Fig. 3. First Aid Kits Designed, Constructed, and Installed by this Company on Its Various Automobile Trucks. were built and installed on the various Company trucks. In general the Kits are mounted on the trucks in the position shown in the accompanying cut, the location depending on the truck and the purpose for which it is used. The Kits are 65" high, 111⁄2" long, and 71" wide outside dimensions, so that they occupy a small space. One-half of the kit contains the following materials: Six two ounce bottles containing castor oil, iodine, white wine vinegar, aromatic spirits of ammonia, and boric acid, together with one tourniquet. The other half contains First Aid directions, tube of unguentine, one roll of half-inch adhesive tape, safety pins, one eye dropper, two rolls of 1/2" bandages, two rolls of 1" bandages, one roll of 3" bandage, and a carton of sterilized absorbent cotton. The supplies are all held snugly in place by means of compartments and clips as shown in the illustration. The Kits are inspected and replenished periodically by the Storehouse Department so that they are practically always in first class condition. The greatest number of accidents which occur to men on outside work are small cuts and bruises, and for this purpose the Company also provides small glass vials filled with iodine which are inclosed within cylindrical wooden cases about 234" high and 5%" in diameter which can be carried in the pocket. Whenever a small cut or abrasion is received, the men can pour on the iodine immediately and then procure further treatment as the case requires. The Prone Pressure, or Shaefer method of resuscitation which was introduced in the United States in 1908 is now recognized as the best method of resuscitation, and from time to time instructions are given to men of the Company's various departments training them for this work. This method is equally valuable in cases of electric shock, gas asphyxiation, and drowning. Instructions for practicing this method are also posted under glass in all the Company's stations. About eight years ago the Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation purchased six Pulmotors for the use of its employees and the general public. Two of the instruments are kept at the Company's Gas Shop Office at the Front Street Yards, and the other FOR instruments were given by the Company to the four principal hospitals of the city. The Company still maintains the service which it offered to the public when the "Pulmotors" were bought, i. e., that it will send the "Pulmotor" anywhere at any time with a competent operator and will not charge for the call. That the public has taken advantage of this offer is shown by the fact that since November 27, 1912, there has been a total of 351 calls. These public calls which cover a large variety of cases have given the operators much valuable experience. First Aid is only one of the many important phases of Accident Prevention work. Its success and the minimizing of the suffering of the individual is assured by adequate equipment, immediate action, attention to all details, and the thorough co-operation, which is always in evidence in our Company, on the part of every one concerned. Suggestions from the Telephone Department GEORGE T. COLEMAN OR those not familiar with our telephone department as to location of switchboards, number of operators, number of calls per day, and some of our methods of handling calls, the following may be of be of assistance. 14 for central are trunked to the Clinton switchboard where there are trunks to central. To make the telephone a satisfactory aid in business, it is necessary that the operator receive the fullest co-operation from those using this method to conduct business or to convey messages. The following suggestions might be offered as a means to that end. Any necessarily long conversation puts the operator at a disadvantage which in turn is reflected in her service to others. We maintain an information department to handle calls of the above nature. When the lines are reported busy, hang up promptly and place the call later. This results in better service to all concerned. Our daily average at Clinton Street for ten hours is about 3500 calls that are handled by two operators, leaving very little time for the above mentioned service. Do not ask to be called back when line is free, and whenever possible consult the directory when placing central calls. When you have completed a call replace the receiver carefully. The operator will appreciate this. Also see that the receiver does not rest on books or other objects, for in the latter case your THE light would stay in on the switchboard resulting in your line being plugged out. When placing long distance calls, ask for the Information Department where all such calls are taken care of. Answer the 'phone by giving your name or the name of your department. Report all telephone trouble to the Information Department. The observance of the above suggestions will mean a more satisfactory service to everyone in the Company. Committees Make Study of West Station HE singular position that the Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation holds in the field of gas manufacture was emphasized on April 5 when a committee, appointed by the Mayor of Philadelphia to investigate the Philadelphia Gas Works, came to Rochester as a source from which information could be had that would further their work in the Philadelphia field. In connection with the investigation of their own plant, it is expected that this Committee will assist in devising means for the rehabilitation of the Philadelphia plant to meet the increasing demands that it faces just now. Before coming to Rochester the Committee made numerous inquiries of various gas operating officials throughout the country as to the plant or plants it would be advisable for them to see as a means of helping them in solving their problem, and without exception the returns included Rochester among the list. The Commission, which included Messrs. Milo Maltbie, Willard F. Hine, Charles Day, Thomas F. Armstrong, and Howard R. Shepard, made a thorough and detailed study of West Station in company with President Robert M. Searle and General Manager Herman Russell. The problem in Philadelphia is somewhat unique in that under a thirty year lease the U. G. I. Corporation operates the plant, which is owned by the city, at a fixed rate. The commission now investigating will report on a plan equable to both the City and the Company under which due consideration will be given to the