Enormous expenditures for
land. A good one half of their capital sunk in purchasing the
necessary room. Go where you will, a good fifty per cent. of the
capital is used for land for their stables. This obviously does not
include equipment.
How is it with mechanical systems? The land is one of the minor
considerations, the last thing considered. Let us look at some
figures. From careful examination of many engine plants, considering
the ratio between a certain number of horses with their necessary
adjuncts and a steam plant of numerically equal power, I find it
stands as 1 to 30. That is, a steam plant complete of 30 horse power
capacity would need only one thirtieth the floor space of thirty
horses. With larger powers this ratio is still greater, and from one
estimate I found that it stood as 1 to 108, i.e., for horses I should
have to have 108 times more floor space than for an equal number of
mechanical horse power. It must be remembered also that the mechanical
horse power is 50 per cent.
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