SUMMER STORM

[Music] [Music] it was one of those hot and lazy afternoons in August yes it was one of those dark days [Music] it practically knocked you out unless of course you were a youngster and formed the ice-cream man or if you had on your bathing suit when mrs. Beardsley very obligingly turned on the sprinklers [Music] it didn't seem possible that anything could endanger our security and happiness on such a lazy pleasant day yet behind the heat there was a menace heading in our direction from 50 miles away only a summer storm riding its forward on the parched farmlands know nothing to make a headline about only a summer shower yet it did hold a menace to our security that was more real than we knew [Music] in the safety and comfort of our cities we gave little heed to the danger that was still nearly fifty miles away [Music] who were these people at whom the storm clouds leveled a threat one was that proper I was merely outside doing his tours in spite of the heat [Music] and there was trouble being aimed at mrs. Scott's pie which was just going into production and of course for other production lines those in our factories [Music] at the City Hall those who rode in the crowded elevators were also threatened by the approaching storm a real menace was aiming in our traffic signals which guided our children safely through the crowded streets in the path of danger was Dave Anderson's boy who lay sick at home destruction was heading for an entire run of precious and a syllable [Music] and real tragedy might strike at any moment at poor brave Mary Duncan fighting for air in the iron lung the County Hospital [Music] just a summer shower still miles away and good as it happens for the farmer good to cool the stifling air good for parched things struggling to grow good for almost everything and then how can these darks speeding clouds be an enemy what is the mystery of their hidden threat part of the secret lies at the too far separated ends of the invisible power which flows to us through endless miles of wires from dawn to dawn our way of life is governed by that invisible power it serves us at our mealtimes it helps to lighten our duties at home and at the office and shop and factory and it aids of course in bringing us comfort this power is created by gigantic generators and sent to us to use at the other end of one or ten or a hundred miles of wire yes the key to the threat being aimed at us by the summer storm lies hidden in the invisible power electricity upon which so much of our daily living depends edie crawford needs the power for example to do his work there must be power or the traffic signals would fail in their mission of safety if the elevators are stopped important appointments will not be kept work at many offices delay where the penicillin is being made let the power that guides the air conditioning falter or fail and the precious cultures will be completely destroyed and it would mean a minor failure for mrs. Scott spy to a small enough matter but no joke to her deprived industry of electricity for even a brief span of time and costly delays will occur this is industry but this is humanity the bellows of the iron lung 30 minutes without power and death would step in to claim a life so a summer storm can declare war upon electricity to explain the mystery further we will have to go to the Magnificent creation that is the American electric utility of today where the power is created that puts a giant strength into our hands but just seeing the familiar power substation with its network of transformers and insulators and the maze of wires that stretches from it doesn't make it very clear does it to fully understand it we must go right to the heart of the famous discovery itself just some bits of metal and wires the materials for these have been lying around on the planet since caveman days but it took man's genius to tear the power from them this is a simple magnet between its poles is a magnetic field when a wire moves through this magnetic field electricity is generated just as long as the wire is kept in motion they showed too that in high school didn't they in assembling a generator an iron cylinder is wound with many turns of copper wire is placed between the poles of a powerful magnet this cylinder the rover is mounted on a shaft and bearings so that it can be revolved rapidly and the tiny lamp gives out its light and so you have a generator and it's still as simple as that but as you see it's useless without some means to keep the rotor turning waterfalls can provide this turning force as we all know the force that spins the rotors of the giant generators but the electricity that most of us use is provided by another and more abundant source of nature's power so here coal or oil is used to provide steam with plenty of force to keep these generators turning but having made electricity you now have to get it to where it can do its work the power is sent to local substations in every neighborhood and incidentally those big shining insulators were made by skilled pottery or ceramic experts from the substations electricity is distributed to the stores and buildings and along our own street and into our own homes just as the water that flows from our faucets at home comes from far away outside the city so also may our electric power but there is one important difference unlike water electricity cannot economically be stored in large amounts it must be used the instant it is made the generators must be kept turning at all times electricity must be immediately available to supply all the demands but a new day is dawning on the banks of the Columbia Bonneville Power is stirring hope the promise of industrial development jobs for willing men jobs for skilled hands the chance to earn a living in the American Way on the Columbia River a fast new industry is rising a symbol of the place of power in a new age not another sawmill that can cut off and get out but huge metallurgical industry taking minerals from the earth and power from the water a new alchemy transmuting common clay into shining metals or a myriad