The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-10-19
Economic Geography.
AN INTERESTING ADDRESS
DELIVERED BY GEN.
ERAL GREELY.
Mathematical, Political, Physi-
cal and Economic Geography
Should Benefit North Carolina.
Correspondence Winston Sentinel

Correspondence Winston Sentinel.l
WAsHINGTON, Oct. 6.-at the Cor
coran Scientific School of Columbian
University yesterday Gen. A. w. Greely
delivered an address on the subject of
geography, which in view of the great
natural resources of North Carolina
will be of interest to the people of our
State
The lecturer divided his subject into
branches to be named mathematical,
political, physical and economic
geography. The latter is the most
important branch of this science. 1t
is the comparative treatment of the
political and physical branches, and
illustrates where, when and how the
latent resources of the earth may be
most advantageously exploited for the
benefit Of mankind. 1t involves
knowledge of the natural resources of
different regions, of transportation
routes, of natural elements that mill
tate against or are favorable to special
pursuits and industries, and of the
numberless social conditions that may
affect the initiation, development or
continuance of any material enterprise.
Gen. Greedy concluded expressing
regret at the backward state of devel-
opment of such geographic knowledge
in this country, and congratulating
the university upon the steps taken in
opening to its students such new and
fruitful field of study and research.
He declared that economic geography
IS ga new SCIENCE" and certainly it is
a matter in which our State is vastly
interested in view of the wonderful
developments in the domain of
electricity; for water power becomes
IN this connection the most important
and valuable resource of the industries
OF manufacturing and transportation
and no other country on earth is
blessed with such powers SO abundadtly
as North Carolina. To show how this
is | quote from recent letter from
Chicago in the New York SIM:
"There is Niagara, for instance,
for whose use in the service of man
preparations on a large scale are
already making But when the tunnel
is finished and the first two of the
5000 horsepower turbine wheels are
in place by which the energy of the
mighty cataract is to be tapped above
its fall, the question will have to be
met. How is the power to be distrib
uted over an area large enough to
absorb all that will be available
When the plans for the Fair were
under consideration it was proposed to
bring enough power from Niagara
here to supply the Electricity Building.
This was to be kind of object-lesson
IN power transmission over long dis
tances, and its proposers, waxing more
ambitious, seriously considered the idea
of leaving enough power to operate an
electric railway from Chicago to St.
Louis. Both schemes were seriously
considered by German electricians.
The nineteenth century has been
the century of steam; the twentieth is
likely to be known as the century of
electricity. Men still living have seen
the water-wheel make way for the
steam engine, and may still live to see
the water-wheel come back again, only
harnessed this time to an electric
generator and placed scores of miles
away from the mill
Z" "HOwever this may be, it is certain
that the problem of turning to account
the waste forces of nature is rapidly
approaching solution, and that it is
doing so because of the progress which
is being made in the transformation
transmission of electric power over
long distances without sensible loss.
There is on exhibition here an electric
dynamo which produces 96 per cent.
of the energy transmitted to it by
steam engine. This is possibly as near
perfection as the generator will ever
reach, and, considering the enormous
waste that ensues in converting the
latent energy OF the coal into steam
and motion, the result may be
regarded as marvellous. But the
question OF subsequent leakage in
transmission is a much more important
one when the original energy is
generated by the costly process of steam
than it would be when drawn from an
illimitable and easily utilized water
supply. The main consideration then
becomes one of the ducts-the diameter
of the copper Wire needed to perform
given service representing all the
difference between profit and loss.
The water supply Of great city
would be a simple and inexpensive af-
fair if forty millions of gallons day
could be sent through a six inch pipe.
The new methods in electricity aim at
doing with the more subtle current
something to which this would be
closely analogous.
Considering, therefore, the extraor
dinary abundance and wide dstribu-
ton of our water powers, this new
science Of economic geography, II 1t
teaches men all it ought to teach, will
be of infinite benefit to North Caro-