Discussion on “electricity as viewed by the insurance engineer. Should the A.I.E.E. interest itself in fire protection?” Atlantic city, N. J., June 29, 1908

Chas. P. Steinmetz: The matter of fire protection is of extreme importance, and the Institute should certainly actively coöUperate with other organizations in the effort to reduce the risk. I believe, however, the question is a far broader one than that of fire hazard. Electrical fire hazard may be of interest to the fire underwriters, but it is equally important that the Institute should consider the danger of electric power to human life, to invested capital, to the destruction of apparatus, etc., even if the destruction does not mean an increased fire hazard. The Institute is the one body which could take up this subject in its broader aspect. I think that the Institute should appoint a committee dealing with such questions. Such a committee may better existing conditions by establishing rules. A safer and better way for the committee to act would perhaps be to obtain papers that reflect good engineering practice, calling these papers to the attention of the public at large. This would be more effective than the formulating of a lot of rules. These papers could discuss the practice of carrying extra high voltage lines through towns and cities and indicate good practice in overhead lines of different voltages, and whether these overhead lines of different voltages should be on the same poles or not. Rigid rules on all these matters cannot be insisted upon, but in a paper an author can readily state his views and thereby bring the matter before the whole Institute for discussion.