At the present time (1910) the following modifications might be advantageously made to the above statements:
1. Unchanged.
2. This situation still prevails, although there are many more competent operators today than three years ago. Time will eliminate this difficulty.
3. With stronger companies this situation is greatly improved.
4. Experience has shown that such neglect produces serious troubles and financial loss to the manufacturer, and a very decided change for the better has developed in the last few years. There are, however, a few small concerns still operating in the producer field on what may be considered a false basis.
Centralization of Power Development and Distribution.
Central stations for power and lighting are springing up all over the country. Electric lights are now in general use in towns numbering their population by hundreds only. Electric transmission for street-railway service is practically universal and electric power for shop drive is in great demand. The substitution of the electric locomotive for the steam locomotive for terminal service and even for line duty by several leading railway systems is no longer a mere expectation but is an every-day working reality.
These changes and developments in every section are, to a large extent, tending to do away with the individual small steam equipment, whether stationary or locomotive, and are bringing to the front the central power station, ranging in size from lighting and pumping plants of less than 100 horsepower in the smaller towns to those of 100,000
horsepower or more required to meet metropolitan demands.