The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-01-09
The Future of Electricity.

vi Hoy UC bdiu III IdVOT OF
electricity, one statement must stand
paramount in its behalf: 1t has lever
failed in its purpose when properly
applied. Its uses are as many as its
abuses. 1t has suffered from tho
hands Of those who thought they were
acquainted with it, but it has also
found friends Of long standing, to ad-
vance its cause and increase it's popn-
larity. Time was when it was feared
as an cncmy-looked upon as a cum
ming monster which mankind would
never be able 10 control, much less to
understand. To-day it is the friend,
the bcncfactor of humanity.
have been asked to say Just what
electricity will accomplish during the
coming 80 years. It will do fully as
much as it has accomplished during
the past 80 years. 1t is not for me to
say in what direct lines it will create
new functions for itself, nor to pre-
dict or dream the great things it will
accomplish as it goes along its magic
way. 1t is not for me, either, to pre-
sent any pictures of massive electrical
affairs thatwill appeal tothc world --hnt
rather to remain ploddcr in the cleo
trical vineyard, to keep toiling for the
end that others may see in their
dreams.
Still, it is not too much to expect
decided improvements in many indus
trial appliances, now operated by
methods other than electrical. be-
lieyc that the railway train will even
tually be operated by electricity,
though | have never considered to any
great extent this particular phase of
electrical power. 1t is more advan-
tagcous to the science, find, to per-
feet one thing at time, than to try
to effect score at once. Patience
and deliberate, untiring energy are
needed to broaden the usefulness Of
tie electrical world.
How can it be applied to farming
machinery? Very readily and advan-
tageously. This is field in which it
can be made 10 work wonders in the
next so years. The farmer needs to
have his oppres sive work made more
Of e pleasure, for he is indeed an all
important factor in the world great
sphere Of usefulness, and his absence
from that sphere would be more mark
ed than all the wonders that electricity
has created. The electrical plow, the
electrical thrashcr and electrical dairy
implements are not things that only
fill the fancy of dream. earnestly
believe that the next SO years will find
them recorded in the realm of act.
Already electricity has made no.
table advance in the mining industry,
and its application in the separation
of metals from ores shows that in this
respect it has not been misapplied.
Indeed, it has done some marvellous
work.
So it may be with farming impic.
ments, and with other machinery. AS
manifestation ef energy It will stand
supreme. AS science unfolds it's phe-
nomena, it shows it more aud more to
be the great motive power of nature.
Perhaps in years to come it will be
shown that all the planets are con-
trollcd and kept in their orbits by
electricity.
Not only as a motive power for mas
sive enterprises will electricity find
uses during the coming half century,
but it will also be applied to the
"gentler Sciences" if may use the
term. BY this I mean surgery, optics
and astronomy, but greater minds than
mine must dwell on this particular
branch of electrical usage. Already
we have surgical instruments that are
being operated by electricity with
gratifying success; indeed, they have
gone beyond the experimental stage.
1t will find large field in the opera
tion of manufacturing machinery, as
the Niagara Falls plant shows, aud it
may even extend to the airship, but
think it best to confine it's uses to the
earth until these uses have beer ex-
hausted. Thomas 4. Edison, in Sue
cess.
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