Mexico weekly ledger., 1893-08-24

Reflections on the Worlds Fair.
Correspondence of the Ledger
| MEXICO, Mo, August 17.-In no
department are the achievements Of
human genius more conspicuous and
useful than in that of electricity, and
the fact that a building 345x69O
feet, costing $401 900 is set apart
exclusively for the exhibits in this
department of science and industry,
is an indication of the wonderful
growth of invention in this direction
within the last few years. At the
Centennial there was little in this line
to arrest attention and interest the
visitor, but here in this year of
1898, he soon realizes that the world,
and especially the Worlds Fair, is
being run, in great measure, by
electricity. The rapidity of electri-
cal developments is unparalleled in
any other range of discovery. To
the electrician, decades are centuries
and the marvellous exhibit of to-day
may prove crude and insignificant
before the end of the present centu-
ry. Such have been the achieve
ments and stimulus to inventive gen.
ius, that in all our colleges to-day,
that make any pretensions to modern
progress, the study of electricity is
u prominent feature, and electrical
engineering has become distinct de-
partment in the curriculum. Wheth-
er this awakening shall lead or what
the astounding results in the near
future, is beyond human prediction
or Imagination. AS / wandered
through this magic building and
witnessed a few of the wonders of
electricity, not only in the building,
but throughout the grounds, l felt
that must be in an enchanted palace
or translated to another planet of
unknown powers. With the tele-
graph we have become familiar, but
to stand by the telantograph and
realize that l can communicate in
my own handwriting at great dis
tances, with absent ones, is too Won
derful for belief unless demonstrated
before my eyes. No less wonderful
is the new kimetograph of Edison,
which transmits scenes to the eye as
well as sounds to the ear, and in
the application of the phonograph
to commercial and social uses, the
machines and cylinders are sold so
that man in Europe may ,alk to
his wife in America by boxing up a
cylinder full of conversation and
sending by express. The business
man can talk his cylinder full of let
ters in the late hours of the night,
while the fair typewriter is taking
her rest, and in the early morning,
while her partner sleeps, she can
print out the letters and send them
on their mission and the lover, what
affectionate strains may he not pour
into the attentive ear of his far dis
tant sweetheart! The sweetest strains
of the human voice, with piano ac-
compartment, may be enjoyed, at
any distance, through the magic
phonograph. The intramural rail-
way circling the grounds, the beau
Itiful pleasure boats traversing the
lagoons and the yachts in the outer
harbor are propelled by electricity,
and all except the former, equipped
with their storage batteries. AS these
beautiful boats glide smoothly and
lquickly through the waters without
steam, or sail, or oarsmen, or any
visible propelling force, accompanied
by sweet strains of song or bands of
music, with the electric fountain
with its beautiful colored jets of
water streaming $50 feet in the air,
scene of enchantment is presented
to the view of the thousands who
crowd around the great basin that is
simply indescribable, and before
which the scenes of the Arabian
Nights pale into insignificance. An
other feature of this enchanting scene
is the line of electric fire that runs
around the cornnce Of all the great
e buildings surrounding the great
quadrangular Court of Honor. Per
p. haps the most conspicuous of the
e electrical exhibits are the great flash
4 lights that stream from the tallest
towers on the ground far out into the
lake or over the ground in any de
sired direction. These flash lights
are extensively used on war ships
and excite great interest to visitors
from war-like countries. There are
many peculiar features of the domes,
tic exhibit by corporations, as the
Edison, Bush, Thompson-Houston
and others. In one group you will
' see a vast number of devices fol
transmitting and regulating the cleo
trio current, including cables, wires,
insulators, switches, safety applian-
ces and conduits. In another group
you will see electric motors with di
! rect constant current, another
with alternating current, and still
. others showing the application
Il