New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-01-07
TIE ELECTRIC LIGHT ABROAD.
AMERICAN ENERGY IN THE OLD WORLD
IMMENSE PROGRESS MADE BOTH IN ENGLAND AND
~ Tile CONTINENT.

IMMENSE PROGRESS MADE BOrH IN ENGLAND AND
ON THE CONTINENT.
Frederick A. Cover, the well-knOwn tele-
phone inventor and capitalist, in his p0r In the
Victoria Hotel when TRIBUNE reporter called yesterday
Eight years ago Mr. Cover was journalist at small
salary in Providence i. Last year his telephone inter
est I'm England alone was sold for 100000 in cash. lie
Is member the Physical Society Of France, the Royal
Institution OF Great Britain, oc and is known among
electricians the youngest II the telephone mionnare
Most Of his time spent in Paris and London The Ere
porter made inquiries TO electric lighting IN Lu
rope in which Mr. Cover is lar, ely interested
Electric lighting in Europe said Mr. Cover sis adyanc
ing more rapidly than the American public seem to realize
The fact Is that artificial light more important mat
ter in several OF the European countries than even III
America The air is often heavy with smoke OF the sort
coal so generally used ana tall buildings in most OF the
large cities are closely crowded together Gas IS usually
far poorer quality than here, and modern improve
ments in making slowly adopted 1t is rarely used
I'm bedrooms and almost I'm parlOs Of good houses
And when it suscd, the law, in Paris for example, re-
qmres the pipes to be accessible, which means being In
sight and blemish I'm finely decorated ROOM You can
imagine the pleasure given by good incandescent hSh
under such conditions. It much the same in Industrial
establishments A GOOD deal of the manufacturing OF
Europe in arwOT of all kinds, and this requires light
the obtanabe Sort almost regardless OF cost So
too with the large stores which coming TO superscdo
the little odfashoncd shops in the chief cities Light Is
everything Them The Bon Marche. at Paris, where
1000 clerks employed tried 400 electric lamps and
has now increased the order 1000. Railway stations
and their approaches afford another great field. The st.
Lazare Che principal station in Paris tried few lamps
in the vestibue and will extend the system to tho
whole vast establishment covering some twelve to M
teen acrcs Such crowds OF people constantly enter
ing and leaving the place have seen 500 descend from
single tran) that clear. soft and steady light means
literally a saving OF life or limb every year, besides the
gain in the dispatch Of business.
Cacs and theatres among the largest Of the
electric light the Continent And may as well say
that the ncandesccnt light glow light it is called for
shorncss) does not compete with the arc glare lishp
for outdoor illumination, any more than 1t
does I'm America. Indoor lighting Is recognized
as the valuable part OF the business The Grand Opera
House Paris with its LOO permanent employees, mas
bill OF $50 900 year. and has been experiment.
ing for the last years, with almost every known sys-
TEN Of electric lighting American or otherwise Inc re-
suit has finally been in favor Of the Edison system ana
learned in Paris lately that the contract WIN lhat com
pany had been concluded. rather curious result goes
with this one. The Director Of Public Works IN aris mas
said. that whoever won the opera Wou sii,n nts Tor
the concession for that great central lighting station in
Paris which Will he one OF the mlrIGs OF Tropt j'
few years from now In Milan, the Mlhzoli
Theatre is ghtcd by electricity, and the vast
theatre. la Scala, has complete equipment OF en-
gincS boilers aud DYNAMO mir!iheS from NeNr l2IK
adequate to 10000 lamps Ia position under the shade"
pun Of steam in sight from the cathedral itself
40 WIRES OVERHEAD.
"And that leads say that wires in the air. we
have them here would not be tolerated In any city
the Continent I am almost afraid to walk In the lower
part Of Naw-York when the maze Of wires, many
OF which recognize carrying arc-ught currents.
Several systems avoid this danger well a the terri
HE disbursement Of the streets are abroad Tn
Paris there are Of course the sewers, which, after being
abused and Iccd for wears as relies of imperial policy
Nou know they large enough to admit TIE passage of
roops have lately come TO the 'front.' as the very thing
the curhng with openings NJ intervals OF LOCO feet
or 80 through which the wires pulled rs required
and occasionally a case where the wires are
hid in lcadcn tubes roughly buried In trenches.
few cities like Antwerp and Brussels, where central
station systems are hand, have allowed the IN
the air experiment 10 show the Workings ~ The
system, and also IN cities Ike Amsterdam and Venice,
where the streets moist That digging /, I'M
healthy NOu would be surprised, aud perhaps dis
gstc by TIE way, sec no" rapidly the smaller canals
i'm Venice are being crisscrosscd with telephone wlrcs
But, generally speaking, Lurop'n architect VINO usu-
ally has charge Of building a. long as II StnIS hates
sight OF a wire ROOF, ana prevents 1t il he
Tae architect thus in chars, o. the Louvre refused to
allow an experimental wire cross that hali-ne OF
spcndOr Obiga the government of the Republic
The AmaricanS ale lighting the House Of Commons.
though the awarding OF the contract to them Op
posed in the House 10y younE SpIig OF the more recent
cncouracilc Yaue' adventures. The Of the cleo
rc light upon ocean steamers mas n'en very successful
aud opens new era "i comfort at SEA AHpr' lHo worst
element Of discomfort at sea trSpec' lily In heavy
weather. is the sirkcIims smel uf o-LlmPs IN cabins
and slic-roomS ms mas no" zen u'ht away VIM
and at the time much greater amount OF Hight Is
Your own room III the evening is one which
can scarcity be enoyed with dim
aud smoky Oi-iamp, while in cleo
tricaly lighted ship the inside rooms, whore
motion felt, become almost good the outside
rooms in the older class Of nave occasion to
cross the Atlantic frequently and find good system OF
electric II htIng blessing which travellers fully apprc
cate and seem never tired OF referring to in converse
ton"
How do you account for the impression here that
electric lighting H. doing little abrOJd}
"simpy because speculation, in electric Hight
securities has been oyerione suppose
the reason is that so much wild anticipation has
been INDUCED i'm the beginning to make the steady
day-bydqy advance in Of electricity for lighting
seem small by comparison. We mcrCuUal people,
Americans, and though we take mp new enterprise
quicker thHu any na.iOn upon earth, are little apt
20 quickly II il does not very prove 10 be
to be what We had expected. Whereas, foreign capital
lists like those who pushing the electric light in
the Continental countries, INTO new thing slowly,
but to know how to let Mca OF that sort
easily eau Sht by puffs, and putery, far ~ |
know is being attempted in the countries OF which have
been speaking But the American who goes abroad five
years hence win ind that his country is entitled TO call
itself tho light Of the world IN more literal sense than
he may have expected"