The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-09-24

any kind between the stations. using
instead the ether as a conductor, This
has been done over incousiderable
distances under favorable conditions,
and as a means of fog signaling
between ships at sea OF ships and light
houses 1t probably Will come prominently
into future use. But the acme Of inter
communications means OF transmitting
speech or signals through any and every
space without depending upon other SUBJ
stances than air Of the ether for its conduc-
tion-however much some Missionaries have
talked OF the possibilities of such a thing
will probably never be reached until other
great preliminary problems have been
solved and the nature of electricity ascer-
tanned. IL would certainly be very pleas
ant to be able to talk with ones friends in
| Hong Kong or the Attic sea without NOV
ing from ones chair, but a sanguine hope
of electrical devices ever accomplishing
such thing. however many other wonders
they may perform, can hardly be enter
tanned.
For use in the transmission Of power the
future Of electricity is bound to work won
ders, whether a means OF producing current
from coal direct Is ever found or not.
Storage battery, conduit, induction, two
rail- and trolley systems of electric traction
and stationary motors receiving current
from central supply stations are in wide use
today and are growing with rapidity un-
thought OF few years ago.
Waterfalls, and even Niagara, are being
utilized for power purposes for generalizing
current for distribution, and arguments are
daily advanced for capital to interest itself In
replacing country rOad-beds with tracks and
electric cars and to equip the great farms Of
the west with agricultural machinery oper-
ated by electricity. The farmers grain will
then be sowed and reaped with electrically
or,I i
rectly from his fields or barn to the consun-
Ing markets by electrically operated wagons
and cars. Should nature fail in properly
nursing his crops by plentiful supply Of
sunshine, electrical vegetation forces, such
as are to-day used in many lighthouses,
could be built upon a larger scale and
turned upon his acres of restrained growth
Electric motors will run his farm ma
ohlnery throughout, his harrow his plow,
his PLANTER, his reaper, his moving machine
and his threshing and binding machines;
turn his grindstoae, churn his milk and be
general comfort about the house EIec-
trically heated irons will launder his shirts
and brand his CATTLE Congress has already
made an appropriation for committee TO
investigate all these things, and it is hard at
Work paving the way for the farmer TO
shortly enjoy the benefits Of having fewer
horses and more motors on his place
On railroads, such as are operated by
steam to-day, the electric locomotive is
gradually creeping in, a1d the manu-
lecturers of electric traction apparatus con-
fidently look forward to seeing steam
engines supplanted by high speed electric
service. Experiments on q few branch
lines have already been installed and are
operating successfully, but however per-
feet electric locomotives may become, it
will, of course take time to do away with
all the valuable investments in steam loco
motives and entirely supplant them with
electricity.
Mills all over the country are introducing
electric motors for power distribution pur-
poses, and in crowded cities no other means
OF obtaining small amounts of power will be
available in few years. The mail service
OF the government will in time be LARGELY
conducted independently Of steam roads. A
congressional appointment of experts are
also at work on this electrical problem and
automatic collection from city boxes to sta
tions, and rapid forwarding between large
cities will eventually be the outcome of their
work.
All these outlOoks have foundations of
fact upon which to base their supDositions
and there hardly exists to-day contrIvances
for the reduction of labor or the conven-
fence of mankind, but what can be sup
planted or improved by embodyiug an cleo
trical condition Ia their construction.
Where 1t will all end ia a question the
wisesb philosophers may well ponder over
and shake his gray locks TO denote his ina
bility to tell, unless, perhaps, he may sur
mise the wonderful advances the indefinable
substance he calls electricity has made and
is likely to make 1t is but the natural
sequence Of the discovery of one great I'M
DERIVING principle of all matter, and that
electricity" is but a synonym for a thou
sand other words and descriptions he uses
to-day.