The labor world., 1899-11-18

To believe that such thing is among
the probabilities of the immediate fu'
! ture requires a stretch of the i'm
agination that will make one feel like
a reincarnation of 2. Baron Munchau.
sen and Jules Verne rolled into one
+ but, in spite of this, we have the
assurance of two inventors that such
an achievement is one of the most
| probable things in the world; that
within a few years at least, it will
be as easy to say "hello' to Pa.ris cen
trail as it is now to talk between New
York and Boston. -".
The two inventors who ask us to
accept this prediction as unadulterated
fact are Thomas A. Edison, jr., and
William Holzer. Although both are
young men they have already dis
| tinguished themselves in. their own
fields and, when they say that they
have been so successful in their ex-
! periments that they are now prepared
| to stake their regulations upon the as
sertion that they will soon be able to
probe the possibility of telephoning
across the ocean one does not feel
inclined to reject the statement as the
dream of visionary. So many Won
ders have already been accomplished
by electricity that it requires a bold
man to assert that the limit to such
attainment has been reached. Then,
too, is not one of the inventors the son
Of the great Edison, the wizard Of
Menlo Park, and is it not possible that
this is to be the occasion on which
1D se, {,,5r %LoA Il ~, o,,1l
actually worthy to bear the mantle Of
his father?
To talk with the two young men
is to see that they are very much in
earnest. However the experiments
may turn out there is not the slight
esr doubt that they are perfectly hon.
est when they express the opinion that
they are SO soon to succeed in accom-
plishing what SO many inventors have
deemed impossible. In describing the
experiments that have already been
made Mr.. Edison said that he intended
to show that. contrary to the general
impression, it will not take very
powerful current to send message
across the Atlantic ocean. They have
already taken 5000 miles Of wire and
have subjected it to the same pressure
and the same conditions, as nearly as
possible, as those Of the ocean and
they have at last succeeded in success
fully sending message over these
coils of wire. They have subjected the
invention to every possible test and it
has not failed them. Among other
tests they have submerged the spindle
on which the wire was placed and
have subjected the wire to heavy
rlessure. On another occasion they
submerged the spindle and made it re-
volve at the rate of ten or twelve
revolutions minute. In each case the
result was the same, the sound was
carried from one end to the other of
the wire with the greatest distinctness.
Every test that any one could think
OF has been tried but on no occasion
Naturally such success
full tests have made the two young
Inventors very confident that failure Is
impossible.
Several years ago the senior Edison
took up the subject of submarine tele-
phony but finally discarded it because
it presented too many obstacles. TO
his mind the only means of conveying
8, telephone message across the ocean
successfully would be by the erection
Of relay stations, every one hundred
miles. To do this would be so eXpen-
sive that the cost would render the
scheme almost impracticable.
Another inventor who has attempted