The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1888-05-16

Little did B. Franklin wot that
some day the little start lhe made
when he baitea his pin-nOOk with
apOod conductor and tapped the
low. .browcd and believing nimbus
with his buOyant kite, and the pick
lie lar of electricity thus crudely ac-
quired, would be the egg from
which inventors and scientists
would hatch out n system which
could encirclc the globe with mes
sages swifter than the flight of
Phnhus, but that anon the light OF
day would be filtered through Il
cloud Of cables loaded with dcstruc-
tion sufficient for ii whole army,
and tho air be filed with death
dealing dangling wire.
Little did he know that he was
bottiing the genii which would one
day pull out The stopper with his
teeth and grow until it Oversprcad
the, sky, planting its bare, bleak
poles along every high way, carry
ing day messages by night and
night messages when it got ready,
darkening the air with its rusty
wings-provided Of course that the
genii wear wings-and with the
harsh, metallic, ghouldish laughter
of n singlc-key with one foot on the
neck of the sender and one on the
neck Of the recipient, with one
hand on the throat Of the conven-
ton and the other i'm The pockets" Of
the world, defy aggregated human
ity to do its worst and command all
civilization in terse, well-chOsen
terms, to either fish, Cut-bait or go
ashore.
Could Benjamin have known all
this at the time, possibly he might
have considered it wisdom to go in
when 1t rained.
] am not an old fogy, though ]
may have that appearance, and |
rejoice to see the world move ON.
One by one have lain aside my
own encumbering prejudiccs In or
der to keep up with the procession.
Have not gradually adopted ev-
erything that would in any way
enhance my opportunities for add
vancement, even through tedious
evolution, from the paper collar up
to the finger bowl, eyether and nyc-
ther?
This should convince the reader
that am not trying to clog the
wheels of progress. l simply look
with apprehension upon any great
Capitalization OF wealth or power
In the hands Of any one man who
not only does as he pleases with
said wealth and power, but who, us
am informed, Adoes not read my
timely suggestions as to how he
shall use them.
To return, however to the subject
OF electricity. / have recently
sought to fathom the style and
motif of new system which is to
be introduced into private residen-
ces, hotels and police headquarters.
Iu private houses IL will be used rs
u burglars welcome. In hotels II
will take the mental strain off tho
bell boy, relieving him also Of a
portion Of Ills bufdensome salary at
tho same time. In the police de-
partment IL will do almost every
thing except ent peanuts Off the
corner stand.
The system IL on exhibition In a
large room down town, with the
signals or boxes on one side and
the annunciator or central station
on the other. BY walking from
one to the other, distance in all
of thirty or forty miles, was en-
abled to get slight idea OF the
principle.
1t Is certainly very intelligent
system. l never felt for my own
inferiority any more than L did In
the presence Of this wonderful in
vention. 1t will do almost any
thing, 1t seemed TO me, and fhe
main drawback seems to be It's
great versatility, for 1t thereby be-
comes so complex that In order to
become at all iniimtae with IL u
policeman ought to put in two
years at Yale aud at least year at
Leipsic. An extended course OF
study would thus perfect him In
this line, hut he would not then be-
content to act as policeman. He
would want to be scientist with
dandrutR on his coat collar md u far
away look.
Then, again, take the hotel
scheme, for instance. We go to u
dial which Is marked Room 81.
There we find that by treating tn
certain way IL will announce to the
clerk that Room 80 wants q fire, ice
water, pens, ink, paper, lemons,
towels, Are escape, Milwaukee Sec,
pillow shams, New York World,
Glenu, cotton frappe, laundry, ply
sician, sleeping.car ticket, ,.bcrth-
mark for same, Halford sauce, hot
fat.iron for ironing trousers, bag
gage, blotter, tidy for chair, or any
ofthose things. In fact have not
given half the list on this barOme-
ter because / could not remember
them, though may have added
Others which were not on the indl-
Gator. Tho message arrives at the
office, but the clerk Is engaged In
conversation with lady. He t'oes
not Jump whom the alarm Sol DIS
but continues the dialogue. An"th.
or Oupat wtrao fha office that 1it