The Safety of City Lights
A San Francisco electrician tours Seattle's growing network of lights and warns that competition among workers leads to dangerous, sloppy wiring.
George P. Low, of San Francisco, the electrician of the Pacific Insurance Union, is at the Rainier hotel. Mr. Low, who has spent several days in the city examining the electric light plants and the wiring in some of the mills, said last evening that his mission was to determine the fire hazard. 'As a matter of fact,' he continued, 'of the four artificial modes of lighting—oil lamps, gas, candles and electricity—electricity causes the fewest fires. I find that the chief trouble arises from the fierce competition between electricians. They will cut prices on one another, and will then try to recoup themselves by putting in poor material or doing the work in a hasty, slovenly manner.'
“An electrician of even moderate skill can fool [the average man] completely, and pass off as first-class very inferior work.”
The turn-of-the-century struggle to regulate private contractors and ensure public safety remains a core function of city government. Seattle's rapid turn to electrification in the 1890s echoes modern concerns about the rapid scaling of new tech and energy infrastructure.
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