Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-01-19
EDISON.


Usefavorable Viesv of the Inventor.
cincinnati Sum-
Yesterday Sun reporter met gentle
man we'll known in electrical science himself,
and possessed of intimate and lifelong
knowledge of Mr.. Edison, his abilities, and
his achievements, and capable of judging
him fairly and dispassionately.
'Have you seen Edison lately?" asked the
Sun man.
'Oh, yes," was the reply, swithin few
days.
GLOW is he coming on with the electric
lightP'
"He isn't coming on at ALL was the reply.
'He has not made single point beyond
what has already been done by other men.
He has merely gathered together all that has
been achieved by scientists and workers all
over the world, and in company with his as
sistants has been striving to put into prac-
tical operation the theories of other laborers
and the results of their Investigations. In
this he has not succeeded up to date, and
there is not the least prospect that he will. -
"Do you really think that?'' said the Sun
reporter, knowing that the gentleman ad.
dressed was a thoroughly versed man in
electrical science, and perfectly capable of
judging and feeling the Importance of such a
decision, from such source.
81 know it," was the reply. "He is, to-
day, not one whit nearer solution of the
problem than he was two months ago.
''But you know tnat the eyes of all the
world are on him now, and if he fails, he
will, as it were, 'go up in the public estima-
tion.''
"Then it will be a go up sure,'' was the
reply.
'Do you not have faith in Edison,'' was
asked.
edison responded the gentleman, sis a
vastly overrated man, and the newspaper
men In New York in search of sensations are
in the main responsible for it. No inventor
ever took out so many patents of which SO
few were any better than worthless. He
has taken out about 300, and only about
| twelve of them are practical and useful and
| profitable. He is hard worker, and his
| success of late is owing in a great measure
to the conditions under which he labors. He
is at the head of an institution organized for
the creation of inventions, so to speak. The
laboratory at Menlo Park is an invention
| factory, and by receiving promptly from all
parts of the world the latest and freshest
results of the labors of scientists and inven-
tors, combining and applying the same and
| experimenting, Edison, assisted as he is by
such genius as Bachelor and others, is en-
titled to utilize the brains of all the inven-
tors of the age, and produce results ahead OF
what any single person could do. The
telephone reproducing the human voice
! through vibration of diaphragm by means
| of electricity, suggested the reproduction OF
the voice through the vibration of a
! diaphragm by mechanical means. This was
| suggestion that would occur to any studi-
GUS person. Mr.. Edison got at it in the
simplest manner, and anticipated others by
few days only. Any ingenious and thought
full man, with the telephone elucidated,
could make photograph. Mr.. Edison,
planning and organizing and establishing
such an institution as the invention factory
at Menlo Park, has shown more genius than
he has exhibited in any of his many inven
tions in the line of the curious and prac-
tical.''
"But abont the electric light,'' urged our
reporter: s'that is the important point?''
swell, Edison has been furnished by the
New York Edison Electric Light company
with 100000 with which to prosecute his
experiments. He has used, I think, about
$4,000 of this money up to date, and has
developed nothing but promises, and none
of them will be fulfilled. You can put it
down that no great electric-ight revolution
is to come from Menlo Park for fifty years,
at the present rate of progress in the matter
there. What is done there will depend, in a
great measure, upon what is the result of all
the investigation and experimenting going
on all over the world, all of which is prompt
~ reported to Edison