changed conditions and possibly looking forward to some basis of contract renewal at the expiration of the contract six years hence. Improvements in the way of more modern facilities for gas manufacture could hardly be undertaken otherwise. On April 8th an investigating committee of twelve operating superintendents of the United States Steel Corporation visited West Station. These men represented the various subsidiary functions of this Corporation, such as producer operating, open hearth steel processes, coke oven operation, and blast furnace practice, and came here with the special mission of inquiring into the operating results of the producer plant located at West Station. In the party were representatives from Duluth, Minn., Chicago, Ill., Birmingham, Ala., Worcester, Mass., and from a number of their Pennsylvania plants, together with a representative from the main office of the United States Steel Corporation in New York City. GAS AND ELECTRIC NEWS the public, it must render good ser THE -Shakespeare. Reduced Gas Rate HE gas bills which the patrons of this Company will receive this month and subsequently are based on a decreased price for gas to the extent of 25 cents per thousand cubic feet. The public naturally is pleased with this reduction, but it is fair to say that the Company is just as well pleased. An official of the Company said recently: "It's a very unpleasant thing to raise the price of a necessity such as gas when everything else is at the peak. It's much more fun to be able to reduce the price.' This statement is in accord with the Company's attitude throughout the period when an increase in rate imminent. The Company's stand was that as an operating Company supplying vital commodities to was vice, pay just wages, and earn for its stockholders a fair return on their investment. These things are all necessary to insure stability and expansion as the demands of our growing city become greater. The Public Service Commission, after reviewing the case, authorized the Company to increase the gas rates effective November 1st. The increased revenues thus obtained brought about a better financial condition, helping liquidate the operating deficit for the months just preceding the increase in rate. At the end of a four months' period the Public Service Commission again reviewed the case and authorized a 25 cent reduction effective March 1st, which the Company represented as a proper reduction in view of the advantageous contracts for the supply of raw material, primarily, coal and oil, which it had been able to make for the ensuing year. Life's Circumstances How OW do you react to the detail of of life! A well-known and very competent physician recently suggested a profitable line of thought for those to whom the so-called burden of life seems too severe. How do we react to the harassing detail of business, the anxiety of family troubles, the discomfort of ill health and the other things of life that we wish were different? If we preserve our poise, and our ability to smile, we are rising superior to our troubles, are eating and sleeping like normal individuals, and are getting a lot of happiness, (although we may not stop to think about it) out of life. And if we are doing differently, perhaps things are getting the best of us. Introspection may be good or bad, depending upon conditions. The same rule applies-how do you react to it? Enough introspection to keep us from continually making the same mistakes, and to make us realize the good as well as the bad things in our lives is helpful. Reactions which disturb poise indicate that our mental balance is temporarily upset at least, and the sensible thing to do is ascertain in what particulars we are living unwisely. The preservation of the "Razor edge," of which we are accustomed to speak in connection with the efficient mind, is the most valuable thing which we can accomplish. Learn to interpret your reactions. The knowledge will assist in guiding you to health, success and happiness. When the Lights Went Out HE other evening, in the middle of a big storm, the electric lights went out. "What a nuisance!" said someone. "I suppose we shall have to go all the evening without them." An hour later we had those lights back. This sort of thing quite often happens and one usually takes it as a matter of course (or complains because it isn't done sooner.) But as it happened, a young man who has had a good deal to do with electrical construction dropped in during the interim of darkness, and when the lights came on again he reminded us what it meant. "Some poor devil had to go out in that howling storm and drag off the tree that had probably fallen on the wires, and climb a pole and make things straight again for you," he said. "All you think of is whether the juice comes when you turn on the switch, and why the company doesn't get it fixed up. You don't realize that it means men going out into storms on the blackest nights and in the wildest kind of weather and working under conditions that you would think were impossible, so you won't have to burn candles a single evening." We admitted meekly that we had never visualized so clearly what our conveniences meant. And thus encouraged by our meekness, he went on to remind us that it wasn't only getting the lights fixed under such conditions that represented hardship and skill, but that getting them in the first place meant an epic of labor and organization and often of hardship and danger. He told of directing the gang of men who put up the giant wires which carry the main current from a certain big river through some hundreds of miles of country, and of what a gigantic job it was; what it meant in clearing a pathway through the forests for the wires and provisioning the men, what it involved of accident, of hardship from storm and cold. Two men died to make that line, one frozen in a blizzard, the other killed in an accident; one other lost an arm and one an eye. Today one sees the giant line standing there with the look of having always stood thus, and one forgets what a feat it was to build it. Of course one cannot be constantly remembering all that stands behind the many appurtenances of our civilization or one would not be able to think of anything else. But isn't it interesting once in a while to call to mind the vast human meaning of some such impersonal thing as our electric lights or our telephones? -Ruth Cameron. Acknowledgment to George Matthew Adams Service. Reprinted from Rochester Democrat-Chronicle. TELLING TIME The time of day I do not tell, -John Kendrick Bangs. |