The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-11-09
THE CANVASS WAS DEPRESSING
Many Lines Of Business Suffered as Severely
as In Presidential Years.
WORK ON THE UNDERGROUND TROLLEY
Eady Opening Of The Holiday Trade---Sales Have
Been Unusually largs---Tesla, the Electrical
Inrsnior, and His Personality.

NEW YORK. Nov. s.-rSpecial. Now
that the activities of an unusually intense
Political campaign have been brought TO q
closc the people Of this big town will di-
ractly have an opportunity to pick up tho
various threads Of general interest which
pcriorce have been lost sight of for several
weeks of turbulent struggling for tho
sDoiIs of Office. IL Is true that the news
papers will not be ready for fow days 10
abate the abnormal space they have recent
ly been giving over To politics. Those
journals which championed the winning
candidates must devote few columns TO
self exaltatlon because of the outcome,
whilo those whose candidates were defeat
ed will need 10 use considerable white pa
per In explaining their defeat. But nei-
thor jollfcation nor excuses can take yoTy
long, and the majority Of the newspaper
readers, even among those greatly inter
ested In politics, viii be much relieved
when the aftermath of the campaign has
been cleared away, and the nonpolitical
news Of the day is again allowed 10 &C.
cupy its usual space.
The campaign this year has had de-
cidedly depressing influence upon many
lines of business, almost as serious indeed
rs Is usually tho case in u presidential
year. But there have been two well de-
fined forms Of human activity this fall
that have not been affected in the slightest
by the stress and strife Of the political con-
test Neither the laying down of the un-
dcrtrolleys nor the prosecution of the an
nual holiday trade has been affected in
the least
Hour after hour, day after day and week
after week hundreds of men have been
busily digging and hammering away ut
the task OF installing the new method of
electric propulsion on various Of the city's
main thoroughfares all through the ex-
elements of the campaign, and now the
work Is nearly completed BY the date Of
the average first snewfAll hundreds of
smoothly, swiftly moving electric cars will
bo In operation along the north and south
avenues that until n short time ago were
trayersed by jerky, jingling horse cars.
Added to the mileage of undertroiley
roads previously laid out, it is safe to say
that by the time the work now In progress
has been completed the greater part of the
surface line mileage on Manhattan Island
will be operated by this most nearly per-
feet form OF electric trRqNon.
At the same time work on the great
plant for squeezing air to sufficient
pressure for the propulsion Of cars ON the
crosstown lines has been progressing just
as vigorously ss on the tndettrolley. And,
while compressed air cars may not be
placed i'm regular service as soon as the
trolley cars OH the avenues, an enormous
amount Of work has boon done In prepara-
tion for the Abandonment Of horses on east
and west lipes since Roosevelt and Van
Wyck werc placed in nomipation.
With regard to the holiday trade the
statement is made on behalf of several Of
the largest dealers In all sorts Of Christ
mas goods that II began weeks earlier this
year than IL ever has before, and that the
holiday sales have already been as large as
they generally are by the middle of No
vember, II not larger. This state Of affairs
Is In direct conformity with the tendency
Of tho Christmas trade 10 begin earlier
each year that has been going OH for at
least decade. Unless it Is checked, the
people of New York may eventually come
to prepare for the holidays as early rs the
magazine editors begin to get their Christ
mas numbers ready, and this Is rarely
later than midsummer.
Tesla. the Electrician.
Harking back to electrical matters for a
moment, a word about Tesla, the inventor,
may be In order. Like the layers OF the
undertrolley and the fair women who are
the chief purchasers of holiday goods, he
has been as hard at work as ever through
all the political exoitement-was, indeed,
as devoted TO the perfection OF his ingenious
harnessings OF the mystic fluid while the
Spanish war was on as at any other period
of his life.
This was clearly shown almost two
weeks In advance Of this election day when
one Of the electrical papers came out with
somewhat detailed exposition of his
scheme for transmitting power over long
distances without wire Compared with
this invention wireless telegraphy sinks
into something very like insigniHcance,
but therc il no conceivable reason why
both should not prove practicable n either
may be accomplished. Tesla has long be.
lieved in the possibility OF both, and that
their practical development will be
wrought out before the next century Is
many years old, as he has told the writer
more than once. IL may be added that he
is actively engaged In developing still
more marvellous electrical inventions.
In some respects Nikola Tesla IL one Of
the most remarkable mon living IN New
York today. Tall, olive skianed and at
tenuatcd by reason OF his never ceasing
activities, his largo dark eyes fash and
glow as he talks In away that is strangely
suggestive Of the mysterious form Of force
IN the study Of which he has dedicated his
life's energies. A native Of "a small prov
ince I'm southorn Europe under the ruler
ship OF the Emperor Franz Josef, the In
vcntor has never yet found time thorough
~ 30 mastcr the English tongue. and his
speech is peculiar not only for It's piquent
accent, utterly untranaerable % the
printed page, but also for the quaint
idioms BY means OF which be indicates his
thought 20 tho listener. Yet; despite both
these things, bis talk l. ever entertaining
even when he IL discoursipg on the most
absfruse electrical topics wfth a person en-
eireiy ignorant 81 electrical principles fce