of human need [Music] no longer will man ignore the treasures underfoot metallic wealth buried throughout the sprawling Northwest untouched deposits of nickel the rich red cinnabar ore of mercury and chromite and manganese metals essential to our national security zinc and copper and iron waiting in abundance and silver and gold buried in nearly every County all these await the enterprise of man and Columbia River power is breaking the trail electricity is the lifeblood of chemical industries in the magic of the electrolytic cell new products are born and whirling atoms reshaped the course of human living a surge of current and brine from the sea is transformed into chemical weapons to help farmers subdue an encroaching army of weeds in the northwest corner of America electric power furnishes employment and strengthens our defenses [Music] in the Columbia River is boundless energy to expect metals from the ores of a thousand miles zinc for brass and paint in casting chromium or steel and armored plate phosphates for fertilizer and chemicals manganese and aluminum and magnesium all basic to Western civilization products to build the richness of our daily lives and if we must to forge the weapons of Defence to safeguard the Liberty we know so that the least of us a walk always in freedom [Music] an unshackle giant becomes a Seaway to an empire the promise of power or every corner of the northwest power to make a million in a quarter acre bloom again power to push the city to the farthest County line to bring better crops and better living to the farmers of the region the power companies were actually building their defenses against this fast approaching storm months and even years ago each winter they carefully measure the depth of the snow on the mountains like this they keep accurate records of humidity and rainfall they look into the future with the long-range weather forecast will it be a dry season or a rainy one they have to know and although we didn't realize its approach they were charting the path of our storm with the weather bureau 24 hours ago an hour by hour they've been watching it ever since this is the old struggle man's brain against nature tearing out its secrets at the nerve center of the power company is the dispatcher the men of the power companies who are ready to make electricity do their bidding wherever and whenever it is needed the dispatcher with trained I always on the alert waiting for a call to come in and this is it the summer storm that began 50 miles away [Music] when emergency strikes the dispatcher can call for power upon station after station for all power stations work together like allies when the need is there [Music] Drake at harvesting plan dispatcher Barton speaking station 25 prepare for 30,000 kilowatts I'll call back when we're ready the load dispatchers orders are carried out [Music] in a flash the orders are in the generator room [Music] the dispatcher still calls in other stations to pour their strength into our dark and rainy swept city statue Barton speaking fire at four and five [Music] the dispatcher still calls in other stations to pour their strength into our dark and rain-swept city spat your Barton speaking fire at four and five [Music] steam for the turbines to generate more kilowatts power to keep the distant wheels of Industry turning we'll need another 10,000 kilowatts still another station to join the elide sources of power [Music] guess we owe much to these trained men of the power companies who with foresight and vigilance stand between us and the destructive forces of nature [Music] and other men the Troubleshooters are also meeting the storm on its own home grounds in their case ready to turn back any threat to the power line to keep electricity flowing and this vigilance goes on day after day in clear weather and in storm it is their job to see that the summer storm will really do no more than cool the stifling air and bring it's helpful moisture to the lab [Music] and in its measured time a storm reaches our city [Applause] [Music] everything that happens being a wedding or a funeral a hot day or a rainstorm is somebody's job and while some of us are cussing out the downpour for catching us out without our umbrellas the power men knuckle to the work now the whole life of a city is passing through their hands adjust the turbine governor more kilowatt check the generator load more kilowatts - this unfailing service our dedicated the men of the power companies standing by for action of their widely scattered posts of duty yet we of course never question for a moment that there would be light for the doctors tasks to be completed so that the traffic signals would continue their Guardian tests and we knew that mrs. Scott's pie would appear on schedule and that farmer ed Crawford could go right on with his chores we knew that the elevators would continue their service and that the priceless penicillin would be safely guarded by the vital air conditioning unit we knew that needful machines would not be stopped [Music] and we also had faith that the breath of life in a child would not be still because we also knew that these men were standing guard [Music] the storm we knew would come and go just a momentary lull and our daily life would scarcely be touched by it you see we Americans with ultra modern conveniences take even perfection for granted [Music] if you stop to think about it under any condition almost anywhere in this land of ours electricity is at our fingertips it is there ready to serve where we work and where we live and where we play it works to save us labor to make life as we've come to know it more comfortable and pleasant and more secure and if you'll look you'll find the name on the machine that helps to make electricity a name that's also on other things that make electricity serve us that name has become a byword in the progress of the great force but lights the world for electricity is the invisible giant that served well through years of America's progress and now dedicates its mighty strength to the great new days that lie ahead [Music]