The morning times., 1896-10-25

young man, the owner of millions, in
herited irem several generations of moncyed
ancestors and reared in the lap of luxury,
takes off his Coat and busties about lab
oratory with daL.of smut on the side ofhis
nose and his sleeves rolled up to disclose
pair Of long, sinewy arus, that look as
If they contained a blacksmith's 5 muscles.
then, indeed. society has something TO
talk about.
King Louis tinkesed at blacksmithing
for fun, while Paris was boiling the revo-
lutionary pot. John jacob Astor, Col.
Jack" born to the plutocratic purple, is
a practical electrician partly because the
serious bent Of his mind disposes him to
scientific subjects, and partly because, as
capitalist, he is the moving spirit in a
great combination which seeks TO control
the storage battery market of the country
after first creating the market; but that
is easy. In fact, the market will create
itself, when once the people have the as-
surance that the problem of storing the
current is satisfactorily solved.
Col. Astor's character must bc taken into
account lie is a long, lean, saturnine
individual with n lantern Jaw, n .Irooping
mustachc, and sloping shoulders. He looks
somewhat like an elderly theolngica
student of the Calvinistic pcrsua SION He
can make a rife score OF l 6 at 100 wards;
he has written a book which was poor
as literature. but displayed some grasp
of scientific subjects; lie has a horScirss
carriage and lie owns the largest electric
launch in the world.
That, by the way, is not saying much,
as the. gallant-craft, the Utopian, is only
ninety feet in length, but 1t is worth not
ing that she is equipped with storage
cells of the sort with which Col. y AStor is
experimenting. These are the invention
of z. A. h. Samucis, slender, black
haired man who shares with Tesla and
Edison the interest of the electric world.
These cells Were used first in an electric
launch II Progreso, where they worried so
well that it was decided TO use them in
the larger Utupian. They are the largest
eve, built, being somewhat larger-to use
IN illustration quite familiar To many
readers than beer keg.
Col. Astor lives at Rhineteck- -on-the- Hud-
Son near the model farm of Col. Levi 2.
Morton He calls his country place Fern
cliff Here lie has the finest boat house
owned by any private person in tue United
States. 1t is quite as much workshop as
q boat house. for the colonel has installed
in it u forty-horSc power engine and a hig
dynamo which not only lights the house and
other buildings, but furnishes power for
experimentation and for charging the cells.
The Utopian had to be towed from Nyack,
where she was built, to Fcrncliff to re-
ceive tier initial charge of electricity. Here
in the boat house Mr. AStor has private
apartments, to be convenient to the scene
of his loved labors.~ eis
Col Astor is very '.thick"iwith Dr. W.
Seward Webb, representing of course the
Vanderbilt interest. 1t was Webb who
stocked the Astor greenhouse with violet
plants from his cwlrcollectior. But that
is a detail of neighborliness. Webb is in
terested with Astor in theelectrical expert
ments ami in tie big Niagara Falls de-
velopnent scheme. This much advertised
undertaking -"harnessing Niagara" is
catching phrase Is sill a very question:
able financial veptare. The company will
have no permanent difficulty in supplying
Buffalo and other Rtiarby towns with a
power much cheaper than steam, though
ii has had considerable collision Of interests
with local authorieies,, but electricians look
mysteriously wise aWhen askedif the problem
transmission OF electricity by wire to
long distances without serious less has teen
successfully dealtswith.
1t is an open secret that some of the
smaller stockholders in the development
have been pretty hard pressed, but of
course the AstorS and Vanderbilt inter-
ests were able to stand little costly eX-
Fermentation.
If the cell is perfscted-oh, that is quite
another matter. Then it will be possible