half fearful. Once in mid-Atlantic, in a gale, I had penetrated to the bowels of the ship and had seen a terrific sight -- the half-naked stokers feeding the rav- enous boilers. But, what fiercer sight was to greet me now? The Silent Workers A door was opened and we passed through into -- silence, the silence of a cathedral crypt. Even the roar of the turbines was shut away. It was almost a stealthy place. Yet, apparently, it was a boiler room. There was a row of boilers > "If we should' and underneath each a curious me- chanism. At first glance I thought these mechanisms were motionless. Then I saw that they moved, moved gently. And two men stood in front of these boilers and these mechan- isms. The two men were doing noth- ing, only watching. "What's the matter?" I demanded excitedly. "Broken down?" One of the two watchers approached us. "Picked up the load pretty well didn't they, Tom?" asked the chief engineer. "Yes, sir, first rate, but without our new turbine, we never in the world could have carried this load, even with these stokers." "Well", the manager turned to me, "see. em. sweat! See our. stokers sweat!" Then his voice grew serious, and he pointed to the gently moving me- chanisms. Concentration "That's the secret", he said, "that's where we get our flexibility, that, and in the turbine, is where we get our big concentration of power house area. Half an hour ago, old man, this station was doing four hundred kilowatts. Now it's doing seven hun- dren and twenty-five. But there isn't a particle of difference in the looks of this boiler room. More boilers are at work, and the stokers are working faster, but no more men are at work. And these boilers, they are the same boilers and the same number of boil- ers that we had in here two years ago when we were hard pressed to carry our normal load. Next year, if Win- netka continues to grow, we'll have to kick out two of the smaller boilers and replace them with larger units, equipped with mechanical stoker like these before you, and then we can carry anything--well, you've about seen us do it tonight." "Good Lord", 1 exclaimed, "and I thought I knew what the word 'sto- ker' meant!" "Well," he replied, "that is not to be wondered at. Most of us are too busy to spend much time in learning about some of the most important and interesting developments of our modern civilization. We don't want any publicity down here, for publici- | ty's sake, but we know that many of the good people of Winnetka will be glad to know that they are stock holders in one of the most efficient" municipally-owned power plants in the country, and that their Village Council, as board of directors, has been on the job to provide for the rapidly growing needs of the commu- nity. Maybe, too, some of our citizens will be glad to know that interested visitors are welcome down here, where genial Henry, the chief, will be glad to show them how he produced a kilowatt hour of juice on four pounds (next year it will be three) of Illinois' best coal. And don't forget to look over the new filtration plant -- but that's another story. Let's eat". PROTESTS PARDON FOR DEBBS "If pardon is granted to Debs or others fairly convicted of treason or sedition during a time when the na- tion's very life was at stake, the lives of those boys who lie on the fields of France and of those who lie broken in hospitals have indeed been sacrificed in vain," Hanford MacNider, comman- der of the American Legion, has tel- egraphed President Harding, request- ing that "no leniency be shown those traitors who stabbed us in the back while we were giving our all to this country." CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT The Winnetka A Cappella choir, which has presented several programs of choice choral music at community gatherings, extends an invitation to every resident of Winnetka to enjoy an hour of beautiful Christmas music. The evening is Thursday, December 22, and the place the Winnetka Con- gregational church. The program will be announced in an early issue of the Winnetka Talk. EX. GOV. LOWDEN IN _ PLEA FOR ARMENIANS Chairman of Illinois Near East Relief Committee Issues Special Appeal For Aid at This Season Former Governor Frank O. Low- den, chairman of the Illinois com- mittee of the Near East Relief, has issued an appeal addressed to the peo- ple of the State of Illinois on behalf of the starving women and children of Armenia and other Bible lands. The appeal is being sent to every county chairman in the state. The former governor accepted the chair- manship of the committee while in Chicago last week attending the stock show. He issued the appeal prior to his returning to his farm in Ogle county, where he resides. The text of Chairman Lowden's ap- peal follows: ° "Our hearts have been repeatedly touched by the stories of distress that have come from other lands and we have responded liberally to appeals for help. No appeal that has been made has touched our hearts more | than that made on behalf of the help- less women and children of Armenia and other Bible lands. "During the recent World War, the Armenians supported the cause of the Allies and that of the United States despite flattering offers made by the Turks and the Central Powers. For this attitude they have been sub- jected to cruel massacres and de= portations; a large part of the popu- lation has been killed; their towns and villages have been destroyed and survivors of those massacres are now dependent upon American aid for life itself. "In view of this siuation, the peo- ple of Illinois, like the people of other states, are again being appealed to to give of their substance to sustain the lives of the helpless orphans of the Near East". The three vice chairmen of the Illi- nois committee of the Near East Re- lief are: Wyllys W. Baird of Chicago, Frank I. Mann of Gilman, and Henry M. Pindell of Peoria, George H. Reynolds is treasurer and Frederick J. Michel is executive secretary. Committees are being organized in all the counties of Illinois. OUILMETTE LOSERS OQuilmette council Indoor baseball team lost a fast game to the Uni- versity council of Chicago Wednes- day of this week. The final score was 8 to 3. Moore, who essayed the hurl- ing duties for University, was knock- ed off the slab in the third inning by the hard-hitting Ouilmettes. Slattery, who replaced Moore, held the locals hitless from then on to the bitter end. University took the game by scoring five runs in the ninth. 561 Lincoln Ave. South Water Fruit Market "BUY HERE AND SAVE MONEY" WINNETKA, ILLINOIS Phone Win. 392 We are having from now until Christmas a Special Sale on all kinds of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. Fruits are sold in boxes at Special Rates. SPECIALS Florida Grape Fruit Florida Oranges and Fresh Mushrooms Beets and Carrots Parsnips Loose Carrots Yellow Turnips Jersey Sweet Potatoes Best Cooking Potatoes Fresh Lettuce Blue Goose Cucumbers, Fresh Onions, Parsley, Green Peppers, String Beans, Wax Beans, 6 for 25 4 for 5c California Oranges Lemons $4.50 per case | 25¢c, 35c, 50c per doz. 50c, 60c per doz. 29¢ 'per doz. We are taking orders for fancy baskets of the finest Tomatoes .....-..................... 25¢, 30c 1b Ema i Christmas. Shipped to any part of Kalamazoo Table Celery ........... 19¢, 25¢ bunch Jonathan Apples, 10c per lb.; per bu. .......... $325 Fresh Artichokes ....... 0. 000 0 00 2 for 25c Bananas) oii ima 30c, dic per doz. Cauliflower i. viadiioiisid die, ilo, 20c and up Mixed New Nuts -....... 0.000 on 00% 35¢ per lb. Bay Plant oorsineroritisdereoi ttt 10s and up Delicious Apples ........ oon 0h 0s .5 for 25¢ Baldwin Cooking Apples .................. 3 lbs. 25¢ Rome Beauty Apples i.......... 000000 ini) 3 lbs. 25¢ LOW PRICE ..5¢c per Ib. We will carry all holiday decorations at wholesale price. Holly, Xmas Trees, Mistletoe, Wreaths OOOO A hs rtrd. i a A -- tri ii--hf--_--_--